1960s music archive
John Power — Remembering the Corn Exchange
The surviving original site material includes John Power's long-form history of the venue and its Saturday Scene.
Copyright remains with John Power. The associated source record and extracted text include the supplied article; Maurice confirms John Power supplied his articles for use on the original Chelmsford Rocks website and was credited there; this rebuild retains that credit.
John Power — Blues Boom
Four separate surviving files: 1960s Blues Boom, 1960s Blues Room 2, 1960s Blues Boom 3 and 1960s Blues Boom 4.
Credited to John Power where the source identifies him. The archive keeps the source attribution with the catalogue record.
The Fairies
Essex Rock Music Biography — The Fairies — John Power. The source carries a copyright notice. It is catalogued and credited, not silently treated as Chelmsford Rocks-owned writing.
The Coletrane Union
Local band material, including the mid-60s Corn Exchange connection and their 1966 Spain tour.
Jimi Hendrix / Corn Exchange photographs
Preserved contact sheet from the supplied image set. It is shown here as a source lead; the archive does not use it to add new event details or photographer attribution.
Recovered original photographs
_cleaned.jpg)
What the surviving source account tells us
The Saturday Scene
The surviving Corn Exchange source describes a busy Saturday-night music scene in the old hall, promoted with striking posters and drawing a younger audience. It places the venue at the centre of Chelmsford's 1960s rhythm-and-blues and beat culture.
R&B, soul and beat
The account names a wide range of performers associated with the venue, including Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Zoot Money, Chris Farlowe, Geno Washington, the Animals, Small Faces, Spencer Davis Group and The Who. It also describes American blues and soul performers appearing alongside British acts.
Local musicians
The source highlights local support acts including The Mooche, Coltrane Union and RBQ, and records connections between Chelmsford musicians and later professional bands.
Hendrix and Pink Floyd
Jimi Hendrix is described as one of the unforgettable appearances at the venue. The same account recalls a very small audience for Pink Floyd and uses that contrast to describe the changing musical climate at the end of the Saturday Scene.
The end of the building
The source links the changing musical climate with the end of the Saturday Scene and the subsequent demolition of the Corn Exchange and adjoining buildings in 1969. The later Chancellor Hall is described in the source as no substitute for the old venue.
Source record
Open the surviving Corn Exchange source PDF. This page summarises the source rather than reproducing its copyrighted article.
Source title: Chelmsford Corn Exchange. The surviving PDF is dated 12 May 2021 and contains the John Power account plus the original site's navigation/archive references.
Documented 1960s events
The Who — 23 January 1965
The archive contains the contemporary advert/poster and a large collection of people's memories. Some later comments give conflicting year wording; the discrepancy is retained.
Jimmy Nicol — 3 April 1965
Poster material survives. Companion Beatles imagery is treated as reference material, not evidence that the Beatles played Chelmsford.
Alex Harvey Soul Band — 4 September 1965
Poster plus period photographs. The photographs are labelled as period imagery where they are not photographs taken in Chelmsford.
Jimi Hendrix / Soul Trinity — 25 February 1967
Photographs and community memories form one of the strongest surviving Corn Exchange stories.
Pink Floyd — 23 September 1967
Contemporary Melody Maker advertising survives alongside recollections. The period band photograph is not presented as a Chelmsford photograph.
Library source: Chelmsford Live Music
Open the preserved Chelmsford Live Music source transcription →