Pleased I found this thread, well better late than never.
I have very fond memories of the Halliard and Chelmsford Folk Club and indeed the Essex folk scene in general from the mid 1960's to the mid 1970's when I left the area.

I dont know if you will remember me but I used to play guitar with
The Riggers who, you will remember I'm sure , were one of the resident groups at Chelmsford, mainly when the club was at the Saracens Head. Consequently I saw the Halliard many times or at least when you wer'nt away on tours yourselves.I seem to remember you often tried out your new material at the club so I remember song like "Frost, Jones and Williams", "Bold Nelson "( did you play bass recorder on that Nigel ) "Ten Thousend Miles Away" and "Bold Nevison".
My favorite song was always "Ladies Dont Go Thieving" which I appropriated myself and sang for many year.The cheques in the post.
The song that used to make me smile was The Workhouse Boy, not because of the story line which is of course pretty grim, but because when Dave sang " we all of us say it, and we say it with sneers" he seemed to have the ability not just to sneer with his face but with his entire body. It was a great pleasure for me to play at the same venue as you guys. Not only were you an entertaining group and musically very strong but you were also very inventive in adapting the old Boadside ballards and giving them a new lease of life which I cant remember other singers doing at the time.
I first went to the Chelmsford club when it was at the White Hart but most of my memories are from the Saracens Head period. What a great club it was. Aside from the Halliard I was able to see some top guest singers there. There were many nights when Patsy on the door had to turn lots of people away because we just could'ent fit any more in.Another important element of the club was that as well as the known guests the Halliard would often bring in singers from other areas of the country. This may not appear a very radical idea today but in the late 60's clubs tended to book guests from their own part of the country. This meant that we were able to see for the first time in Essex singers like Dave Burland, Tony Capstick, Harvey Andrews, Jon and Mike Raven, The Yetties and the Farriers and no doubt many others that I cant bring to mind at this moment.

The Essex/ East London folk scene was very strong at this time and it was possible to go to a folk club on every night of the week and even have a choice of several on Friday and Sundays. Several of them which Dave Moran was involved with I think
I used to go to the singers club at the Bull in Blackmoor on a Monday night when it was run by a couple of guys called Chris and Dave ( I think ). I understand it's still going though sadly not at the Bull anymore. Amongst the many singers who appeared there I always had a soft spot for the the inimitable Ernie the singing busman ( anybody else remember him) and Jim Garett and his rocket shaped guitar, a very clever songwriter.

Better stop now as nostalgia can be habit forming, but thanks to Nigel,Dave and Nic for the great memories of the golden decade of folk clubs.
All the best
Dominic Patten.

P.S Just noticed the post from Pavane. We proberbly met as I used to do the residents job at Hornchurch Folk Club. Best of luck with your book