A shanty adventure

I’ve shared many reviews and stories about the Beach’d Buoys, one of Weston-super-Mare’s finest musical products, shanty-band extraordinaire! I’ve also mentioned their origins, but I’ve not really given much detail about them, only a brief brush with an outline of their inception.

Husband Bari has made music from being a very young child when he arranged his mum’s baking tins and pans to create a drum-kit. What a tolerant mum, but what became apparent fairly quickly that he had a natural flair and before long he had a junior percussion kit, and while still quite a young lad joined his pianist dad in the local pub. You can guess that once he was older he moved on from the sort of music a pub or club audience would appreciate, to the sort of music his friends also liked to play. He had some very talented friends, and groups were formed (groups not bands in those days!) and many many gigs followed. He branched out into other music, jazz for example, as he went on to art school, then became an art teacher and eventually moved north and discovered the joys of the brass band world. He also found another rock group, had more musical adventures, until, once we moved to Uphill in Somerset, he was enticed (unexpectedly) into a shanty band – having never sung in public since he was a choirboy as a child!

Bari began his shanty adventure with our friend Peter (PJ’s ice-cream – one of the best in the country!) and they joined a local band which had just started. However, for various reasons and musical differences,  they abandoned ship and briefly became the Mutineers with various others. They solidified into the glorious Beach’d Buoys and continue from strength to strength. Their crew has changed over the years, and now their mainstays include Trevor (who’s written several shanties one of which premiered yesterday at Hedges Cider Barn in Somerset) Andrew (who has a private pub in his garage) the inimitable Keith (who you may well have seen as an extra in such films as ‘The Fishermen’s Friends’) and the equally inimitable Tony. There are several newer recruits, John, Bill and Dave  who all play their parts and add to the general yo-ho-ho of the performances. They have an occasional guest performer, Saucy Sally – but I will leave her to your imagination!

They practice weekly and work hard (very hard) at what they do – as well as having a few laughs (and a few pints) as they do so. They have many local gigs in pubs, clubs, local care-homes, at events and parties but their big adventures began when they began to attend shanty festivals – Mevagissey, Port Isaac, Burnham-on-Sea, Bristol, Barry Island, Exeter – and others.

Here is the Beach’d Buoys own blurb:

The Beach’d Buoys were reformed several time from jetsam and flotsam found lurking in and around the side alleys and darkest recesses of the Weston-super-Mare Area. Our main aim is to raise money for the Wraxall Children’s Hospice, and to enjoy ourselves in our twilight years. Many of us have been performing for a number of years, some with other bands. Think of us as the Travelling Wilbury’s of the Shanty scene!
The Beach’d Buoys, Weston-super-Mare’s acclaimed Shanty Band has been entertaining Somerset and South West audiences since 2018.  We have no connection with the similarly named group, as we are cheaper and younger (in most cases). The ‘Crew’ originally come from varies parts of the country such as the North West, Black country, Birmingham, London and the South East and met by pure chance in a pub in Kewstoke. Two of the ‘crew’ appeared in the film, Fishermen Friends 2 as ‘extras’ (released in 2022) – We do not charge for the gigs as we rely on the generosity of our audiences. All donations and proceeds go to the Wraxall Children’s Hospice in Somerset.

Yes, they take nothing for themselves at all – everything they raise in fees and donations goes to the Children’s Hospice, Somerset, every penny.

Saucy Sally and Bari at Pentewan near Mevagissey at the Festival 2023

My featured image is of the Buoys’ most recent gig at Hedgers Cider House, Redhill near Bristol. Andrew, Bari, Tony, Keith, John and Trevor, on the guitar, is singing his own self-penned shanty ‘A Spectre in the Sand’.