It’s been a busy month for The Selsey Shantymen with them singing at the Emsworth Marina Fun Day and the Portsmouth Gin and Chilli Festival over the weekend of the 20/21st May. That busy weekend was just a preview of what was to come.
At 6 am on Thursday 1st June, 4 fully loaded cars left Selsey bound for the Euro-Tunnel where they were booked onto the 9.40 am train to France. North through France into Belgium they arrived at their destination , Oostende, in time to check in at their hotel, change out of their “civies” into their Shanty gear, grab some lunch and be ready for their first performance at 3.30 local time
Twelve “Shants” ready for their first performance on board the classic sailing ship S.S.Mercator . The Selsey “Pink berets”!!
That started a very busy weekend as guests of the “Oostende at Anchor” Boat Festival, the biggest of its type in Europe.
During the 4 days of the festival they sang 8 times for about an hour each time. This in front of a huge audience spread over the extended harbour area.
The expected visitors to the festival were estimated at 250,000 spread over the 4 day event with 150 boats of all shapes and sizes filling the harbour. The weather remained dry but very windy with rough seas in the North Sea which unfortunately stopped the annual visit of the Dunkirk Veteran boats from crossing the channel to take part.
They certainly left their mark on the Belgium and North Sea coast, raising the profile of Selsey and had a great, but exhausting time themselves. Hopefully they will repeat the adventure in 2024.
Recently the Shantymen sang at the Birdham Classic Boat Festival over the weekend of 10th/11th June then re-appear at Selsey RNLI in another one of their summer performances on Friday 16th June at 7 o\c . The next one at the RNLI is 16th July at 2 pm.
The Shantymen are also performing at The Chichester Gala in Priory Park on 1st July – it will be a great day!