Martin Carthy
17 October 1982 — surviving recording record SA 30/6/425/1. The Essex Record Office identifies Carthy performing at Chelmsford Folk Club; the archive currently retains the surviving recording as parts 2 and 4 of 4.
Folk Club research / named evidence
Folk Club Named Evidence
A source-led index of people and groups who are explicitly named in the surviving Chelmsford Folk Club evidence already assembled for this archive. This is not a complete performer list. A name appears here because a surviving catalogue record, published Essex Record Office research, oral history, or paper trail identifies that person or group in connection with the Chelmsford folk scene.
How to read this page
Evidence first. A name on this page is not automatically a confirmed gig entry. The evidence class is shown so that a remembered appearance, a recording, a surviving programme and published archive research are not silently treated as equivalent.
Directly named in surviving Chelmsford recording records
Annie Harding
7 November 1982 — surviving recording record SA 30/6/428/1. The published Record Office research identifies Harding performing “Reynardine” at Chelmsford Folk Club.
Simon & Bobbie Ritchie
3 March 1985 — SA 30/6/653/1. The Record Office identifies “The March Hare” performed by Simon and Bobbie Ritchie; Simon briefly introduces the piece at the start.
Paul McCann & Jill Palmer-Swift
22 December 1985 — SA 30/6/712/1. The Record Office identifies McCann and Palmer-Swift performing on East Anglian Dulcimers at Chelmsford Folk Club.
Seven Straw Braid / Chelmsford Assembly
20 April 1986 — SA 30/6/736/1. Jill Palmer-Swift introduces Chelmsford Assembly, performed by the folk dance group Seven Straw Braid.
Named through oral history or wider documentary context
Sarah Graves
Oral-history evidence connects Graves with the Chelmsford Folk Club scene; the archive also has the surviving 18 July 1982 recording with Mick Graves and Geoff & Penny Harris.
Colin Cater
Oral-history evidence provides an early scene lead and a recollection of the Three Cups around 1970–71. The archive keeps this as oral-history evidence rather than converting it into an exact event record.
Don Budds / Folk Five
Budds' oral history records a recollection of Folk Five's first Chelmsford Folk Club gig in the early 1960s. The exact night is not established, so this remains an early-scene evidence lead.
Jill Palmer-Swift
Named both in surviving recording evidence and in the wider oral-history research. The archive keeps the specific recording evidence separate from broader biographical/contextual statements.
Named in published Essex Record Office context
The published Record Office research also names practitioners and organisers connected with the wider Essex folk movement, including Simon Ritchie, Sue Cubbin, Roger Johnson, Annie Harding, Jim Garrett, Paul O’Kelly, Alie Byrne, Reg Beecham, Jill Palmer-Swift and Dave Vandoorn. Their appearance in that wider context does not by itself establish a particular Chelmsford performance date.
The Record Office also states that the Essex folk-club circuit was documented in Essex Folk News (LIB/PER 2/22/1–50), giving the archive a contemporary documentary route for future checking. Essex Record Office published research
Follow the Essex Folk News trail · Documentary Source Register
What this index deliberately does not do
- It does not turn every name in an oral history into a dated gig.
- It does not assume a recording captures the whole bill merely because Jim Etheridge often recorded whole evenings.
- It does not merge neighbouring Essex folk clubs into the Chelmsford record.
- It does not fill missing tape parts or reconstruct unrecorded programme details.
The Essex Record Office describes Etheridge's practice as recording almost every Chelmsford Folk Club between 1978 and 1986, often the whole evening, but individual catalogue records remain the boundary for individual surviving claims. Essex Record Office collection guide
Research routes
Documentary Source Register · Documentary Evidence Map · Evidence Matrix · Recording Evidence Matrix · Oral History Index · Paper Trail