ELCB said
......BillyG - Guess I was thinking I'd heard you play enough, but I must be projecting my own preferences here - sorry!

Thought you might be able to use a combination of fractional quavers & rests, possibly a compound time signature (all the way through) to help express the fun/light heartfelt way I've seen you play. 

Sure takes me a long time to narrow down what I really want to say!

So, did you decide to stick with your 3rd version, or 2nd? - Emily  

Ahaaaa, I see, I see @ELCBK !   Got yah !

In answer to your question there - I mentioned I have no preference - it would matter not to me which scored version "landed on my desk"

My original post was just set up for discussion only (which we've had a lot of !  And that's a Good Thing !) and really to get an answer to the question I posed in the original post which was - 

Do you care about having mixed-meter scores, does it concern you, does it matter ? LOL

I'm just curious about this because as I say, it really matters-not to me, but I do appreciate that it can sometimes cause confusion - especially if simply presented with a new score, having never heard it played....  And yes - of course the 3/4-all-the-way-through-score could be readily clarified by specific up and down bow indications, I accept that. 

Just wondering!

Might I even suggest (tongue in cheek, don't take it seriously!) the following notation is just ideal ?  [ Actually, it's not, because I had to remove the repeat and the volta 1 and 2 ...  but you'll get what I'm hinting at..... and to make it identical to all the other 3 versions when played I'd have to replace what is now bar 82 with another 24/4 bar, same as the first one, but with the final 3 notes changed to what's currently shown in bar 82 (and "lose" that original bar altogether) ]

Also @AndrewH - wonderful - many thanks indeed for stepping in with these examples!  Notational form is at least one area where classical violin and folk-fiddle can meet (assuming the player is not a fiddler who plays only by ear) - just sometimes wish some of the hastily scored-up fiddle tune sheets one sees could be as clear !  I guess it's similar to what you say - The rhythmic device used in the original post (three two-beat groupings in two three-beat measures) is common enough that there is a term for it: it's called a hemiola. Typically in the classical world it's written without any time signature change because it's fairly obvious to musicians that they are seeing a hemiola.   So there you go "a hemiola" new one to me - and I have learned something from this exercise, thanks ! Quote from one reference I found - A hemiola is a rhythmic device that gives the impression of the music speeding up. Music which was originally in triple time moves into duple time. This gives the effect of triple metre moving to duple metre.    That's precisely what I had hoped to achieve!  Awesome !

@AndrewH , cheers !