The clubs were our platform for a specific type of music Vic
Take them away and we become a bunch of eccentrics potternignabout in the past
They provided entertainment for an entire generation and allowed them to participate rather than just passive observers
Go compare the number of say, participating Folk Song Forum members to the many thousand who listened sang played, wrote articles, collected.... and took their interest further
Without the clubs thi would never have happened and the people's songs would have remained in Sharp and Co's drawing rooms   
Abandoning the clubs would be to deprive future generations of the pleasure and interest that we got from the scene

Ireland has never had a major folk scene comparable to the UK
Gerry's Goilin is little difference to many of the clubs I attended back in England - it lacks the formality, not a bad thing, but you are guaranteed a night of good, largely traditional songs, sung well enough to make it worthwhile turning up the following week - it's recently celebrated its 40th anniversary
It runs an annual festival in memory of one of its leading supporters, Frank Harte, and it has recently started a workshop to encourage women singers - it is a folk club in all but name
Over the last few years, a new club in Dublin, at the Cobblestone Pub in Smithfied, started by mainly young singers, has built up an interest in traditional songs, with an impressive line up of singers
Whatever you chose to call them. I see no alternative to the clubs
I find it sad that so may have abandoned them
Jim Carroll