Aye Aye Captain! Meet Muff & Thunderbox of the Port of Bristol Crew!

Hi, this is Will Keating and you're listening to Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

Ship shape and Bristol Fashion.

From evil gods to wonderful he them all the line Secure the barrels down below Bind and tie and jump this vessel she is certified ship shape from Bristol Fashion.

Hello, and welcome to episode 22.

Hi, it's Oggy here and it's great that you can join us and thank you for picking us to listen to if you're brand new to Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

Well, this podcast is all about the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew and what they get up to every single month.

But in fact, it's more than that because in fact, what we try and do is open the lid on the world of the shanty world and bring in special guests to talk about their influence in the world of shanti.

If you're a regular listener, hey, thanks for coming back.

It's great to have you back here.

And we've got another interesting episode for you.

On this month's episode, we're going to pop down to the crew room and meet two of our newest recruits, Muff and Thunderbox.

You might have already met them or.

Heard about them on our social media.

But we felt that we needed to.

Invite them on board to talk to you guys, the listeners, with regard to their backstories and who they are.

So when you listen to us or pump into us in the future, at least you know them a little better.

But before we pop down to the crew room, we're going to listen to the Signaler to catch up with what we've been up to the last month and where you can see us next month as part of the Port of Bristol Shanty Cruise.

Heave ho, shipmates.

It's the Signaler here with all the news from the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew.

So October saw us doing three gigs, although two of those were on the same day.

We went in the middle of the month to support the Bristol Masonic Widows association and sang for them at their lunchtime meeting down in park street and in the evening onto the SS Great Britain for a private gig, which we were very grateful for in that the organizers made a very generous donation to our charity fund, which is creeping closer and closer to the 50,000 pound mark.

The highlight of the month, however, was the Trafalgar night celebrating the immortal memory of Lord Nelson.

A great British evening, lots of singing of traditional songs, Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory, and then finished off right at the end with the only song possible, led by Nobby Die with a drop On Nelson's Blood.

A really, really great evening.

The crew were in great form and everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves, probably to do with the tots of rum that were going around.

So, moving on to November, the first gig we will be doing in November is a big one.

It's the St Ives Shanty Festival.

And if this is like any of the other Cornish shanty festivals, it will be an amazing weekend.

We're there on the Friday and Saturday doing a number of gigs around the town.

It'll be packed with shanty bands and I'm sure there'll be lots of pirates and probably even more rum.

On 28th November, we are hoping to support our very own Augie and his church in Yate, St Mary's we hope to get enough of the crew out there.

I know we've got people doing other things, but we really want to support Oggy if we can.

And then finally in the month, we've got another private gig on the SS Great Britain.

Probably the biggest activity that's going on during the month of November is for Movember, the growing of facial hair, or not.

This is in support of all sorts of charities and obviously we were going to use the Teenage Cancer Trust if we can.

I'm actually not taking part in terms of growing facial hair.

I've got enough.

I thought I might try and grow some on my head, but unfortunately that ship has sailed.

But I am giving moral support to the other guys.

If you want to visit our Facebook page, you'll see lots of pictures of us or our Movember page for the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew to see what some of the guys are hoping to achieve by the end of the month.

So that's it from the Signaler.

Have a good month.

We'll see you again in December.

Thank you, Ash.

And I am really looking forward to seeing some of the crew with their ever growing moustaches.

It's worth noting that some of the crew are not going to be growing moustache, but they're going to be doing some kind of physical activity or a challenge throughout this month.

So please do pop over to our Facebook page and find out more about their adventures and you can pop over to the Movember website and search for the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew and you'll see all the people that are supporting us.

One thing that Ash didn't mention, but in fact, it's more of a December thing than it is a November thing.

But it is a bit of a pre warning for you all and for you to start Thinking about booking your tickets.

As you guys are aware, we were nominated to be part of the Pride of Britain fundraiser award.

And of course, as a regional finalist, we have been rubbing shoulders with other fellow nominees and so we're really pleased to tell you that actually we're going to make the most of this moment and actually collaborate with a couple of the people that were mentioned across the southwest in the west of England.

And so on the 20th of December, we are going to have an evening of music.

It's a collaboration of all the kind of people that have been involved to the Pride of Britain regional finalists.

And it's going to be held in Cheltenham College Chapel.

And it's a collaboration with us, of course, the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew at the delightful Pom Poms, but actually also with Reese, who is the night church pianist.

He is fantastic and actually went all the way to London to receive his award as the southwest finalist.

So if you are interested, then please do look in the show notes and of course there will be a link there to buy your tickets or pop over to social media onto our Facebook page and you'll see the ticket link there.

Okay, so let's pop down to the crew room and talk to Thunderbox and Muff.

Okay, so Ollie, Shanty boy, let's head over to the crew room and take a seat next to the wonderful Thunderbox.

Bill and Colin, also known as Muff.

Gentlemen, how are you both?

Good evening.

Very well, very well, thank you.

Good evening.

Well, it's Dandy.

It's an absolute pleasure to be sitting here in the crew room meeting two of the newest crew of the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew.

And for, and for the listeners, it's important to recognize that these guys just joined us in the summer period.

We've been so, so busy that we've not really made a big fuss about them being with us, but they've been with us for a good few months now during the summer period.

So much so that they've got their own character draws and they've got their own nicknames.

More of that to come.

Gentlemen, let's.

Let's get some questions in for the listener to understand you a little better.

Let's start with predominantly the basics.

How did each of you get involved with the crew?

Muff, you were the first one in.

Let's talk to you.

How did you get involved in the crew?

There's always been an interest in.

In music.

Recently, the last eight or nine years.

My wife and I discovered Shanti singing initially at the Kin Folk Festival.

And went there two or three consecutive years.

Spent some time listening to the music.

Not the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew, but a bunch called Storm Force 10, which involved the wonderful Augie and Nobby, I should say.

And that really, when he appeared, it's something we were attending in Bristol.

We recognized him and followed the Port of Bristol chatty coup around a little bit.

So Nobby clearly is that attractive young man within the crew that has inspired you to come and join us here.

Was being never forgotten.

Well, I think so.

I think many people have said that.

Absolutely.

Well done, Ollie.

That's great.

Very lovely wife as well.

Yes, Bill, also known as Thunderbox.

Tell us a little bit, how did you get yourself involved in the Port of Ritual Shanti crew?

Well, I'm afraid that Nobby and Rev have got a lot to do with it.

Again, I was looking down, living, living down here in Tara, dressing Cornwall on the south coast.

My local is the New Inn.

And I was then in Press Gang, local group called Press Gang, which I helped set up.

And we organized the Shanti Festival in the beer garden of the New Inn.

I was scanning around for groups to invite, and I invited Storm Force 10 and who should rock up but the Rev and Lobby and some others.

So I thought, well, they're pretty good chaps.

So, and then it sort of went on.

And at this year's Ale and Shanty Festival in the Masons hall and Parlor Street, I was down to go with the loose cannons of my.

Two of my friends were going to come up, but they both had hospital appointments on the same Saturday.

So I thought, well, blow this.

I'll go up anyway.

And the.

The boys were kind enough to say, well, look, if you're on your own, you can just join us and sing along.

So I. I stayed for one set.

I thought, that's very kind.

And they said, you're going to do the next set.

Okay.

So three sets later, I was kind of an unofficial member of the crew, and I was invited down to help them out at Falmouth.

To the extent that I've.

I. I've now got my own T shirt design, my own emoji, my own caricature.

And I'm really chuffed with the whole business, really.

It's just such fun.

I have to say that Nobby and the Rev are clearly very qualified in.

Press ganging people, I have to say.

Press going.

Even the press gang.

Yes, yes.

Yeah, but that was it, really.

And now I'm.

I'm gonna.

I sang with the boys in Western as well.

This year and look forward to going to St Ives.

Nice.

Ollie, Ollie, over to you.

So how did you all get interested in sea shays and what drove you into them?

Should I go first?

Yeah, you can go first.

Yeah.

I mean, my first son of.

My first interest in chant is via sort of folk music, I suppose.

And this is long before your time.

Ollie was a guy called Huey Jones of the Spinners, and he was on TV every week in those days the BBC would have a folk music program and he would sing sea shanties.

And I thought, well, this is.

This is my sort of music, you know, because I always had an interest in things nautical and historical and it was natural I should sort of gravitate towards sea shanties.

And then I moved down to Cornwall in 2002, joined the male choir in 2006, and we found about a dozen of us that we actually like singing in the pub after rehearsals and concerts better than we actually like singing in concert.

So we formed a group called the Press Gang and mostly singing sea shanties.

And we had a whale of a time and it's just hasn't really stopped since.

It all starts in a pub and then it goes off.

Yeah, it usually all starts in the pub.

Yes.

So what made you.

I know, what made you interested in them.

But what drove it further?

I think.

I think helping to form the Press Gang and going to festivals and gigs and kind of networking with all the other shanty people around and seeing what a wonderful community it was.

And it's just such a friendly scene.

When I was talking to one of the organizers of the Murder Gissy Shanty Festival, he said, isn't this a great scene?

He said, there's no trouble all weekend, no drunkenness.

I don't know what part of the festival he was at, but it seemed to be mostly very well behaved and very orderly and in the members of the public say, this is such a good vibe.

I've not been to a shanti festival before, but isn't it friendly?

Brilliant.

And that's what comes across.

And it's just.

I mean, basically, what's not to like?

You know, what's not to like and love about a festival?

Because absolutely.

Community is just the best like.

It is.

Yeah.

And I've met so many nice people.

Yeah.

I mean, my wife and I have met so many nice people, you know, yourselves included, from all over Britain and Europe as well, you know, German singers, Dutch singers, French singers, Canadians.

Fantastic.

And what about you, Colin?

My.

My experiences with shanty singing is not half as much as it is billed.

Has that been all the same?

Absolutely.

Certainly getting an awful lot out of it.

It is tremendous fun.

The number of times, as I said, I have a musical background but not a singing background.

And I was quite surprised when I had a phone call from Doc, one of the other guys in the Port of Bristol crew to invite me along having given some support.

I was accused of.

They accused of.

Of really being a bit of a hanger on getting fruity beer at the end of the.

At the end of big performances.

True, but that sounds a familiar story.

M. Yeah.

It is good fun.

Yeah.

And we're certainly getting a lot out of.

A lot out of it now with only six months of being a member.

Yeah, it's been the best times of.

It's been the best time of my life being a member of the Core of Bristol.

It's been the best times and I.

Guess Murphy, I know you say.

I say you've not got a history in singing but I guess you know from your bio and from what we know so far is that you are clearly got an extensive scouting background so you must have had like decades of leading songs around campfires.

And so I guess some of that experience translates into singing chanties.

I wouldn't.

I know what you're saying.

But the thing around the campfire has somewhat died in the Scouting.

It's something which is on the best times.

10 or 15 years ago.

10 or 15 years ago the scout troop I ran and now I'm still an active leader in and the group as such seemed to gather around the large campfire traditional singing the songs.

We did encourage the kids maybe in a smaller setup, but I feel it's.

It's not quite so popular as it used to be within the scout movement, but.

Well, that is an utter shame.

Well, I mean it's a shameless plug.

I know, I know.

First Yate where I live, they are.

They're.

They're a sing song around the fire.

So maybe it's just.

It just obviously it depends on the troop and the.

And the.

And the set, I guess.

Yes.

I think certainly from my experience in Cajun the.

The attitude is it's a little bit out to date or outloaded.

Interestingly not.

We don't get a lot of enthusiasm from the kids these days for that sort of entertainment, which is a shame.

But of course the way it goes.

I think of course the best times of my life was in Scouting like scouting did so much.

You're now.

You're now an explorer, aren't you, Ollie?

Yeah.

I'm now explorer.

Yeah.

And I've.

I've now just been invested in the.

In this.

In the supernova.

Scouts.

Explorers.

So, yeah, that's.

I'd say scouting has.

Teaches me.

Teaches me how to be more confident, like singing.

And it's really helped.

I wish more people could do it because it really does help people.

That's good, Ollie.

Great.

So that.

Let's talk about your nicknames because I think it's important that you know through.

Throughout the whole of the journey we've all tried to articulate clearly mine is all associated by an excessive amount of pasties that feature in my life.

But.

And coming from Cornwall, but coming from.

A Cornishman, that's not.

That's.

That's.

That's very.

It's not a bad thing.

You cannot have an excessive amount of plasti.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I think that's one of the reasons we've recruited you.

So you can at least import them for me because you just can't get a decent here in.

In Sunny Bristle.

Let's.

Let's start with you, Muff.

Clearly your name's Colin.

So how do we go from Colin and Muff?

Let's.

Let's unpick this and unpack this for the listener.

It's.

It goes back.

It goes back to my school days.

I'm not quite sure why, but my surname is Murran, which is M U R I N which in school t to be get dur.

The devolved was Muffin.

I had an older brother who was called Mint because of Murray Mint.

Because people didn't realize there was an in at the end of Murray.

I thought it was Murray.

So he collared the Mint nickname and I just got caught.

Muff.

I mean, never.

It stuck.

It stuck for seven years.

So nobody calls me Muffin like you guys.

Well, I still meet with quite a number of my old school pals.

We use the first Christian names now, but most was in school.

Look at that.

Did you even imagine that when you were a youngster, which I can imagine probably wasn't very.

A long time ago really, but that you suddenly then realized that that name could be used again?

I. I am so relieved there's such a sensible explanation for that, Colin, because my mind was racing your head while you were cool.

Yes.

I don't know what you mean.

There's children in the room.

So.

Explorer.

He's okay.

He's probably heard worse in scouting, of course.

So let's go on to you, Bill Thunderbox.

Now, if you've seen the T shirt.

It looks phenomenal.

Let's unpack that one.

Why are you called Thunderbox?

Well, the boys were scratching around for a nickname and I've never really had a strong nickname, but I, I had to go back to school.

And my initials of course being William Collins, A. W.C. and don't you love parents with a sense of humor?

So at school I was always called Boghouse Bill, you see.

But Nobby had the idea that Thunderbolts would be a downside better.

And I, I must say I do agree with him.

And I've.

I've kind of settled down on Thunderbolts.

I'm quite happy with that one.

We all love a little bit of toilet humor.

It's always good.

Yeah, it has a certain panache to Does.

It does.

And those names are now yours forever and ever.

Oh, I'm very honored them for the.

Rest of your lives.

I know.

And my lovely emoji of a toilet seat as well.

That's really good.

Oh, it's thanks Apple and Android for making such beautiful emojis, which is great.

Now Bill, you've been in that beautiful God's country now since around, I think you said, 2002.

I mean, what changes have you seen in the shanty world since then?

And, and what kind of changes have you seen whilst lifting coral?

Well, I think changes in the shanty world have really started.

I mean, you've got to blame the Fisherman's Friends for a lot of this and give them an awful lot of credit for the explosion in the initial shanty scene.

I, I won't mention the Weller man, the COVID Postman and his success he's had with, with that.

But I think before, before COVID shanty was taken off thanks to fishy friends and.

But in a way, I guess, I mean it's, it's never gone away from Cornwall.

I mean, you know yourself, I'll give that the tradition of Cornish singing in pubs.

It's always there and it's never gone away, but it's just become more, more popular.

I think it's, it's accessible music.

And there seem to be many more groups starting up now and there are an awful lot more groups around the county.

And it seems that if you, I mean when we were putting on a festival initially back in 2015, I think it was a bit tricky to get six groups that were committed to coming.

But now you could get double treble that easily and have to turn people away because all a shanty group wants to do is sing and all they want is have a venue and if it's supporting a decent charity as well, they'll rock up and support it, which is great.

Which never used to be.

What I like about Sea Change is that we're not doing this because we.

We're doing it for money.

We're doing it because we love it.

And that's kind of as well.

Yeah, you did right, Ollie.

Because, you know, we enjoy it and we love it and we sing it anyway, really.

But if you can raise a few bar for charity as well, it's a good thing to do next year.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Big car there as well.

Yeah.

And it's interesting to see how many shanty groups down here have sprung off from male voice choirs.

I'm thinking of Duhag with the newie male voice choir.

And they sang at G7, for heaven's sake.

Down in Carbis Bay this year for the world leaders of all things, you know.

It's amazing, isn't it?

Absolutely amazing.

Nobby also play at the G7 or something?

I don't know.

I don't know.

He wrote.

Didn't he write something?

Oh, yeah, he did, yeah.

Corn Crate was sung, yeah.

Yes.

Well done, Ollie.

That's the link.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was.

That was that.

Yeah.

So it's.

It's.

It is growing and continues to grow.

I mean, my only worry is it's going to get too big and the festivals become too big in.

And we already.

And I mean, there were 90 groups at misi this weekend every three days.

Wow.

Ain't the biggest.

I didn't even see half of them that much.

I didn't see half of them either.

But as long as it's good fun, it'll just.

All them are good ones, to be fair.

All of them are good ones.

Yeah, they were, yeah.

Brilliant.

Yeah.

Well, the rubbish has gone by the wayside now.

I think the quality and standard.

The standard has gone up.

Definitely.

By how much?

By how much?

Oh, about that much.

No, I. I'm gonna think it is better, I think.

And I don't want to.

I don't want to name names or anything, but I think the original Fisherman's Friends, before they went instrumental, or the Longest Johns in their original format, just harmonics and.

And their voices.

There are more groups now matching those that sort of quality.

Yeah.

Which they weren't before.

And of course there's.

There's a commercial instrument road.

And of course they become different.

Different beasts, really.

Yeah.

It's a different sign, isn't it?

It is.

It's Entirely different.

We were.

We were put off going down to F simply because it's such a.

A big festival and you know, we're.

We're now committed committed from.

From.

From Port of Bristol.

Going down there last year and having such a.

A good weekend.

It.

It's in our diary and we booked our accommodation and it.

It looked absolutely fantastic fun.

Absolutely fantastic.

Yeah.

The P Fund that I've attended before consecutive years now it's much, much smaller but it is the same essence of just popping from one pub to a pub next door and listening to a different.

A different crew and having another pie.

Yeah.

It's a lovely atmosphere and a much in a much smaller sort of.

Yeah.

When I was around Mother Gissy I. I just thought it just looks like.

It looks like the pharmacy chain festival.

That's all I thought it was.

But it's literally the same essence as the Balance Festival.

But me, I like to all the same.

Yeah.

I mean Ollie, I am very, very lucky because I can drive to both for the day from where I live.

Yeah.

Sleep in my own bed at night.

It's a big bonus to me.

So Muff muff.

Let's talk about some references that are within your bio that maybe people are a bit confused.

What is your obsession with thongs and what is it with Tina Turner?

To be honest, the.

The crib sheet that I gave Doc when.

When he invited me to.

To come along was something which was given to me by friends and neighbors for my 60th birthday, which basically was a snapshot of how stupid I've been for the last 60 years.

Tina Turner was any party to get me dancing.

Were the.

All you'd have to do is put Tina Turner on the record player back in those days and I would generally move to the music with no great skill.

So that was.

That's the Tina Turner thing.

Just always.

Yeah.

Bang at the top of my.

My lungs.

But after a few pints it was not necessarily in tune.

That makes you have done big.

That makes you a good chanty singer, doesn't it?

Well, that's it.

Yes, it helps.

Low REVS rule no harmonizing, no harmonies.

I think.

I think that's the.

My.

My favorite single Isopedis in that respect.

Yes, of course.

And.

And your obsession with thongs.

Let's talk a bit more about that.

That's just something which just happened.

The reference can be songs is the Australian word for flip flops.

Which is again what I. I tend to live in.

Yeah.

Has the other meaning which just happens to be My underwear of choice.

Now that's entirely, you know.

Oh, I didn't know what you meant by that.

Too much information.

Okay.

Oh, I can't unsee that image now.

I tend to keep them covered up, but they are the most comfortable things to wear.

Then I, I, I'm gonna need to explore to get them on our merch store.

Muff Stone.

Love it.

Well, thank you for being open and honest there, Muff.

That's very, very good of you.

It's very good of you.

So what got you interested in what makes you go further in Sea Chinese?

I think just experience of singing in, in so many venues with so many different people, you know, with press gang and things and then.

Yeah, I, I kind of, I, I split from them two years ago because they were getting a bit too instrumental for me and I started a vocal group called Liz Callens.

So we did that for two years and take it from there really basically.

As a relatively, you know, new relative newcomer to Shanti singing.

I've not had the experience Bill has or a lot of the others, but I think it's just the enjoyment, the camaraderie, the fun and fellowship of enjoying it and also the fact it's primarily we're trying to raise money for, for charity and good causes.

And that itself is something which is I've always been involved in from all of her school days.

Yeah.

Scouting is a charity.

That's right.

An interest in, an interest in.

Well, I was a pass round table if that, that sort of concept.

And then of course Scouting is a charitable organization in itself.

A lot of, a lot of, a lot of work goes on and it's all for free.

Nobody gets paid.

Yeah.

And I, if I had like two charities to just to raise money for, for Sea Chinese Teenage Cancer Trust would be up there and Scouting.

Yeah, yeah.

That they've saved so much for me and I love it.

Good choices.

Specifically like the first one.

Yeah.

Nice.

And of course at this time of recording, we are ever so close to the £50,000 raised since we start, which is phenomenal.

So we've, we've done a few gigs recently so that money is yet to flutter into the bank account.

So I've not seen a recent update, but confident that by December then we will of course have that magical £50,000 which is phenomenal.

For a bunch of men.

A bunch of men singing and going from there.

So which is, which is phenomenal.

We're not just bunches of men.

Well, that's all we are, the shanty boy.

Going further in Life doing what we love.

What's this?

What's all this?

Old men like.

What's all this?

Oddly, I would take issue with that.

Apologies, apologies.

It's just a, you know, a hard paper round.

Of course.

Yes, of course, yes.

Let's do a quick round of questions.

Ollie, you've got some questions there.

Let's put this via them out.

So what's been your most embarrassing moment?

Girls like performing, especially with you.

Yeah.

Should I kick off with this one?

Yeah.

And if you want.

Well, yeah, I might get out of the way.

Shall we?

It was actually when I was singing for the 40th anniversary concert of the Mervissimo Choir up at the Eden Project and we'd heard the whole.

We had a top notch sound engineer room full of dignitaries.

We had Ralph Mattel singing with us as well.

And I was doing the solo for the Flora Dance, which I knew backwards, upside down, inside out, until it came to me actually singing it and then I just lost it completely.

I had no idea how it started or the tune or anything, but I managed to.

I managed to wiggle out of it by.

By sidling over to the.

The conduct, the conductor's music and saying, oh, we're singing that version, are we?

Of course, everyone fell about and thinking that I actually did it for comic effect.

And people still say, that was really funny when you did that.

I said, no, I was absolutely terror stricken at the time.

I think that was probably my most embarrassing one on stage.

Yeah.

The thing is, when you're doing a shanty festival and people mess up, you don't know if it's planned or not.

No, that's right.

No and half.

I bet it's not planned.

No, but it just happens to all of us sometimes.

And how many times have we said, how does this start?

You know, songs you've sung a dozen times and, you know, I can't think of the first words.

You know.

It happens to everybody.

It's not nice when it happens, but you just got to get through it.

Yeah.

How about you, Buff?

In your short time on stage, or any time that you've had to be.

This is it, Auggie, to be honest, I haven't yet.

I'm sure I will be going.

Well, I will go through the.

The loss of memory when it comes to singing the lead.

At the moment, I'm.

I'm working on a song to perform as, you know, with.

With the lead and I haven't yet clammed up in public, but there's been a bit of minding going on.

Once or twice and I've got the number.

The.

They call us it.

But on.

I haven't yet had the.

The experience that.

That Bill has had.

I. I can tell.

I can tell you.

I can tell you another one now.

Chat.

I was.

I was singing with Press Gang down at Four Gallon Sailing Club and I got to the line in it when he was old and then his.

No, when he was young and in his prime.

He had them yellow gals too, at the time, and there were two Chinese ladies sat in the front row and I just.

I got halfway through the line and I thought, I can't finish this.

But I got through.

Was very embarrassing.

And now I'm.

I make sure now that I sing them pretty girls two at a time.

They're pretty girls.

The version of they had them in the girls.

Yeah, that was pretty awkward.

Yes.

That's the problem, isn't it?

These songs are so old and it is one of the privileges to be able to sing the songs that have been around for so long.

However, then they're not always PC.

Definitely not.

Well, good job.

Good job.

Just as well, really, too.

Yes, of course.

We've got to move with the times and thankfully we can move at the times and with a decent vocalist you can just rhyme another word in.

It's fine.

I was talking to a group from Oxfordshire who were landlocked, basically, and I forget their name, but they're.

They're very good musically, but they.

I said, do you have any festivals in Oxfordshire?

And he said, only one in a local pub and we've been barred from it.

Why?

Well, they wanted to see the lyrics to our shanties before we sang them and they didn't, you know, they canceled all the lyrics and said, you're not coming to our festival.

So they're one and only festival they've been barred from.

I thought that was quite.

Quite harsh, really, but you could say it was.

The pitfalls if you're not careful for.

The reasons why I can't play.

Why.

Why I feel like I can't sing in my school.

Because.

Because a lot I do sing in my school kind of.

I can't sing City Shannon because some.

Of them are like, yeah, I know.

Yeah, I know.

It's.

We've got to be so careful these days.

Quite rightly so, but yes, of course.

What would I.

What would you say, gentlemen, is your most favourite Cornish or Bristol pub that you've gone to?

Good question.

Mine's.

Mine's the new in entire address because it's my local and generally Speaking.

It's a very decent, decent pint of bass from the cask as well as the usual St Austell beers as well.

And yeah, it's a fine parliament.

And the beauty of it is I can walk there as well.

So that's good Bristol.

Not so up to speed.

I do love the Nova Scotia every time I go.

That's a proper boozer as well.

That's not a good beer.

Yeah, so that's my two tops, I think.

Yeah, we discovered it.

We discovered a small one just, just around the corner from the SS Great Britain the other evening.

Oh, yes, was very traditional.

Had three barrels of beer laying behind the bar, all capped, ready to go, which was.

Which was delicious.

But for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it.

And we only stopped for one.

But no, it's been a good evening.

If it stayed a bit longer, it could have been.

Good evening.

I believe it was called the Orchard.

The Orchard Pub, I think it was what it was called.

Oh yeah, Ciders in it as well.

Oh yeah, it's.

It's a good silence.

Yes.

That we sang in after the Bristol one.

That was really good.

I like that.

Oh, is that the.

Oh, is it the cottage?

That was the cottage.

The cottage, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

No, that's good then.

Muff.

You.

You're.

You're a very civilized shanty man, aren't you?

Because of course we.

We're well known for rum and we're well known for beers and ales and ciders.

But you're more accustomed to the red stuff, aren't you?

My.

My Funchon is definitely red wine.

I.

It's got me into quite a lot of trouble over the years for various reasonings, but I just.

Yeah.

In an effort to lose weight, I stopped drinking beer and carried and started drinking red wine, which is complete waste, waste of time.

But it is my go to tipple as a rule.

It even features center space on your.

On your crew T shirts.

It is.

Well, we were going to put something else there, but it was sacred with the glass of wine, to be honest.

And then listener, please do head over to our merch website and you'll be able to see both T shirts that we've spoken about so far.

Nice.

Good stuff, Good stuff.

So, chaps, let's kind of draw this interview to a close.

I think we've got a nice understanding of both of you and how you've kind of grown and developed and part of that.

What does it mean both to both of you to be part of the port of Bristol Shanty Crew.

Personally, I think it's a great honor, really.

I'm not.

I'm down here in Cornwall, but I. I'm still a very proud Bristolian as the Cornish are very proud Cornish people.

And I think you should always be proud of where you come from.

And it's a real.

It's a way of really connecting with Bristol roots, if you like, as well as singing shanties.

And I'm just happy to.

To join them when I can and help raise charity money and just have a good time because a totally good bunch of chaps, I think.

Yep.

So that's basically it.

Nice muff.

I would.

I would agree with you.

I would agree with you.

It'll be.

It is.

It's a field tunnel.

Because I was quite surprised when I was asked if I would be interested in joining.

As I said, since I have been part of the crew, it's certainly been tremendous fun and I think that in itself is estimate to sort of my ongoing commitment to the crew and the charities.

Absolutely, yeah.

Having fun is the main thing, I think.

Just don't take yourself too seriously.

That's the key.

Once you start doing that, you're lost.

Yes, I would completely agree.

You can't take it too seriously, can you?

Well, on behalf of the listeners, on behalf of the crew, you are both very fine additions.

It's great to have you on board and I.

And I am very much.

And I mean, I'm still very much a newbie.

I've only just over a year in the crew.

But you add such value and it's great to have another kind of resident from Cornwall as part of the crew, but also a Bristol at heart.

But, but both of you, you've had such value in it and it is just so lovely to have a bunch of chaps getting together, having a chat, having a beer, having a sing song.

It's good for the heart, it's good for the soul and it's good for the crowds because they.

To.

Yeah, certainly is by the end of the day, all good fun.

Well, thank you.

Thank you as well, Justin, for putting this on, organizing the podcast.

You and you and Ollie there, Shanty boy, what a good job you've been doing.

It's just.

It's just like drawing a picture.

If you enjoy drawing, then you love it.

I enjoy creating podcasts, so it's great to just increase the reach to the word.

Well, thank you, chaps.

Ollie, if you got anything you'd like to just add before we leave these gentlemen to carry on drinking Their.

Their drinks in there.

Drink the honey.

Rum, honey.

Say, it's very lovely, but I remember the picture.

I have just had a little toss of it now to soothe my nerves and I must say it's lasting very well and going down its feet.

Beautiful.

That's great.

That's all we like to hear.

Yeah.

Okay, chaps, thank you so much.

Let's talk soon.

Pleasure.

Yeah.

Cheers then.

Bye.

Bye.

Well, that's it for this month's episode of Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

Thank you for listening and it was really great to hear a little bit more about Muff and Thunderbox.

You can find out more about the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew by going over to pobshantycrew.co.uk and you'll be able to see all of our normal bits and bobs on our website.

And of course, the podcast is on shipshapepodcast.co.uk and of course, on either website there is a link to our merchandise.

We've got some great T shirts.

And so if you're thinking about some Christmas presents, then that is a great way of buying something for your loved one.

And of course, the great thing is when you buy the T shirt, a small contribution goes towards the Teenage Cancer Trust.

So that's it.

Thank you everybody for taking part in this episode.

A big thank you to Ollie the shanty boy who helped me interview both of the new crewmates.

And for you guys, thank you for listening.

So fair winds and following seas and we'll welcome you back next month.

Shape and Bristol Fashion Boys along the harbor side from even gorge two under four will heaven haul the line secure the barrels down below Wind em tie and lash em this vessel she is certifying Shipshape and Bristol fashion so haul away me laddie boys haul away you're free Haul me laddie boys and save a drink for me Haul away me laddie boys Haul away your free Haul away me laddie boys and save a drink for me.