Hundreds turn out for Maldon’s first-ever shanty festival, raising £1,500 for historic barges

Shanty crews and visitors gathered at Hythe Quay to sing traditional sea shanties, in aid of charity, (Credit: Ben Shahrabi)

CROWDS packed Maldon’s waterfront for the town’s first-ever sea shanty festival on Saturday, June 14.

As well as lending their voices to hours of well-loved and not-so-well-known sea songs

led by nine separate acts, festivalgoers dug deep into their pockets to fill charity buckets in aid of the Thames Sailing Barge Trust.

The festival was free to enjoy but a generous £1,536 was collected from the buckets, the barge trust’s shop and a donation from the popular on-site Pimms bar.

Funds will help protect and preserve two of Maldon’s historic Thames sailing barges, Pudge and Centaur.

John Rayment, a spokesperson for the Thames Sailing Barge Trust, said: “An event like this brings people to Maldon to see what its heritage is all about. It’s been a very good day.

“We’ve been running around with buckets, collecting funds. They’re quite full so we’re

pleased.

“Well done to the organisers, Mains’l Haul shanty crew. It’s always a risk to start something like this from scratch, but they’ve done very well.

“The singing was great, and lots of people joined in.”

Songs of the sea rang out simultaneously from the quay, the nearby Little Ship Club and the St Mary’s Church Octagon up the hill, with visitors of all ages joining in.

For those who wanted more, there was an evening concert featuring the shanty crews in St Mary’s Church, terminating in a "sea song sing-song" at the Little Ship Club.

Festival organiser Ray Clark said he was delighted with the enthusiastic public response to Maldon’s first such event.

“I don’t see why we shouldn’t do it again next year,” he said.