Arnside Maritime Singing Festival –Monday 29th August

Feature image: Sunderland Point Sea Shanty Crew singing on Arnside Pier last year.

Arnside is hosting a Maritime Singing Festival on Monday 29th August. There will be shanty groups singing on the Pier in the afternoon with indoor performances in the Sailing Club from 1 pm to 1030 pm. The festival is in aid of RNLI Morecambe Lifeboat Stations.

Performers include Sunderland Point Sea Shanty Crew, Mizzen Crew, a sea shanty group from Morecambe, Close Quarters from South Lakeland, Katus, a talented musician from the Eden Valley, Kath Reade a well-known folk singer song writer and author, the Lancashire Lads, who should be great fun, Tom Perry and Luna.

Alasdair Simpson for Arnside Sailing Club said “Our Clubhouse is situated in the Old Customs House overlooking the Promenade. With a rich maritime heritage, our clubhouse is an ideal location for a Maritime Singing Festival. Sea Shanties were originally sung by sailors on tall ships so there is a good link to sailing. There should be sailing taking place in the estuary in the background making for a lovely picture.”

“We run regular music nights in our clubhouse, which offers an intimate venue for live music with good acoustics. Many bands say it is their favourite venue.  Acts in the past year include Simon Armitage the Poet Laureate and his Rock Band LYR, the Chameleons a 1980s rock band from Manchester who influenced Oasis, Striding Edge, the Lake Distict’s leading ceilidh band and Hardwicke Circus, Cumbria’s up and coming band. 

“We were short listed for the Sailing Club of the Year Award in 2022 and received the award for being at the Heart of the Community, partly as the result of putting on events such as the Maritime Singing Festival”

The festival is being organised jointly with John Metcalfe, a Morecambe based sea shanty singer. John said “I became interested in maritime singing through the Lancaster Maritime Festival, which ran from 1980s to the 2000s and started to sing maritime related songs. I was inspired by the Cornish Shanty Crew “Fisherman’s Friends” and local shanty man Frank Lewis to form the Mizzen Crew in May 2019. Mizzen Crew aim to raise funds for the Morecambe RNLI Lifeboat Station from their many engagements. Sea Shanties have seen a resurgence in interest over recent years with Nathan Evans reaching No 1 in the charts with “Wellerman” and with the Fisherman’s Friends from Cornwall receiving national publicity from their film.”

Further Information

Alasdair Simpson, 01524 762386 Email [email protected]

John Metcalfe 07971817651 Email [email protected]

More information and tickets

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/arnside-sailing-club/arnside-maritime-singing-festival/e-gklqrq