Ships and Giggles Shanty Group

[As posted on Facebook] Gloucester, 11 May 2024:  Ships & Giggles have been together for only 18 months. The idea for a Shanty group was conceived by a couple of members of a Forest of Dean choir, the Forest Singers. The idea was to perform a few Shanties in the interval of the choir’s annual birthday concert, just for a bit of fun really. What we didn’t expect was the enthusiastic reception to our set. So we decided to continue with the group, and started rehearsing some more material. Pretty soon more choir members asked to join, and then others from outside of the choir pitched in, and we now have a roster of about 20 singers from which we can raise a performing group. We have performed at the Coleford Festival, at pubs, at village hall events, and have a busy summer programme covering fetes, weddings and birthday parties as well. Our singers are both guys and gals, of varying age, and we sing a variety of traditional shanties. We also include some original material, and songs that aren’t strictly shanties, but fit in with the shanty format. You will find our appearance quite colourful,with a seafaring theme, and we sing Acappella, with a guitar accompaniment, if that makes sense!