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Sad to see that the good old Free & Easy / Jam Session has once again come under fire. For the past month attendances have been falling and the Club can't justify the expense.

Those of us that have been great supporters of the event over the years will no doubt realise that the poor attendances are a seasonal thing, and that numbers start to increase as the nights draw in around the autumn. Let's hope that we can get it up and running again this October with another round of the A Factor Competition.

My own thoughts on the success or failure of the F&E? The A Factor has been in some ways the demise of the F&E. Regular visitors and in particular stalwart performers at the F&E were sidelined to make way for young and upcoming talent and their entourages, and rightly so on so many levels. The thing is though, most of that young talent and their friends and families are not members and no longer visit or support the F&E. This has happened exactly at the same time as our disaffected old stalwarts have abandoned us for the 3:00pm Sunday afternoon F&E at the Arches Snooker Centre - an F&E based entirely on our own model, using most of our old musicians and no better or no worse than ours!!! Rumour has it that the Albany Pub are starting a Sunday F&E too, and that will thin out the crowds even more.

The other factor that has always affected the F&E is the apathy of club members and attendees. Now I know first hand how a band can get stale, playing the same old numbers week after week. Some of you may remember the happy days when I used to front the F&E band back in 2006.

It was and will never be an easy job - if The Beatles or The Rolling Stones did the F&E every week people would drift away, complaining that they play the same old songs ( that may be stretching it a bit, but you get the idea) It's a funny old world, WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND, and as my Grandad used to say "there's nowt as queer as folk......"

Lee 19 June 2011

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2011
March | June
2007
January | March | June
2006
June | Xmas