WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING? 

It’s been a while since we last updated our website, for which apologies to our regular visitors. That doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy!

Through the winter we have been working on some new material at our weekly practices, as well as polishing old favourites. (Our practices are held every Wednesday in the Bere Ferrers Social Club at 7.30 and visitors are always welcome, especially if it increases the bar takings.)The other regular feature of our lives is performing at Acoustic Night at our local pub, the Olde Plough in Bere Ferrers. This happens on the third Sunday of every month starting at 8.30pm, and there is always an array of local talent on view, as well as the Tavy Tars.

Looking back over the last few months, we got off to a flier with a return to the St Germans Sailing Club for an RNLI fundraiser at the end of January. This is such a glorious venue on the banks of the River Lynher and the people are so kind and welcoming. The only difference this time was that we were indoors rather than performing on the riverbank-but it was cold, wet and dark outside, so no, we’re not going soft!

St Germans

 

In April we were at the Tavy Club in Tavistock, which is becoming another favourite venue. We had been asked to organise an evening of folk music as part of the Tavistock Music Festival. The Tars did two sets to open and close the evening, but we had invited lots of performing  friends including Tony Rose, Squandered Youth, Ferrers Reel, Roger (ex-Hanging Johnny) and Mike and Tilly (A Bit on The Country Side Lite!), so the enthusiastic audience had lots of variety to enjoy.



Tars and Friends Evening

 

Most recently, we were at Jolly Jacks Restaurant at the Mayflower Marina in Plymouth on the 8^th May to entertain the participants in the Old Gaffers Rally. This group of hardy sailors of traditional gaff-rigged vessels were visiting Plymouth for a few days as part of a Round Britain voyage which will continue through to August. Sadly we weren’t invited to join them for the rest of their trip, but we had a great night and so did the 150 or more folk enjoying the hospitality of Jolly Jacks. Lots of Old Gaffers were clearly knowledgeable about their sea shanties, so we were kept on our toes!

And looking ahead? We have a busy summer schedule:

It’s the Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival on the 15^th and 16^th of June and the Tars will be there. Details of who is performing where are on the Festival website.

On Saturday 29^th June we are performing for the participants at an International Convention of Economic Biologists being hosted by Plymouth University. The venue is on the Barbican in Plymouth. It’s a private event but even if you don’t have tickets but you’re visiting the Barbican that evening, you may hear us!

You definitely won’t need tickets for the two shop openings we have been asked to perform at by our good friends at Seasalt. (You may remember that we sang at the opening of their new Sidmouth shop in December 2012.) We will be in Lyme Regis for the opening of that store on a date in June, subject to difficulties with planners being sorted out. We will definitely be in Southampton on Wednesday 31^st July when Seasalt are opening their new shop within the John Lewis store. (This is proving to be a very popular gig with Tar’s wives).Hear us from 10.30 onwards.

Earlier in July (on Sunday 7^th) we will be in Teignmouth for what has now become the South Devon Sea Shanty Festival. This has grown out of the Dartmouth Sea Shanty Festival and now covers both towns over the course of the weekend. Teignmouth is a new venue for us, so we are looking forward to that.

And finally, the Tars are celebrating their 10^th Anniversary this year-in October to be precise. To mark that milestone, we have decided to record another CD and will be in the studio in late autumn, so maybe we will have our first ever Christmas No 1 (in the UK Shanty Charts).

Our Youngest Fan?

Tavy Tar Rob's grandson Joshua is besotted by the Tars CD and listens to it at least a dozen times a day.  He can even join in with the lines - and he is only three years old!  It is fairly amusing to hear him sing about wives waiting on the pier heads, bairns crying, though he has had trouble understnading the buoy and boy in the Eddystone Light.  Knows mermaids but not buoys.....

Wassailing 12 January

The Tars sang yet again this year at the annual wassailing evening in Bere Ferrers. They sang in the local orchard whilst the deluge more or less paused and again back in the Church Hall. This was followed by pasties and mulled cider and a good time was had by all.

Pictures by Lizzie Spiers

Tavy Tars in Sidmouth

2012 was a year of “firsts” for the Tars. Our first appearance at the Calstock Arts Centre. Our first appearance at the Clovelly Herring Festival. Our first performance at the Terrace Café on Plymouth Hoe. Our first performance at the Quay Sailing Club in St Germans.

All of that was rounded off on December 15^th with a very special event-the first time we have performed at a shop opening! We were delighted to be asked to go to Sidmouth by Seasalt of Cornwall to help them celebrate the opening of their new shop in the town and had great fun entertaining their customers and staff. Everyone from Seasalt was especially kind and helpful in planning our contribution, and on the day. They even dressed us for the event, and as you can see from the photos, we looked several degrees smarter than usual. A big thanks again from the Tars to everyone at Seasalt for being the perfect hosts and for making such nice clothes! We hope there will be more opportunities to collaborate with you in 2013.

Tars at Seasalt Launch

The Tavy Tars are delighted to have been asked to support the opening of a new branch in Sidmouth this Saturday 15 December. We will be there singing our range of shanties and songs of the sea and hope to see you there.
Seasalt can be found at http://www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk/

Tars Launch New Logo

The Tavy Tars have produced a brand new logo and a range of promotional flyers and cards. These have been designed by Mel Peters, local artist and design expert. We reckon she's done a great job.

Clovelly Herring Festival

 

 

 

Clovelly, on the North Devon Coast, held its annual Herring Festival on Sunday 18^th November. This event celebrates an era now long gone when there was a major herring fishery in the Bristol Channel and Irish Sea, and Clovelly was one of the major landing ports for the catch.

This year the Tars were invited to provide the music (together with Shake a Leg and Stamp and Go).This was a new event and venue for us, and a real treat, performing on the balcony of the Fisherman’s Loft which overlooks Clovelly’s lovely little harbour, in the sunshine. It goes without saying that our programme included a rendition of “Shoals of Herring”.

And right next door to the Fisherman’s Loft is the Red Lion. Ideal for tired shanty singers needing to lubricate their vocal cords between sets. We hope to be invited back next year!

Tars at the Wharf in Tavistock

Tars are expected to be a hardy lot, facing storms, disease, lousy food and long absences from home without complaint. But our resilience was put to the test on the 18^th October when we were performing at The Wharf in Tavistock. What we hadn’t appreciated was that:

·       The Highways Agency were resurfacing the main road through Tavistock and had closed the Wharf car park, so nowhere for us (or the audience) to leave our transport

·       On the same evening, and just down the road in the parish church, the “Military Wives Choir “were doing a fund raising concert, to a full house

But we toughed it out! And there were enough people who couldn’t get tickets for the “Military Wives Choir” to give us an appreciative audience for our one hour set.

If you enjoy live music and can get to Tavistock, The Wharf Arts Centre is a great venue and holds its “Acoustic Café” on the third Thursday of every month, showcasing local talent.  

 

Tars at the Wharf

The Tavy Tars are the headline act at The Wharf Acoustic Cafe this coming Thursday, 18 October.  They will be doing an hour long set of their mix of songs of the sea and shanties. It would be great to see a lot of our friends and supporters on the night.

St Germans Gig Report

We have had a great summer in 2012 with some memorable gigs in far flung places like Calstock, Dartmouth, Falmouth and Plymouth. (They seem far flung to us, but then we don’t get out much.)  With the summer drawing to a close we found ourselves in St Germans on the 15th September, at the delightful Quay Sailing Club on the banks of the River Lynher, performing at a fund raising event for the RNLI.

As a venue, this was very special, but probably pipped at the post by the Terrace Café on Plymouth Hoe with its fabulous views of Plymouth Sound. But for hospitality, this has no rival! Great food (and time to eat it), and an endless supply of liquid refreshment which left us relaxed as newts. And a dedicated “chaperone” whose sole task was to make sure we had everything we needed throughout the evening. So, a great big thank you to our new friends in the RNLI at St Germans. And we hope to be back!

Something else that made St Germans special was that we were joined for the evening by Sid and his splendid piano accordion. Sid is a regular at the monthly Acoustic Nights in our home pub (the Olde Plough) in Bere Ferrers and has everyone joining in with songs your granddad sang to you fifty years ago. It never fails, and whilst we were taking a break at the bar, Sid had St Germans rocking, or was it swaying? There was certainly lots of tapping!