Happy New Year, Brian
'experienced and respected folk song collectors' we might well be described as, and whilst that is very complimentary the fact is that very few of the collectors in this country has received any training of any sort and that goes back to the days of Bishop Percy. The nearest we have come is the Leeds University Folk Life course in the 70s probably came the closest, but having looked through some of the dissertations and collections even then the students seemed to have received little or no training in relevant interview techniques. Like the rest of us they went off to do their own thing. NatCect/Cectal did provide some training in the 80s/90s but most of their collectors were interested in folklore. I'll certainly check with my old mate Ruairidh Greig but if they did they were few and far between.

I'm afraid I can't agree with your last statement 'agenda'driven stay-at-home researchers'. Who might these be? All of the researchers I know have been and still are very active in the field.