It preserves detail
Some surviving descriptions go far beyond a name and date. Martin Carthy's 17 October 1982 catalogue entry, for example, lists the individual pieces performed across the two halves of the recording.
Surviving catalogue detail
Folk Club Performance Records
A focused index of songs, sets and performance details that are actually named in surviving Essex Record Office descriptions of Chelmsford Folk Club recordings. This is deliberately narrower than the People & Performance Network: it records what the catalogue says was performed, rather than attempting to reconstruct complete bills.
Source rule: wording and uncertainty are retained from the surviving descriptions. A catalogue description may cover only part of an evening or one tape of a two-tape recording, so the absence of a song or performer here does not mean they were absent from the event.
Search performances
| Date | Performer / group | Performance detail | Reference | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 Jul 1982 | Mick and Sarah Graves | “Get a Little Table” is identified by the Record Office's published research as their performance from this Chelmsford Folk Club recording. | SA 30/6/402/1 | Catalogue |
| 17 Oct 1982 | Martin Carthy | Bedmaking; I Sowed Some Seeds; My Lord of Sherbourne's Jig / Glorishears; The Brave Youth at the Battle of Quebec; Never Go To Funerals (Until the Fellow Dies); Seven Yellow Gipsies; The Foxhunt; All Of A Row; The Petticoat; Lord Byron / The Battle of the Somme; The Devil and the Feathery Wife; The famous Flower of Serving Men; The Siege of Delhi. | SA 30/6/425/1 | Catalogue |
| 7 Nov 1982 | Annie Harding | “Reynardine”, identified in the Record Office research article as a performance recorded at the club. | SA 30/6/428/1 | Catalogue |
| 7 Nov 1982 | Chelmsford Morris | The Valentine; a stepping dance by three Chelmsford Ladies; and Kilted Aunt Poll, a dance written by Chelmsford Morris Men. The catalogue describes this as the opening of the second half. | SA 30/6/428/1 | Catalogue |
| 3 Mar 1985 | Popular Wobblies | The Girl With The Scrambled Yellow Hair; Jesus on the Mainline. | SA 30/6/653/1 | Catalogue |
| 3 Mar 1985 | Peter Billing | The Nutting Girl; The Green Cockade. | SA 30/6/653/1 | Catalogue |
| 3 Mar 1985 | Geoff Harris | The Hardworking Miner; The Battle Cry of Freedom. | SA 30/6/653/1 | Catalogue |
| 3 Mar 1985 | Simon Ritchie and Bobbie? | A set of English tunes and “My Home Waltz”. The catalogue retains the question mark after “Bobbie?”. | SA 30/6/653/1 | Catalogue |
| 3 Mar 1985 | Steve Morris | The Royal Duke of Grantham; Forty Long Miles. | SA 30/6/653/1 | Catalogue |
| 20 Apr 1986 | Residents' Band; Pete Billinge; Roger Johnson; Countryman's Favour; Tony Wynn; Annie Butcher | Singers' Night part one: introductory music from the Residents' Band, songs from the named singers/groups, dances from Seven Straw Braid, and tunes from Phil Heath-Coleman. | SA 30/6/736/1 | Catalogue |
| 20 Apr 1986 | Seven Straw Braid / Phil Heath-Coleman | Dances from Seven Straw Braid and tunes from Phil Heath-Coleman are explicitly named in the catalogue description. | SA 30/6/736/1 | Record Office archive article |
Why this layer matters
It avoids overclaiming
A named song is evidence of a recorded performance, not automatically proof that it was the complete set played that night. The index therefore keeps the catalogue scope visible.
It links music to people
This page complements the Folk Club Network: the network answers “who is named?”, while this page answers “what performance detail survives?”
Collection context
The Essex Record Office says Jim Etheridge recorded almost every Chelmsford Folk Club between 1978 and 1986, often recording the whole evening including announcements, floor singers, applause and guest spots. The guide says there were usually two cassettes per evening. Sources on Folk Music.
The Record Office's research also identifies “Get a Little Table”, “Reynardine”, Simon and Bobbie Ritchie's “The March Hare”, and the Seven Straw Braid material as examples of Chelmsford Folk Club recordings. Folk in Essex: Part Three.
Related pages
Folk Club Collection — recording-evidence index.
Folk Club Network — people, groups and performance relationships.
External Archive Sources — wider archive research.