We certainly had a thriving club scene in the 70's and 80's Russell, personally I can only go back as far as 1971 as a spectator, and 1978 as a rider, but i'm sure the 60's was equally well supported looking back at those old programmes
Certainly in the 1970's, apart from when there was a higher level meeting, or the very occasional car meeting taking place, there was a 'Clubbie' pretty much every Saturday & Sunday at Cadwell which was my local, and places like Brands seemed to be the same.
The amount of clubs was also staggering when you look back, but things started to change in the mid 1980's, insurance costs seemed to be one of the problems, along with some hefty rises in circuit hire charges, consequently a lot of clubs disappeared.
I remember squeezing on to some pretty packed grids, which always makes me smile when I see them spaced out 2 or 3 bikes to a row on TV nowadays, we were elbow to elbow, with 40 on the grid at some circuits!!