This is a difficult question, but what did the members of the Ceilidh Band movement think they we trying to achieve.

Some members of the Ceilidh Band movement would have you think they were trying to preserve a dying music. Well, yes, the music may have been dying-out, or it had gone underground. Music collectors in the 1960s and 70 had found numerous musicians and recordings were made of musicians playing regularly in Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and the whole of East Anglia. Granted, most of these musicians were in their 70s and 80s with few younger people involved.

Ceilidh band musicians did meet these people and learnt their tunes. They learnt some of their tunes, but many of the tunes they played were no taken up. Many musician played ‘hits of the day’ and other popular tunes such as Wild Rover, Turkey in the Straw as well as songs from World War Two. Tunes like this, that did not conform to English Traditional Music were cast aside.

Many musicians did make visits to folk festivals and similar events, often taken by Ceilidh Band musicians. Almost like zoo exhibits, they were taken, put on a stage, formally introduced and made to play. Playing in public arenas such as these were not what they were used to, and they often failed to produce acceptable performances.

So what did the Ceilidh Band musicians want. Well, they want the tunes which they got. Many musicians changed the style to a slower, step-hop style. This style grew and became the accepted style: it was the opposite to the style supported by the English Folk Dance and Song Society which had also been manufactured in the late 1940s and early 50s. One interviewee was quite cynical about the movement; after the initial formation, musicians realised that they could have a good time with the music and bands played at festivals and large dances. They began to attracted a large number of followers who liked the high-energy dancing. Did the Ceilidh Band musicians follow the money?