Completely Scuppered Shanty

Completely Scuppered Shanty from Hastings, East Sussex is a  group of men of a certain age who sing shanties in the manner of traditional work songs. 

Come down to our weekly Thursday session at:

The Jenny Lind Inn
69 High Street
Hastings
East Sussex
TN34 3EW

Held from 20.30 until 22.30, we sing a variety of shanties and sea related songs. Some of them well known and others more obscure. We encourage audience participation and guest singers.

The quartet grew out of the Hastings Shanty Singers (HSS) and RX Shantymen, performing at local festivals around Sussex and Kent, although not appearing at formal shanty festivals. They have a repertoire of nearly 300 shanties and work songs, fore bitters, plus new material and parodies

Alan Griffiths writes:

“Asked to sing for the local RNLI, a mish-mash of HSS and RX and a couple of others, the question was asked as to who we were. Pete came up with “Completely Scuppered”, and it stuck. It was still an ad hoc group, once as a trio, most times six or more. All this was about to change when RX folded.

I found out all this, and along with Norman we took the (weekly Jenny Lind Inn shanty) sessions over. Just the two of us, plus some guest singers, we muddled our way through. Eventually Pete, from HSS, joined us, then Scott from RX. Roll on a bit and Scott departed for the Isle of Arran and Mark joined us. 

The sessions have gone from strength to strength, we have improved enormously over the last five years and have sung in many places in the south east. We have become a regular act at Hastings Pirate Days on the main stage, along with our regulars at the Jenny, who have become our ‘backing group’ the Scupperettes.

We take our singing seriously, to a point, our aim is to have fun, get an audience joining in, and if that means changing a few words around, penning a few songs that are about Hastings, all the better.”