Editing Chelmsford (section)

==Society and culture==

===Media===

Chelmsford is often referred to as '''the Birthplace of Radio'''.

* '''City Sound Radio''' is a community radio station which started broadcasting online and on digital services in September 2023, delivering local news, topics, popular music, and a haven for unsigned musicians with session and broadcast performance facilities.  It was created to provide more provincial representation at a time where national broadcasters had started to curtail their local obligations. citysound.radio
* '''Chelmsford Community Radio (CCR)''' broadcasts to the city on 104.4FM. It started out in 2013 as an internet only station and was granted an FM Licence in 2015. The FM frequency launched in 2017. The station offers a wide range of shows catering for many different tastes as well as offering a platform for many local bands, charities, community groups and businesses. www.chelmsfordcommunityradio.com
* Chelmsford was home to local radio station [[Chelmsford Radio]]. The station moved to studios in [[Southend-on-Sea]] having vacated its [[Heybridge, Maldon|Heybridge]] premises on 12 January 2009. The station was originally situated in Chelmsford city centre in Cater House until November 2006. This station was previously known as Dream 107.7 until February, and before that, 107.7 Chelmer FM up to 2002. The station began broadcasting on 18 October 1998. It is the local station for mid-[[Essex]]. Adventure Radio have owned this station since 2008, where it was purchased from Tindle Radio Ltd. As of 19 February 2015, Chelmsford and Southend Radio re-branded and merged to form [[Radio Essex]].<ref>[[Southend Radio]]</ref> 
* Chelmsford has a local opt-out of [[Heart (radio network)|Heart]]. [[Heart Essex (regional)|Heart Essex]] (previously Essex FM up to June 2009) has been on air since 12 September 1981 and has been owned by [[Global Radio]] since 2007. It moved to studios in Glebe Road in late 2004, having previously been based in [[Southend-on-Sea]]. In May 2009, the station was rebranded to The Heart of Essex, Essex FM. In June 2009, the popular Essex FM née Essex Radio name brand was dropped after 28 years. On 3 June 2019 Heart Essex was closed as part of wider changes to the Heart network. It was replaced by [[Heart East]] with programs coming from studios in London and Milton Keynes. The Chelmsford studio was closed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/listeners-boycott-heart-essex-after-2946391|title=Listeners boycott Heart Essex after presenters Martin and Su leave|last=Finnegan|first=Sophie|date=6 June 2019|website=essexlive|access-date=7 June 2019}}</ref>
* [[BBC Essex]] has been on air since 5 November 1986 and its studios are based in New London Road.
* There is a local '''Award-winning, Hospital Radio Station''' based out of Broomfield Hospital, known as Hospital Radio Chelmsford, the station has been running since 1964 and is supported by volunteers. The station broadcasts 24 hours for patients at the hospital but can also be listened to online and via the app. www.hrc.org.uk {{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Until their closure in the mid-2000s [[Anglia Television]]/ITV Anglia had offices located in Chelmsford city centre. Chelmsford is served by London and East Anglia regional variations of the BBC and ITV1. Television signals are received from either the [[Crystal Palace transmitting station|Crystal Palace]] or [[Sudbury transmitting station|Sudbury]] TV transmitters.

Chelmsford has its own '''Film Festival''' which was initially set up in 2017 by a few filmmakers and business owners who live in the Chelmsford area. This takes place predominantly at the Everyman Cinema in Chelmsford.

Publications based in Chelmsford include:
* the ''[[Essex Chronicle]]'', which was founded as the ''Chelmsford Chronicle'' in 1764. The weekly ''Essex Chronicle'' newspaper is the longest in continuous publication in the country.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}} Until the closure of the printing plant in 2002, the paper was printed in the town. It is now printed on presses by the [[Reach plc]] Group which now owns the paper. 
* ''[[Chelmsford Weekly News]]'' was a free local paper which ceased production in June 2017. 
* a popular publication is the free "Edge" magazine, a primarily volunteer effort aimed at older Chelmsfordians. 
* ''The Face of Chelmsford'' is a monthly magazine delivered to 12,500 homes in Chelmsford that has now become a digital publication updated daily. 
* ''City Life'' is a newspaper produced by Chelmsford City Council that is distributed throughout the area.

===Visual art===
In May 2022, Chelmsford hosted its first [[street art]] festival, ''Concrete Canvas''. The festival saw around 30 murals created in the cities [[Business improvement district|Business Improvement District (BID)]]. The artworks were created by a mix of local and internationally renowned street artists. They range from large pieces, installed on the walls of local businesses to smaller pieces on bollards and [[Openreach]] cabinets. The festival was supported by Chelmsford Council and [http://www.chelmsfordforyou.co.uk/concretecanvas Chelmsford For You].

Concrete Canvas continued in May 2023, an additional 43 artworks were added to the street art trail including work by local artists and international names such as [[D*Face|DFace]] and [[Shepard Fairey|Shephard Fairey]].

===Religion===
[[Chelmsford Cathedral]] is the second smallest cathedral in England after [[Derby Cathedral]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Cathedrals in the East of England: Chelmsford Cathedral|url=http://www.easterncathedrals.org.uk/chelmsford.html|access-date=8 August 2012|archive-date=13 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213204618/http://www.easterncathedrals.org.uk/chelmsford.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was built in the 15th and early 16th centuries, when it was the parish church of the prosperous medieval town. The [[Diocese of Chelmsford]] was established in 1914 from part of the [[Diocese of St Albans]]. It covers all of Essex and much of East London.

Chelmsford is situated in the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood]] and the two dioceses are now uniquely (at least within England) conterminous. With the coming of the [[Reformation]] the Catholic community of Chelmsford was subjected to the anti-Catholic laws and Chelmsford was the site of the death of a Catholic martyr, Saint [[John Payne (martyr)|John Payne]]. In the 19th century, native Catholics resurfaced and immigrants helped to build up the Catholic community. There are now three Catholic churches within Chelmsford along with a [[Norbertine]] [[canonry]] situated on New London Road; [[St. Philip's Priory]] and one of the largest Catholic private boarding schools in the country, [[New Hall School]].

Other denominations are represented, the [[Baptists]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], [[Seventh-day Adventist Church]], [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]], [[Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales|Presbyterians]], the [[Britain Yearly Meeting|Quakers]], and the [[United Reformed Church]] all have places of worship within the city. The Jehovah's Witnesses' ''Bethel'', or UK supervisory office, is based in Chelmsford.<ref>Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, [https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/bethel-tours/britain/ Bethel Tours], accessed 26 August 2022</ref>

For the local Muslim community, the majority of whom are Bengali and Pakistani, the Main Jamia Masjid mosque is located on Moulsham Street at the junction with Parkway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chelmsfordmosque.co.uk/contact-us/ |title=Chelmsford Mosque contact details|access-date=9 October 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chelmsfordmosque.co.uk/index.php/news/115-vacancy-for-imam-at-chelmsford-masjid|title=Vacancy For Imam at Chelmsford Masjid|author=Chelmsfod Mosque|access-date=5 April 2016|archive-date=5 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505041944/http://www.chelmsfordmosque.co.uk/index.php/news/115-vacancy-for-imam-at-chelmsford-masjid|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Sport===
[[Essex County Cricket Club]] is one of the 18 [[first-class cricket|first-class]] county clubs that make up the [[County cricket|English domestic cricket structure]], representing the county of Essex. The club is based at the [[County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford|County Ground]] in New Writtle Street close to the city centre.

[[Chelmsford City F.C.|Chelmsford City Football Club]] plays in the [[National League South]]. The club's home ground is at the Chelmsford Sport and Athletics Centre, Melbourne Park, which it shares with Chelmsford Athletic Club. Chelmsford is one of the largest settlements in England without a [[Football League]] team. The city is home to the Chelmsford Sunday League, of which there are five divisions consisting of teams from around the area. The former ground of the club{{which|date=December 2019}} the [[New Writtle Street Stadium]] hosted [[Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom|greyhound racing]] which was one of two venues to do so. The other was at Springfield on local farmland on Pump Lane corner which took place during April 1949.{{clarify|date=December 2019}} The racing at both was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the [[National Greyhound Racing Club]]) and they were known as flapping tracks, which was the nickname given to independent tracks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barnes|first=Julia|title=Daily Mirror Greyhound Fact File, page 413|year=1988|publisher=Ringpress Books|isbn=0-948955-15-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://greyhoundracingtimes.co.uk/?s=chelmsford|title=Chelmsford|work=Greyhound Racing Times}}</ref>

The [[Chelmsford R.F.C.|Chelmsford Rugby Football Club]] was established in 1920 and for the last 40 years has been playing rugby at Coronation Park in Timpsons Lane. As of 2016 the club has over 300 members and fields up to five senior teams each week. The club as of 2016 plays in the [[London 1 North]] league, the sixth tier of English rugby. In addition to the senior teams, there are 150 youth members providing teams from under 6's to under 17's. [[Chelmsford Hockey Club]] is a men's and ladies' field hockey club based in the city. It fields eight men's teams and five ladies' teams every weekend.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}} The Ladies' 1st XI compete in the [[Women's England Hockey League|English Hockey League]] Conference East as of July 2016.

'''Chelmsford Swimming Club''' has been running for over 100 years and is located in the '''Riverside Ice and Leisure''' building in Chelmsford.<ref>{{cite news|title=Metropolitan Districts|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19496904|access-date=16 May 2015|publisher=The Brisbane Courier|date=13 November 1906|quote=The Chelmsford Swimming Club held a carnival in the Manly Baths.}}</ref> Based in the same building are the [[Chelmsford Chieftains]], an ice hockey team that plays in the [[English National Ice Hockey League]]. The club promotes the use of junior players and local players from the Chelmsford and Essex area.


[[Horse racing]] has been run at two separate venues using the name Chelmsford, neither actually in the city centre itself. The sport originally took place at [[Chelmsford Racecourse]], at [[Galleywood]], from the 18th century until its closure in 1935.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hawkins|first1=Ted|title=Galloping Galleywood|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/content/articles/2008/04/24/galleywood_race_course_feature.shtml|publisher=BBC|access-date=2 March 2015}}</ref> A new racecourse was established at [[Great Leighs]] in 2008 and subsequently changed its name to [[Chelmsford City Racecourse]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Racing back at 'Great Leighs'|url=http://www.racehorseowners.net/en/news/index.cfm/2015fixtures|website=racehorseowners.net|access-date=2 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402090342/http://www.racehorseowners.net/en/news/index.cfm/2015fixtures|archive-date=2 April 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Since 2014 the city has held a [[marathon]]. Starting and ending in the city centre, the marathon takes in the city itself and the surrounding environs. The 2014 edition had over 1000 participants.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Chelmsford-marathon-2015-start-Shire-Hall/story-26236352-detail/story.html|title=Chelmsford marathon 2015 will start from Shire Hall|access-date=21 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150730170612/http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Chelmsford-marathon-2015-start-Shire-Hall/story-26236352-detail/story.html|archive-date=30 July 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Chelmsford campus of [[Anglia Ruskin University]] has many sports teams and facilities.