SAD news from the organisers of the General Ludd, which after 17 years as a folk club, is calling time.

Les Barker will be at the club, based for the last nine years at the Wheeel pub in Golcar, next Friday.

His performance, say club organisers Anne and Dave Ellis, will be the last at the General Ludd, which began its life in the autumn of 1990 at the Masons Arms in Lowerhouses.

The club had a short spell at the Beaumont Arms in Kirkheaton before moving to the Rock in Brockholes.

The Ludd was based there for seven years before making its final move to Golcar.

Anne and Dave said: “We are closing due to falling attendance on singers’ nights, though the guest concerts are still well attended.

“It would only take one or two concerts to lose money to put us in the red, as we rely on money collected on singers’ nights to subsidise them.”

The club was formed by a committee of 10, although by the time the club moved to Brockholes this was down to about four.

Paul and Caroline Brown, then owners of The Rock, were very supportive. In fact Paul was booked as a guest several times.

When The Rock was sold, the club found a new home at the Wheel.

It is possible there will still be occasional concerts under the General Ludd banner.

Les Barker should end the Ludd’s run on a happy note. His biography says he writes strange poems and comes from Manchester.

It adds: “He was an accountant before he became a professional idiot.’’