Arnside Maritime Singing Festival

Maritime Singing Festival held in Arnside Sailing Club's historic clubhouse in an old Customs bonded warehouse. with singing outside on the Pier. Come for the weekend and enjoy Arnside's location on the idyllic Kent Estuary.

Arnside Shore

This year the festival features Jack Tars, a rising young maritime folk group; John Conolly, an internationally respected songwriter; Linn Phipps who has performed at festivals worldwide and local Sea Shanty Crews..

Jack Tars

Arnside has a long maritime history. The estuary was the port for Kendal trading with its own Vice Admiral. Crossfields built Morecambe Bay Prawners and yachts. The Victorians held regattas.

The event is been held in conjunction with the Morecambe Maritime Festival which takes place the previous day with profits going to the RNLI and a Severn a yacht built in Arnside in 1912. The nearest RNLI Stations to Arnside are Morecambe, where there is a hovercraft and in-shore lifeboat and Roa Island near Barrow which has a Tamar Class Lifeboat and an in-shore lifeboat. In 2024 the RNLI saved 337 lives with lifeboat crews assisting  8259 people.

Singing on the Pier

Subject to the weather there will be sea shanty singing on the pier in the afternoon

Lunchtime Concert and Sing Around 1300 - 1400 £4

Folk Sing Around led by Michael Taylor - Open session where people take it in turns to sing. At a Folk Sing Around you can expect to hear some good singers.

Clive Marquis-Carr - Folk singer from Lytham St Annes. He plays the guitar, banjo and mandolin.  He is the leader of the Lytham St Annes Sea Shanty Crew and writes songs for them.  Today he is performing solo.

Afternoon Concert 1430 -  1700  Tickets  £8

At Sea!  - Sea Shanty Singers from All at Sea, a Cumbria based sea shanty group performing locally and at festivals throughout the country

Bonny at Morn featuring Linn Phipps - Linn is a traditional singer based in Scotland singing sea songs and shanties in both Gaelic and English. She sings at festivals  worldwide..

Sunderland Point Shanty Crew - are a raucous rowdy bunch of sea shanty singers from Sunderland, a historic maritime village at the mouth of the River Lune that gets cut off by the tide twice a day. The group includes working fishermen, a boat pilot, a magician and an artist. They supported Fishermen's Friends when they played at Morecambe.

Evening Concert 1900 - 2130  Tickets £15

Mizzen Crew - Sea Shanty Group based in Morecambe with singers from Silverdale. The crew will open our evening concert.

John Conolly is an internationally-respected songwriter. His most popular song, “Fiddlers Green”, a fisherman's version of paradise  is performed and loved all over the world. Both the Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers have done cover versions. John grew up in Grimsby. Many of his songs are inspired by the decline of the fishing industry

Jacks Tars -  Rising young folk band specialising in sea shanties.  Expect a high energy foot-stomping performance. The Jack Tars will take you on a musical voyage through the age of sail.  Great for audience participation or dancing a jig to. A multi- instrument band backed by powerful harmonies. They perform at festivals through the country (and in France). The Jack Tars are making their own mark on the world of sea shanties. Should be an exciting performance.