1978–1981 · early recording trail
Folk Club Early Recordings
A small research page for the earliest surviving Chelmsford Folk Club recording references currently established in the archive. It deliberately separates a collection-level lead from the more detailed session records that can be followed through individual catalogue entries.
Important: the 1978 item below comes from the Essex Record Office's published folk-music collection guide. It is a surviving catalogue reference, but the present research pass has not established an individual online catalogue description for it. It is therefore a research lead, not a reconstructed programme.
Christmas special · 1978
SA 30/6/94/1
Chelmsford Folk Club: Christmas special
The Essex Record Office's Sources on Folk Music guide lists a Chelmsford Folk Club: Christmas special, 1978 under the Jim Etheridge recordings.
Reference: SA 30/6/94/1 · Jim Etheridge recordings · Folk Collection
This is important because it pushes the documented surviving Chelmsford Folk Club recording trail back to 1978, alongside the Record Office's broader statement that Jim Etheridge recorded almost every Chelmsford Folk Club between 1978 and 1986.
Open the Essex Record Office folk-music guide
What this establishes — and what it does not
Established
A 1978 Chelmsford Folk Club Christmas special is identified in the Record Office's published collection guide, with reference SA 30/6/94/1.
Not established here
The surviving guide entry does not, by itself, give us a full performer list, running order, complete programme or proof that every part of the recording survives today.
Research next step
Use SA 30/6/94/1 as the archival reference when checking the underlying Essex Record Office catalogue or requesting access. Do not fill the missing details from memory or from unrelated 1978 records.
Collection context
The Record Office says Jim Etheridge recorded almost every Chelmsford Folk Club between 1978 and 1986, often capturing announcements, floor singers, applause and the shape of a whole evening. It describes these recordings as a particularly valuable record of live performance atmosphere, while noting that the recordings were often reused by dubbing them to cassette.
This page uses that statement as collection context only. It does not turn the 1978–1986 range into a complete list of nights.