Set and Turn Single Magazine - the magazine for folk dancers. Edited by Chris Turner for 17 years.

Some of my contributions to this magazine over the period March 2011 to July 2016 are reproduced on the following pages. My first contribution was a large article in issue 68. I saw the magazine as rather inward looking and tame - there seemed to be little analysis of what might be done to encourage wider public participation in folk dancing.

So for five years I tried to introduce some serious debate. Often, I wrapped up key points in a layer of humour in order both to make longer articles more readable and to help provoke responses. I generally succeeded! However, on too many occasions I have had to explain to people that they should look beyond the humour. Even then, some of them didn't get it.

It was an interesting five years. The editor of STS, Chris Turner, was kind enough to tell me that he had collected a few more subscriptions because of my contributions - and a few people have even told me how much they enjoyed them. This letter of appreciation from Andrea and Terry Stodell was in the final issue:

"Letters you have had aplenty, but the most prodigious writer seems to be the now infamous Steve Wozniak. How he has riled people! But then he provokes others to answer and provide even more great reading! We only met him 18 months ago on the dance floor and can now actually put a face to the name. (Proof that he really does exist! Ed)

Similar sentiments were expressed earlier by Henry Morgenstein from the USA in issue 87 - he praised STS for being a magazine that allowed controversy and real discussion, as opposed to only sanitised comments from 'cheerleaders'.

The darker side to my STS articles and to my coverage of the Sidmouth Folk Festival for 15 years is that I became the target for several vendettas. These have included refusing me a stewards ticket for Sidmouth, excluding me from Bridport ceilidhs and most recently from Eastbourne Folk Dance Festival (early discussion half way down this page) ands also here.   All of these matters, and the exclusion of other people from other folk dance venues are discussed in more detail elsewhere. The assertion that vendettas against me have their roots in dislike of my writing (rather than being centred on the style of my dancing) is easily argued - for many years prior to 2011 I was a more spirited and less disciplined dancer than I have been of late - yet no objections were raised. Only once I became 'infamous' via STS were the knives sharpened in readiness.

It was my intention to end writing about folk dance with the publication of my 2016 dance diary. However, the various vendettas against me in 2016 have encouraged inclusion of further material. Everything, including the STS material, may now be re-ordered into some sort of an e-book, maybe as late as 2027.

If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. George Orwell. Proposed Preface to Animal Farm.

My contributions to Set and Turn Single magazine - and a few of the more intelligent responses.

This section may be completed by the end of 2017. Many pages are currently blank.

Folk Dance Diary 2016 - highlights of a year folk dancing.