An unexpected combination- Welsh Male voice choir and shanty.
Four years ago committees around the country met to plan the celebrations to mark two hundred years of volunteering by the RNLI in 2024 and to highlight the extraordinary bravery, dedication and selflessness of the crews. Martin Bruce, station chairman at RNLI Rye Harbour and founder of the Rye Harbour Herrings shanty group, was commissioned to write a shanty doing exactly that with a brief to sum up all those years of the history in just six verses.
The shanty has been well-received acclaim wherever it has been performed, its first outing being in Rye Harbour, Martin accompanied by The Dockyard Dogs, a wonderful shanty group based in Surrey which raises funds tirelessly for the RNLI. Television exposure in Surrey and London caused a great deal of interest and since March Martin has toured Sussex, Kent, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. He performed at the Port Isaac Shanty Festival with various bands and a particular highlight came on July 8 in Aberdare in Wales when he sang the shanty with the Cwmbach Male Voice Choir.
The choir was founded in 1921 and their commitment, talent and their contributions to Welsh music and the community have made them a respected and beloved institution within the Welsh choral music tradition.
Ceri Jeffreys, Press Officer for RNLI Port Talbot, arranged for the choir to learn the chorus and for Martin to come to Cwmbach to sing and record this version. The rehearsal room was filled with over fifty members of the choir and as their voices blended together with Martin’s there was a palpable intake of breath from those watching and listening. Crew from RNLI Port Talbot came to support this joint venture and the sound sent tingles down their spines.
Ceri explains, “It all started as the pandemic descended and all lifeboat stations throughout the country shut down over night with all training suspended. Searching for ways to stop skill-fade and keep crew active during these dark days I came across RNLI Rye Harbour’s pioneering online training and a single email to their Lifeboat Press Officer resulted both in Port Talbot RNLI joining the rapidly growing group of lifeboat stations joining the weekly online training network and in a genuine friendship blossoming out of the darkness of the pandemic which has lasted to this day.
When I heard that Martin had written a sea shanty to celebrate the 200th anniversary a germ of an idea came to mind: to combine a sea shanty with a male voice choir.
I believe that never before has a Welsh Male Voice Choir backed a shanty soloist. Six months later, in one amazing evening which simply blew my mind, the sheer power of the words and voices really raised the hairs on the back of my neck: truly a fitting tribute to 200 years and counting.”
Port Talbot’s LOM (Lifeboat Operations Manager) Clive Morris, attended the performance and said afterwards, “ We are truly honoured to have been part of this history making moment for the RNLI. To bring together our crew with Rye Harbour’s soloist, Martin Bruce, and then to add the wonderful voices of the Cwmbach Male Voice Choir was inspirational. We all are proud of the work that has been carried out by dedicated and selfless crew over two hundred years and the shanty sums this up perfectly. And we now look to the future of the charity and support it all the way.”
On Tuesday eveing Martin bruce was welcomed to RNLI Port Talbot where he sang the shanty agin and watched them launch.
RNLI/KT Bruce
Martin Bruce RNLI Port Talbot and Cwmbach Male Voice Choir
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
