Folk Club venue research
Folk Club Venue Evidence Matrix
This matrix separates the venues associated with Chelmsford Folk Club by evidence type. Catalogue descriptions, later recollections and published archive research are shown separately so an approximate memory is not mistaken for a dated contemporary record.
Scope: this is a summary of the records already assembled in the Folk Club collection. It is not a complete night-by-night venue chronology.
| Venue / place | Period in current records | Surviving paper or recording evidence | Oral history / published context | Limit of the evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Cups | Around 1970–71 | No dated contemporary venue item is identified in the current source set. | Colin Cater’s 1999 interview recalls the club moving to the Three Cups around 1970–71. | Approximate retrospective recollection; exact move date is not established. |
| Golden Fleece | 1970s | SA 30/2/3/4 catalogue descriptions include a Folk Club guest list and club crossword competitions; a separate item identifies a 1977 guest list. | Colin Cater’s interview also refers to the Golden Fleece. | The catalogue descriptions support the venue association but do not provide a complete sequence of dates. |
| DJs Clubroom, Rainford Road | Late 1970s through at least the 1980s | SA 30/2/3/4 includes a DJs Clubroom guest list, an August 1978 newsletter and further newsletters through 1984. Dated recordings survive from 1978 onward. | Colin Cater’s recollection and Essex Record Office’s published research both connect the club with DJs Clubroom; the published research reproduces a programme naming the location. | Strongest convergence in the current set, but the material still does not date the first or final night there. Not every recording independently states its venue. |
| British Legion Hall | 1985 | The catalogue specifically identifies Summer and Autumn 1985 Folk Club newsletters for the British Legion Hall. | Sarah Graves’s oral history separately describes her later involvement in running the club during the 1980s. | A documentary anchor for the later period; the exact move date and full run are not established here. |
| YMCA | Later period; dates unresolved | No dated contemporary item is identified in this evidence set. | Appears as a later oral-history reference in the venue reconstruction. | Keep as an oral-history lead until a dated paper record or stronger independent account is matched. |
| Tindal Street / White Hart memory | Early or mid-1960s, as recalled online | No contemporary Chelmsford Folk Club paper record is matched to this claim here. | An external discussion contains a contributor’s recollection of a room in Tindal Street and the White Hart. | Uncorroborated external memory lead only; it does not establish a venue or date in the chronology. |
How to read this matrix
“Catalogue evidence” means the archive catalogue describes a surviving item; it does not mean every item has been inspected or that it supplies a full chronology. Oral-history dates remain approximate unless independently anchored. The absence of a listed item is not evidence that the club did not meet at a venue.
Venue Trail · Venue Timeline · Venue Research Targets · Paper Trail · Oral History Index