Long, long ago, a group of like minded chaps in Brightlingsea hit on the idea of singing sea shanties for fun.
Despite it being a late night in the pub, most of us remembered the idea the day after and thus The Motley Crew was born. From there we’ve gone on to sing shanties and songs of the sea at fetes, smack and barge matches, regattas, dinners, weddings, shop openings, boat launches and numerous other events – including Brightlingsea’s Laying Up Service, Blessing of the Waters, Regatta, Music Festival and Christmas Tree Festival. We also get together at Christmas to sing traditional wassail carols
We’ve raised over £20,000 for our chosen charity, the RNLI (as most of us sail, we figured we might need them some day), but we’ve helped plenty of others too.
Currently 13-strong, we don’t take ourselves too seriously and we think audiences appreciate our robust approach. We’re just as happy singing inside a pub, on a street corner, a village hall or a church – so long as we all enjoy ourselves and the RNLI gets a few more well-deserved pennies out of our efforts, that’s all that matters.
If you’d like us to appear at your event, please contact us using the form on this page or call 01206 305677.
