"Jim has tried to give the impression that MacColls influence went no further than the singers club "
I have done no such thing Dick, on the contrary
Ewan's influence gave rise to workshops throughout Britain, including the one I ran in Manchester back in the mid- sixties
I have spent years trying to publicise the fact that Ewan's and the Critics groups' work on analysing songs in order to understand and sing them is probably the most all-encompassing and detailed ever carried out on folksong and could change that facce of the revival is it could get beyiong the imbecility of 'war records' and 'name changing' (the latter often coming from debutees of a rock star once protest singer who swiped his name from a Welsh poet)

The practice (not rule) of Singers Club (only) residents, including Bert, to sing songs from your national backgrounds in your own accents was designed to promote our own indigenous music - and it worked a treat
Anybody can sing it whatever accent they choose if that's what turned them on, but they would been discouraged from doing so at the Singers Club - I'm glad to say
Jim