Thanks very much for that Harvey. On guest nights at Bedford Folk Club, Mike Blair (who runs it)does put a sign up kindly asking people not to smoke while the guest is performing (...but some still do anyway!). However, there is no such restriction on normal sing-around nights, despite several of us complaining in the past. I think maybe organisers are afraid of alienating the pub landlord if they say they want the room to be designated as non-smoking for the evening. If so, it's a shame, as I have several friends at work who would be coming along, if not for the smoke.

Incidentally, it's really ironic that you should post to this thread, as my partner and I saw you performing at the Flying Cloud Folk Club in Toronto in April this year. I've been visiting folk club singarounds/concerts in the UK for a year or two, but my partner Nick (who stopped smoking himself 10 years ago) reacts really badly to smoke now (and perfumes etc too) and so had never once been with me.

Prior to our Canadian holiday, I posted to a Toronto related Mudcat thread asking what folk events might be on during out visit. When black walnut replied with details of their club, and confimed that it was a completely non-smoking venue, Nick and I made plans to go along on the Sunday night before we flew home. It was fantastic to go into bars in Toronto and find no smoke - we rarely visit a pub in the UK, but we went out every night there.

And so it was that Nick and I had our first ever visit to a folk club together. I was a bit apprehensive about how he would react to his first live exposure to folk music, but you'll be glad to hear that he really, really enjoyed your songs (quote: "I'd really like to go and see him again some time!") and the supporting performers. In fact, he couldn't stop talking about it for days! I don't know what he thought we all get up to in folk clubs, but he was definitely pleasantly suprised!

It's just a shame that we had to travel thousands of miles from Northamptonshire to go and see a performer from Walsall in a nice smoke free club! :-)

Julie