On Talk Like A Pirate Day 2020, at one minute to three, as a confident finger moved to jab the “Go Live” button on Facebook – it disappeared! Calamity! Were we sunk before we began? No, we weren’t, we managed to go live only five minutes late, but our carefully planned schedule went straight out of the porthole and we had to improvise. Everything we had planned appeared, if not on the live event feed, then on the event page. Thanks to Carys, who kept her head while the crew were losing theirs!

For those of you who missed the live show and for those of you who are gluttons for punishment, The Silent One has compiled a YouTube edition which brings everything together in one place (or, more accurately, two places) Please enjoy …

Well, our Autumn Gathering at the Olde Smack has fallen victim to the plague – it’s not a big place, and, as you probably know, the nearest it can come to “social distancing” is “not taking the next pirate’s drink out with your elbow (unless you mean it)” – so we have decided to embrace all the technology available to us and go virtual.

This year’s gathering will be live-streamed on Facebook on 19th September from 1500-1745 hrs, with a mix of pre-recorded and live sets from the Silver Darlings, ourselves, Carys (and Max the Pirate Cat) and, headlining, The Captain’s Beard. Please join us for a chat online – and bring your own rum!

Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/307205290562083/?

We are both sorry and delighted to tell you that two of our summer gigs have been postponed. Sorry, because we were looking forward to playing out this summer, and delighted, because those same gigs will be happening in summer 2021:

Folk at the Boat, Ipswich: postponed to June 2021 – date to be confirmed

Chickenstock, Stockbury, Kent: 23rd July 2021 – and, if you buy your festival tickets before 23rd July this year, you will be paying 2020 prices! Go to the festival website for full details: https://www.chickenstockfestival.co.uk/

So far, our own Autumn Gathering is set to go ahead at the Olde Smack, Leigh on Sea on 19th September – we’ll keep you posted.

We are all becalmed, hoping that this dreadful plague will pass us by and that a fair wind will get up soon. In the meantime, here’s a song to cheer you up:

After a quiet end to 2019, during which one of our crew had to have her head sewn back on after a skirmish – you should have seen the others! – we are sailing again in 2020. These are confirmed so far:

Sunday June 7th: Folk At The Boat, New Cut, Ipswich. Plunderin’ time to be advised.

Friday July 24th: we are delighted to be given boarding rights to CHICKENSTOCK Festival. We’ll be playing on the Friday evening. See the festival website for more details!

Saturday September 19th: AUTUMN GATHERING at Ye Olde Smack, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. This is fast becoming a fixture! Celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day in true pirate style! We can warmly recommend the hospitality on offer at Ye Olde Smack.

Keep yer eyes peeled…..there may well be others…….

The Captain and Crew are pleased to announce that we will be sailing this year on board the good ship FolkEast 2018.  Follow this link to find out more about this smashing festival: https://folkeast.co.uk/

Look for us on the Soapbox Stage, in the woods, at dead of night on Sunday 19th August.  10 pm start!

Also:

Tuesday 21st August:  The Hoy at Anchor Folk Club, The Royal British Legion

7/9 Northview Drive, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 9NG.  Pillaging starts at around 7.30 pm.

Brixham Pirate Festival 2018 will soon be upon us!  After a weekend on the grog we will be playing on the Main Stage at 11 am on Monday 7th May.  We will be commencing our weekend of pirate fun and debauchery at The Old Coaching Inn, 61 Fore Street, on the evening of Friday 4th May.  Come and see us for real songs about real pirates! From 8.30 pm onwards.

Which might be a statement of the blindingly obvious, but you need to know that (most of) Captain Morgan’s Rum Do will be performing a short set for …

Southend Folk & Ale Festival 2018

On Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th April 2018
on behalf of Southend on Sea Borough Council,
The Hoy at Anchor Folk Club is organising a Free Folk Festival
in aid of The Leigh Folk Festival Association at The Royal Pavilion on Southend Pier.

All participants are giving their time and performing without any personal reward.

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As this is in aid of Leigh Folk Festival, which is a very good cause indeed, please try to drop in and see us!

We had a great day at the Smack! Unfortunately, The Captain’s Beard were stranded in snowy Sussex and couldn’t make it, but local band Grand Reunion stood in at the very last moment. Not that they made it without mishap, as they were without their guitarist, who was, at that very moment, waiting for the paramedics after having a bad fall while loading his kit. A depleted Tempus Experientia, in the shape of “Sailor Sam” (Kevin Corcoran), provided the links and the Hoy Shanty Crew sang their hearts out for us.

Nigel Townend won the songwriting competition. The Cap’n is a hard-hearted blackguard and insisted that entrants had to be there in person and perform their entry themselves – and Nigel did exactly that.

We couldn’t have predicted that weather – it’s at times like that that a pirate sees the charm of the Caribbean …

Anyway – here’s a taste

Rash. Impetuous. Foolhardy. Bold. Whetever you call it the Winter Pirate Gathering at Leigh on Sea is going ahead tomorrow after all. We have a band, The Captain’s Beard, braving the great outdoors to come up from Brighton, we have our own crew, Captain Morgan’s Rum Do, battling their way from Ipswich and Felixstowe and Tempus Experientia fighting the trains to come from the other side of London. The Hoy Shanty Crew are hardy folks and they plan to be there as billed. All we need now is an audience to make it all worthwhile…. come and spend the day in a pub – what else will you do?