Bruce, thanks for your reply, mate. I've tried my best to use your code, but it's not working. I think you're right that i need to add a fetch for the node, but i wonder if the syntax is wrong somehow?
I've tried tweaking it several times (moving the {/let}, droping the "$" from the fetch.
in my full folder view template override, i know this retrieves the subfolder names of the containing folder
{section name=Folder loop=$folder_list}
should i add something like this? it seems like a strech, but again i can't make your suggestion work. any ideas?