Now this is personal experience but I have noticed that if I go to a Folk Club the audience definitely fits the desciption offered by Dan, but if, say, I go to a Waterson:Carthy gig in a non-Folk Club environment, the average audience is considerably younger.

I don't believe it's the clubs actively rejecting youth, but it could be youth rejecting the "old ways" (just like I did by going to folk clubs).

In the UK the music is in good young hands already (Rusby, Carthy, Cutting and many, many more) and has been for the last ten years (Morton, Hancock etc. I could go on.)

Youth is playing, singing and listening already, they just don't go to folk clubs very often, which I think is a shame but I don't know how to change it.

AndyG