Chequers Folk Club - always on the 3rd Wednesday in the month 8-10pm

Chequers Folk Club venue                                               

Now at:

The Barn, Cherry Tree Farm, Missenden Road,  Great Kingshill

HP15 6ED (entrance is opposite the end of Stag Lane)

(Originally at:

The Chequers Tree, High Street, Prestwood HP16 9HD)

Phone: 01494 866439
E-mail: philippa.wallin@btinternet.com

CHEQUERS FOLK HISTORY

On a warm Saturday evening in May of 2011, the Wick Trimmers decided to rehearse in the ‘characterful’ back room of The Chequers and they drew a small inquisitive audience….…..who’d have thought, years later, the Chequers Folk Club would be going strong, regularly attracting enthusiastic audiences and talented musicians?

With Colin, ‘king of the pun’, as MC, The Wick Trimmers are well received as the resident band, playing each month a variety of music from folk dance standards to beautiful airs and songs, from ragtime to slip jigs and everything in between, including many self-penned pieces written by Colin and Philippa, mostly delivered with a healthy dose of humour.

Over the years we have invited professional artists to entertain the club and have welcomed, amongst others, the Devines, The Mellstock Band, The Dovetail Trio Liz Simcock,  Lee Collinson, Dave Ellis & Boo Howard, virtuoso guitarist Clive Carroll, virtuoso Will Pound, Honey & The Bear and Robb Johnson.  More recently we are so privileged to  have booked Charlie Dore, Will Pound, Edwina Hayes, Mitchell & Vincent and The Lost Trades amongst others.  In the past it has been a delight to have local luthier, Dave White, play  at Chequers Folk showcasing his beautiful instruments often alongside local mandolin player, Peter Cross. Over the years there have also been occasional appearances of captivating ‘a cappella’ folk songs from Kate Golledge, tankard in hand, and storytelling from local raconteur Bob Davy. Other visiting performers from the Bucks folk scene, who are favourites at Chequers Folk are Fraser and Toots and also we are so grateful to Clive and Sue Carey who have supported the club for many years. In addition, we like to encourage youngsters who are just starting out on their journey with music.

During the renovations at The Chequers we were kindly hosted by Phil at The Polecat and we have also held the occasional evening at MALT The Brewery, however we are grateful to The Chequers Tree for giving us our first home.

For evenings featuring The Wick Trimmers and local guests we don’t charge an entrance fee but we do send round the ‘gold box’ so that the audience can show their appreciation - the proceeds go towards general running costs and help to pay for visiting musicians when we don’t sell tickets. For evenings with professional artists there is an entrance fee on the door, usually £10 or £12. 

Since May 2018 we are grateful to be able to hold Chequers Folk at The Barn @ Cherry Tree Farm (see address above) - a very characterful, well appointed barn with good seating, licensed bar and plenty of parking behind the barn. 

Our aim wherever we go? To promote live music, to build community, to encourage other musicians, to encourage creativity….

For Chequers Folk dates please see our diary page.

If you would like to be on our emailing list to receive monthly Chequers Folk updates please email Philippa on philippa.wallin@btinternet.com

Chequers Folk is administrated by volunteers from The King's Church Prestwood (Charity No 1069399) who provide insurances for our events too. 

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CHEQUERS FOLK ON LOCKDOWN

We certainly missed our monthly gatherings and were so pleased to restart the monthly sessions at the barn in September 2021. We did continue with monthly communications via email (do ask if you would like to be included) and had 3 months of live online concerts. As we have seen with the large resource of online musicians offering livestreams or concerts from their location, creativity is still alive and well!