Any economic or banking experts about that can answer my probably daft question?

[Peanutbutterjar]

I can’t get my head around this, so please help! It may be a stupid question...

If I have a £10 note in my purse, then, in my head, I own that note and the value of money it represents.

If I pay that note in to my bank, when I hand the note over I am physically giving the cashier both the note itself and the value it represents. This then is credited to my account and the bank retains the note to support this increase in my account.

If I were to pay a cheque, then I hand in a piece of intrinsically worthless paper, that represents a sum of money. Does that money physically exist elsewhere, like my £10 note did, (ie, in the bank of the person who wrote the cheque) or is it just a concept and exist only in a computer?

In what form does the money represented by the cheque exist?

Yes, it does physically exist. Everything like banknotes and cheques are just promises to pay.

It is kept in gold at the Bank of England. If you read the tiny print on a bank note the clue is there.

Surely it is not literally kept in gold at the Bank of England! Especially not since Gordon Brown sold it all off!

No, we left the gold standard back in the 1930s! The £ is what is known as a fiat currency- I.e. backed by the Govt not by actual gold holdings!