Mermaids, Pasties, and Sea Shanties: Dive into Our Latest Episode!

There's a sound that echoes through Bristol harbours, the sound of voices raised together in song.

And this May, that sound returns.

So welcome to the Real L and Sea Shanty Festival at Freemasons hall on Park street on the 9th and 10th of May 2026.

Join the legendary Porter Bristol Shanty Crew, plus special guest Tom Lewis and shanty singers from all across the Southwest, bringing powerful harmonies, maritime history and unforgettable atmosphere.

Feel the music, share the stories and enjoy a superb selection of real elves and ciders in the heart of Bristol.

Whether you're a lifelong shanty singer, a folk music lover, or simply looking for a unique weekend experience, this Festival welcomes all the 9th and 10th of May 2026 at Freemasons Hall, park street in Bristol.

You can book your tickets now@landshanty.co.uk the real L and Sea Shanty Festival, where Bristol sings and the sea comes alive.

Secure the barrels down below Bind them, tie and lash them.

This vessel, she is certified ship shape from Bristol Fashion.

Hello there and welcome to episode 27 of Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

I'm Oggy, your host and a member of the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew.

And welcome to this podcast that celebrates everything that we get up to and also to celebrate the shanty world.

On this month's episode, we have got some interview coverage of the Trelawny Shout that the crew supported on the 5th of March and this was captured by our one and only Ollie the Shanty Boy.

We get to hear from the signaler who will give us some update of where we've been, what we've been up to and how you can catch up with us in the future.

And any news from the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew?

We also feature Catherine Collins, who is a member of the shanty crew called Kask.

We talk about how she overcomes her functional neurological disorder to enable her to perform on stage.

And we also talk about how she becomes a mermaid.

So I hope everyone is well.

We are now into April.

The spring is certainly here and it's great to see all the flowers and being able to go out a little bit more with an extra daylight.

I hope you managed to survive the losing an hour in bed.

I certainly struggled, but hey, that's life as you can imagine.

There's plenty of shanty gigs coming up in the future for us to meet, so I look forward to seeing you at one of those.

And a huge thank you for the feedback from the last episode where we dived into the Cornish shanty world and we thank Thunderbox for covering that audio.

As I said on the last episode, on that day we were celebrating at Trelawney at a Bristol's very own Trelawney shack that's put together by Paula from them Bristol girls.

And so we're now going to pop over to some audio that was captured.

Olly the shanty boy walked around and recorded some audio from the people that attended.

Hello.

So what is this event?

This event is called Rioni Shouten, which is an event that celebrates Saint Ference.

So on this day, the 5th of March is the day of Saint Ference and we all over Cornwall and outside of Cornwall where there are Cornish communities, they organize an event, a shout.

And the typical thing that happens on this shout is that at nine o' clock everybody on all the places will.

Sing the same song, which is the.

Cornish national anthem, which is considered the Cornish national anthem called Trelawney.

That was.

Do you know it off by heart?

I know it off by heart.

I do know it by heart, yes.

Brilliant.

We've got some real fans.

Was a poem written by Reverend Oku to celebrate Trollerny.

That was a clerical that did fight the King James ii.

Yeah.

So like, is this your first St Perez hour?

Is this your second?

I believe.

Well, in real fact, this is my fourth or fifth or something like that.

Yeah.

These events were happening in Bristol where we are until the pandemic in 2020 was the last one that happened until two years ago.

We organized a very small event in.

In a small venue in Shipping Sogbury.

That was lovely because everybody had a lot of very good time.

But it.

The downside was that the venue was small and everything was packed.

Absolutely packed.

So we.

The next year we've decided to transfer the event to a bigger venue.

Yeah.

Where we are now kind of sauce.

How should you get the pasties in?

Probably people are persuaded by the pasties here.

Well, the thing is that I found out that a local supermarket, well, not a local, a national supermarket, do sell traditional Cornish pasties.

They love the traditionals.

They love the traditionals and they.

And according to them, they are actually made in Cornwall so they can claim to be traditional Cornish pasties.

And so we source them for them, they cook them there and we bring them here and we sell them.

And every profit of the Cell of the Past is.

Goes for the charity that we are supporting.

What charity are currently supplying.

So the charity that we're supporting is the Royal British Legion Club in Frampton Coral and incorporated here too, which is the venue that we are using, which Is a great.

Yeah, my granddad uses it a lot.

For the, for the community in supports, you know, the local community a lot.

And yeah, they have been doing.

Supporting us.

When I say yes, it's like we the group that organized the Trelawney shelter, they go the extra mile to who groups are there.

If you're getting rid of feed them out.

So the groups that are here are the Porto Bristol Chandelier, the Den Bristol girls.

I'm part of them Bristol girls.

And then we have the seven whalers.

They're really good.

We have.

We have Ben Nichols and then we have Jamie Robinson who he's a naval engineer and has been sailing shanties all his life and being around in, in, in, you know, in ships all over.

And then we will have.

We'll have the AP Fivers which are a Rey Green or 37 lifeboats.

And then we'll have the Phantom Champion that are the local zoids.

They've been around for quite a few.

Years.

And yeah, they do a lot of.

Good.

So who are you?

My name is Ben Nichols.

So what got you into sea chains?

Well, it all started when I was probably about 13 or 14.

My dad was.

Well my dad is a singer.

He's musician and he is.

Was in a group called the Boscastle Boys which is a local sea shanty group in Cornwall.

North Cornwall.

Okay.

Yeah.

And I was as I said about 13 or 14 at the time.

And my dad was in the group and I always wanted to go along.

They used to sing.

Well, they still do sing to this day in a pub in Boscastle with the Napoleon Inn.

It's in there every Tuesday.

And my dad would go over there, we're gonna say.

And I'd always say, oh dad, can I come over with you?

Can I come over with you?

You know, and then you say no you can't.

No you can't.

You got school tomorrow.

But I'm still here and I've got school.

Yeah, exactly.

Rock and roll.

Exactly.

Rock and roll.

But I'm still at school tomorrow.

Oh yeah, that's tomorrow's morning.

That's tomorrow.

Yeah.

One day dad might get to go over with him and that res is history.

Now I'm here in Bristol singing.

Yeah.

Like what's been your favorite part of sea Shays in general, it's just go.

I mean it's just probably just going around lots of different places, hanging out with many of the same like minded people.

There is the same sort of thing, singing the same sort of songs and you know, especially going to, like, sea shanty festivals.

It doesn't matter who you're with.

You could.

You could be shoulder to shoulder with somebody else that you don't even know.

You're singing the same songs and they're all singing the same songs together, and it's just like, everyone coming together.

It's like.

It's just a massive old community, basically, isn't it?

I think what I love about Australian community and what I've said lots of times is, like, that if you want to sing sea shinies for, like, lots of stuff.

Yeah, you can do it.

And they are so supportive, if you want.

Oh, yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

And there's people, you know, especially in the last couple of years, sea shanties are really on the rise, you know, especially with, like, the Longest Jones and the Businessman's Friends, you know, it's real, like, taking off.

Especially like, everyone, like, Sushant are everywhere these days.

Yeah.

Especially with the Wellerman blow up.

Well, a man blowing up.

Yeah.

Blowing up there, of course.

Exactly.

You know, it's really put shanties, you know.

Yeah.

How do you.

How have you, like, become your own, like, person?

I don't know, really.

I mean, I don't.

I mean, I don't sing the shanties very often anymore just because I used to sing the shanties a lot when I was in Bospass with Dal.

Singing the shanties then.

Yeah.

Do it so much now that I'm in Brisk.

But I don't know, I like to kind of.

I don't know, I. I like to do it because it's kind of bringing a bit of home away.

It's just.

It's playing songs.

H for home.

That's kind of the saying.

But I don't know, really, how I make it my own sort of thing.

I just score myself.

Just see what.

Just go with it.

Just go with it.

Yeah, exactly.

And feed off the crowd and everything.

Getting involved and everything.

That's one of the best, I think the crowd is like, if you're not.

If you're good at controlling the crowd.

Yeah, you're.

That's, like, with the best things.

Exactly.

Or encouraging him.

Getting them up.

Singing, that's like the best feeling.

Doing songs that they know.

Doing songs that, you know, they'll feedback.

They'll feedback well with and they'll, you know, they'll just enjoy.

And I know that.

I know that's why the songs I did were, you know.

I know I did an original song as well, but, like, you normally do original.

Do, like, make original songs, like.

Nobby, Die or something like that.

Yeah, yeah, I try and do original stuff.

I mean, that.

That the Queen Annie song that I sung there for you, that was a.

Really good one, I got to say.

That was a really good one.

And now that song stuck in my head and I had it throughout the entirety of me singing Tre.

I was like, it's so out of my head.

I would have sing.

Not Queen Annie.

Yeah, no, it's a good.

I do like it.

I already did that for a uni project and since then I actually took it to the Boss NASA boys and they said, I like that song because I got them to sing for uni.

I did.

I know I'm going off topic here, but I sent some shanties for a uni project and Queen Annie was one of the songs that I wanted the boys to sing on and they said, oh, that Queen Annie song we did, Ben, can we do that one?

Like only do dicks and stuff?

And it just kind of took off from there, really.

That's the one that they've really started and that people like because, you know, it's a kind of corn response thing.

Yeah.

Kind of goes back to what I was saying a minute and again, go doing songs that people know and that they can respond well with.

You know, songs like Junk and AKA and hall of Ageo.

They're calling response kind of songs.

Yeah, exactly.

That's the word.

Yeah.

So people know when to sing in a way.

So yeah, it's as you can say for the pasties.

Are they good pasties?

Do you love the pasties?

I love pasties.

I love pasties.

I've not had one of the pasties here tonight.

Purely based on.

When I moved away from O to come to Bristol, I vowed that I would never eat a pasty out of Cormu.

Oh, that's a taste like to me.

I know the pastries we've got today are from Cornwall, but for me, if.

I'm getting a pasty, I have to.

Be in Cornwall on Cornish soil eating a corn.

So if someone just gives you a pasta in your own bristle.

Dark.

No, I do want to ask like where people can see you if they want to dance.

So, yeah.

So my name is Gannon Nichols.

It's N, I C H O L, L S, two L's like nickel.

No, no, no, not a nickel.

No, not like a penny or anything like that.

Yeah.

So I got Instagram, Facebook.

Just look up Ben Nichols music.

I got a website.

Yeah.

And I'm also a full time musician, so I gig Every weekend.

They're mostly covers as well, but I do original music.

But I go around all the pubs in Bristol and surrounding areas.

I spend a gig in Cornwall, Devon, Bath, Bristol.

I could get anywhere.

Wherever there's gigs, you'll find me there.

So I'll try and find you next time and just search for your name in the set list and go.

And I go, I need to see that lad.

And go, you've inspired me.

Thank you.

Well, hope you have a lovely rest of your night.

Thank you very much.

I bet singing's guest Trello brings Scott good types.

Yeah.

And I just.

Yeah, definitely, definitely.

It's.

It's nice.

It's.

It's like getting everybody up and singing along and they're all in there in harmony with a beer in hand.

I'm around each other.

It's good, good atmosphere.

Hello.

What?

Hi.

Who are you?

My name's Zoe.

So what brought you to this Simperian shout?

So I saw something on Facebook.

I'm Cornish born and bred.

I saw something brilliant.

I can see your Cornish tartan scarf there.

Very lovely.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I saw someone on Facebook.

It tagged my shout in my hometown in Cornwall and I noticed that there was somewhere in Bristol.

So.

Brilliant.

Yeah.

Have you been to many like Simperian showers over the years?

Over the years?

Yeah.

Not since I've lived in Bristol.

What part of Bournemouth are you from?

I'm from Foy Foy.

Are you normally into seashells or you just came coming here for the.

Oh, no, I do like shoe slangs.

Yeah.

Do you go to many Shangchi festivals or not?

No, not loads but my sister and brother in law are part of Lang Kelly Shat down in.

Oh yeah, that makes sense.

Yeah.

Where have you found like what you love about sea changs that make you like quite appreciate them?

Just takes you back to my Cornish roots.

Do you like currently what's going on this champion shark so far?

Yes, so far so good.

Thank you.

I'm here at the Symperian Shelt today and please tell me what connections do you have the Symperian and like Cornwall and that everywhere else.

I'm married to Cornwall.

Oh, that's br.

That's one of the best ways to get to Cornwall.

My.

My wife is from.

From Cornwall.

Whereabouts in Cornwall?

She's from Bodmin.

Bodmin, like what do you normally go to some parent shouts or is it.

This is my first time.

Your first time?

Yeah.

Don't tell anybody though.

I won't.

How.

How are you simpering shout.

So Far.

This is brilliant.

I mean, I just came because I know an awful lot of the.

The men in the.

The Frampton Shanty Men.

And I didn't realize there were going to be all these, these, these other groups here.

So it's just fantastic.

That's brilliant.

What got you into seashells?

Are you into sea shows personally?

Well, not.

Not.

What's not to like?

Yeah, what's not to like?

I couldn't pin it to anything, but I like all sorts of music.

I like folk music.

And the roots of sea shanties is.

Is.

Is well known.

Very, very British and I guess them, for those who come from Cornwall, very Cornish.

Yeah.

I think what makes Cornwall so great is that it's very connecting with community and just you're married into it, but like when you were married into you.

You feel the community's giving you hope.

Yeah.

And it just helps you.

I like it.

I like that about sea shanties.

About.

Yeah, yeah.

They tell.

They tell a story.

Yeah.

But they also tell you what the community is.

Yeah.

In a.

In a.

Do you go to many festivals or not?

Not for a long time, no.

No.

No.

What's your.

I do.

Oh, there's an annual one that I go to every year.

Yeah.

Which was that?

Which is.

It's a blues festival.

It's called the Ups and On seven Blues Festival.

Okay.

It's people of my vintage.

If you're under 50, you'd be unusual.

But ask the most important question here.

How are the pasties?

I haven't had one yet, but I am a pasty connoisseur.

Oh, so you're going to give a.

Good description of how this pasty is.

What makes a good pasty for you?

I don't know.

It's.

You know, when you've had a good one, you know when you've had a bad one and it.

From Devon.

Probably.

Possibly.

That's fighting talk.

Oh, no.

I.

My memories of.

Of pasties go back to when I used to go to watch Bristol play rugby.

And the real.

I think it's the real corners.

Pasty company, they would ship.

They would ship the.

The pasties up to.

Up to the, up to the Bristol Rugby Ground and we would have a.

We'd have a pasty and a pint and watch the rugby and that's.

That's brilliant.

I do love our rugby.

Do you normally support the pirates?

Normally with the rugby?

I just like watching rugby.

But yeah, given that Bristol's my adopted home, I'll.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, thanks for speaking to me today.

I Hope you have a lovely rest of your night.

Can do.

And how they fix the where and when and shall Jesus.

His 20,000 Cornish men will know the reason why Together now And shall Trelawney live?

And shall Trelawney Dine?

His 20,000 Cornish men will know the reason why.

Thank you, Wally.

That was really good and I certainly enjoyed that evening.

So now let's pop over to the signaler who will tell us what we've been up to and where you can catch us in the future.

Yo ho ho, my lovelies.

It's the Signaler here with all the news of the mirth and merriment and the sailings from the port of Bristol Shanty crew.

So March kicked off quite early with a Trelawney show celebrating St. Pyrran's Day, everything Cornish up at the British Legion in Frampton Cottrell with our good friends, then Bristol girls who have organized all of this and the Severn Whalers and a couple of other guys.

And a great Cornish evening was had by all, including pasties, I believe.

We then moved on to the 13th of March, where we sang for a group at the Chepstow Memorial Hall, Earlswood, Hal, which I'm told went down very well and the crew were in fine voice to finish off March.

Not so much of an outing singing, although it did turn into this, but we celebrated our Christmas party.

Never say that the crew haven't got their finger on the pulse, but trying to get everybody together is very difficult.

And the first date we could do it was the 30th of March.

So we trooped off to see Sam and all his brilliant people down at the Nova Scotia to enjoy Sam's guy's amazing food that he prepares, I guess weekly at the bank.

And I can't recommend the food that Sam and his guys do.

And the Nova Scagosha is a proper, proper pub, so we'd recommend it to everybody.

And thanks again Sam and the bank, for your continued support for us, not just for this podcast but also letting us use your rehearsal space.

It's brilliant.

So we move into March.

No we don't.

We move into April.

Never say I'm not on it and know what I'm doing.

23Rd of April, we are singing for St. Monica's down in Western Super Mare.

It's a St. George's Day celebration and you hope we'll insight entertain the great folks down there.

And then the 25th of April is up at the ship in Thornbury, which is a a pay gig but I'm told is sold out so we' looking to entertain the folks up there with some more of our shanty and ridiculous talk from anybody that's fronting the group that day.

And although not strictly in April, I thought I would give an early mention to the Real Ale and Shanty Festival which is going to be on the 9th and 10th of May held again.

It's the third year I believe in the Masonic hall and Park Street.

Hundreds of beers, hundreds of side is loads and loads of shanty groups and a big guest star that I'm sure we will be hearing about on this podcast a little bit more.

So that's all the news from the Signaler.

Casting off, sailing away into the sunset and seeing you next time.

Bye bye.

Thank you Ash.

So let's welcome Catherine Collins on board of Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

And let's get to hear a little bit more about her story and what an inspiration she is to others.

So it is my absolute honor to welcome Catherine Collins to Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

Welcome aboard.

How are you doing?

Pretty well.

Yeah.

Good, good, good.

Well, welcome.

It's really lovely to have you on the show and for the listeners that are meeting you for the first time, who is Catherine Collins?

I am a 28 year old female who loves sea shanties and mermaids.

And as I've mentioned in the intro recently, you featured in a local article within Devon because that's where you guys are talking about how your journey into shanti is.

It's been made 10 times better, hundreds times better by the fact that mermaids feature in your acting.

We're going to talk about that very shortly.

But let's just look at your musical story because clearly that's an important part of your, your, your reason why you're on the show and, and music has clearly been a big part of your life.

When, when did you start singing?

I don't really remember.

I've been doing open air theater since I was 2 years old with my dad, so I sort of started before I can remember.

Yeah, it's one of those natural things that you have and you've just, just done it for as long as living memory.

And of course you are a member of Cask.

And how did that come about?

When I ended up needing to use an electric wheelchair, I couldn't do the amateur theater anymore because it wasn't accessible to me.

And in order to give me something to work towards, to have a goal, something to look forward to, dad had already been in the back Beach Boys for a few years, so I already knew the songs.

So dad said, well, why don't we just sing them together and keep you performing that way?

And what's it like performing with your dad?

Interesting.

It's very similar in a lot of ways.

So occasionally we do clash, but it makes for some fun banter during the performance.

I bet.

I bet I must be so lovely.

But like you said, you've been singing from an early age with your dad, so it probably comes very natural.

You've spoken quite openly.

Living with functional neurological disorder.

And.

And when did that kind of first start to really feature in your life?

Well, I'd had sort of unexplained pain since I was about 9, 10, and I just thought that was normal.

And sort of.

I'd been going to sort of osteopath on chiropractor and just sort of keeping myself going and feeling okay.

And then In September of 2017, my shoulder spasmed for three and a half weeks.

So doctors had no idea why, put me on a whole load of pain medication.

And it kind of spiraled from there, really, because I was still in a.

In a probation period of a new job.

Um, and I couldn't even open the filing cabinets.

So I lost the job.

That meant I lost the apprenticeship because of all the pain meds I was on.

There was no way I was able to process numbers for what I was.

I was doing.

Um, so I had to drop out of the course I was doing as well.

And to be honest, I can't really remember much of those few first six sort of months just because of how much pain medication I was on.

Yeah, I can imagine.

I can imagine.

And you've alluded to the fact.

And if you've met Catherine before, you are, you are obviously a wheelchair user and that obviously has probably revolutionized your life.

You've been able to become more mobile with it, I guess.

Yes.

So I am an ambulatory wheelchair user, so I can walk a little bit.

The chair is to enable me to go on about without worrying that my legs are going to give out.

That.

And also it just reduces the amount of pain I'm in from movement.

So it allows me to have more fun without the corresponding maximum level of pain.

Yeah, no, no, that completely.

I appreciate that.

And so tell me about how you've gone from singing at such an early age.

You've gone through quite a traumatic health condition that's put you where you are today.

You are a big fan of Shanti, you love singing with your dad, and here you are now, today, you use your wheelchair, your Partnership with your dad and you become a mermaid.

Tell me about how on earth did all that come about.

So, as I said, we.

We started singing together and we sort of started up Bricks and Pirate Festival singing together.

So again, we'd dress as pirates and I'd have these skirts on and my skirts were getting caught in the wheels and dad just turned around sort of as an offhand comment and said, why don't you dress as a mermaid?

So I did, which.

So I first sort of bought my first tale, which was brilliant.

But that was quite funny because I put it on and the scales were hexagonal shaped.

And dad comes in, he goes, they're hexagons.

I went, yes, they are.

He says, but they're not fish scales like a real mermaid.

Well done.

Good observation there, dad.

But then sort of with becoming a mermaid, I found other people online because sort of at this point I was still very much.

I didn't really go out.

I was very much at a high level of pain all the time because even for me, pain meds just sort of knock me out.

They don't actually help the pain because it is neurological pain, so it doesn't actually touch it.

Yeah.

So with.

So I got the first tail and I ended up finding a community of mermaids online.

One of them is the Vancouver mermaid, Courtney.

Woohoo.

She was my mermaid mentor.

Basically she makes tails as well.

So I bought her ebooks to be able to make a tail.

And all of my physical goals were really based around my mermaiding.

So I wanted to be able to actually swim in my tail.

I wanted to be able to then make my own.

And with that, that comes with sort of being able to have the motor skills, to be able to use my sewing machine to then paint the scales on the tail.

So it all sort of went around and sort of tried to rewire my brain, but incorporate it in a way that's enjoyable for me and will give me something at the end of it.

Yeah, it sounds fantastic.

Eight tails, eight tails, eight tails.

And I'm just about to start working on my next one.

Wow.

And can you remember what it was like the first time you came out on stage or in a venue with your tail on?

How was that kind of.

How was that taken by the crowds and the people you were singing to?

It was really, really awesome, to be honest, because I found that one.

Actually, the tail, again, helps reduce my pain because it just sort of holds your legs so you can relax your legs and you're still ladylike because she needs it.

Together.

But seeing the children was the big thing.

You see their eyes sort of light up and it's really, it's special.

It's very special because instead of seeing someone in a wheelchair, they see the mermaid, not the chair.

And it just, it just makes logical sense them.

Like, of course she's a mermaid and that's why she's got wheels.

And I think you're right.

It is very special to see you, to really harness something that you're reliant on.

And we appreciate that you've got the underlying kind of medical condition, but you use it to your advantage.

And it's a platform to not only promote the fact that you're an incredible mermaid and you've, you've clearly learned and develop your craft, but it also just brings something different to your performance.

It does.

And the look that we've got of the pirates mermaid, it does help us to stand out a bit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, of course.

And of course you can and do use the Shanti world as a platform to raise your awareness around fnd.

And why is that important to you?

It's important to me because it's not a very well known condition and it's also, it's because it is invisible and it varies from person to person.

It's difficult to give it a blanket statement for everybody who's got it.

But sort of before people started raising awareness about it, a lot of the time it's, oh, it's just in your head.

Which technically is correct because it's a neurological condition, but it wasn't taken seriously.

It's, oh, there's nothing wrong with you, you're being dramatic.

It doesn't matter.

And especially with the non epileptic seizures that I have as part of it as well, a lot of people don't understand sort of that side of it, sort of with the.

Because I have auditory triggers for it and I had physical triggers for it.

A lot of the shanty guys are really, really good.

If I mention sort of the, the main trigger I have, which is metal on metal.

Yes.

So strike, strike.

The bell is not something you like to hear very often.

No,.

Quite, quite a few times we've had to sort of go, please don't do the bell, please.

No, no, no, I hear you.

So, but, but bottle top sticks have become very popular in the last few years.

But if I sort of go up and say, I, I really want to listen to you, is it okay if you just don't play it?

Now?

A lot of people are very, very good at not doing that, which is greatly appreciated by.

I can imagine.

Yeah.

Oh, definitely.

And also, it just makes the Shanti community step up and just be a little bit more aware of accessibility, diversity, to.

To bring people in.

And you.

You are doing that every time you're present.

And I think it's a really good thing to test this and to push us.

Yeah, I am.

I do feel very lucky within the Shanti community because I started to know people when I was 15, so sort of a few years before all this started.

And a lot of people have seen me sort of going from sort of running in between venues and things like that to using a walker.

And then the mermaids, they've sort of seen the transition for it, and they've never really treated me any differently and have been actually very, very supportive in inviting us to Shanti festivals.

And, I mean, we ended up in Holland last year at Baidap, which was amazing.

And sort of different places have started getting ramps to their stages.

So slowly but surely, the ramps are taking over.

Yes.

Not to mention the sound engineers really like them.

Yes, I can imagine.

Oh, that's such a great story.

And so you've clearly learned your craft of how to be a mermaid.

Tell me about that journey.

The art of being a mermaid.

The art of being a mermaid.

Oh, Courtney again.

Vancouver mermaid.

She did a mermaid mentorship program, but she's, as I said, she's done a few ebooks, and one of them is the stretches that she uses to.

Because she's also got chronic pain.

So she did sort of the pictures and explanations of the stretches she uses to make it easier.

And then, as I said, I've gotten in contact with other mermaids and seen YouTube videos that explained the movement that you need in order to swim in a tail.

So I was able to practice that movement on land.

And then once I got in the water, my body already sort of knew what movement to do, and it was just like, whee.

Off we go.

That's amazing.

I mean, obviously you don't do any swimming whilst you're singing on stage at a shanty event.

But let's talk about your swimming.

I'm guessing it must help with pain and with movement as well.

Wearing that fin.

It does.

Getting in the water, my pain level does drop just because of being held by the water.

But the main thing with the tail is I actually cannot swim without it because my legs don't coordinate, so I sort of just sink, which is kind of ironic for a mermaid.

But anyway, with the.

With the tail, because it holds My legs together and makes them work together.

And then you have the propulsion from the monofin inside as well.

I go from a rock sort of sinking to a graceful movement in the water.

And clearly, you know, it gives you great joy to be able to achieve that.

And clearly, the good ways.

Keeping healthy, too.

Yeah.

The feeling of it is.

It's.

It's just.

I really.

It's freedom.

It is freedom for you.

I just love the feeling of it.

Yeah.

And then.

And have other people with FND kind of see you as an inspiration, if they come up to you and talked about their condition and when.

I never even thought that I could be able to even do this kind of thing.

I mean, it's.

It's not just people with fnd, it's.

And it's people.

One that stands out is at Plymouth Pirate Festival a few years ago, and then there was this lady came up and said, I have a mobility scooter, but I don't use it.

I try not to use it because it feels like giving up.

I just sort of looked at her and I said, how much pain are you in right now?

It was.

She was in a lot because she's been.

She'd been out that day and stood up and walking around.

I said, if you were using your scooter, would you be in less pain?

Yes.

Would you be able to enjoy more of the day?

Because she was about to go back home, so it was.

Would you be able to stay out and enjoy more of the day with.

With it?

And she said, yes.

And I said, well, it's not giving up, it's just a tool.

It's just a tool.

And she.

And we had this conversation for a little while, just sort of saying, yeah, it.

Because a lot of people, it does feel like giving up, but it's a way to give yourself a better enjoyment of the day because if you're in less pain and because actually, quite a few shanty people do use a mobility scooter because some of them are older and you have mobility issues different to mine, but also.

And using.

I mean, it's there to be used to help you and if you can dress it up.

Because, I mean, I also talk to a lot of children or younger people who have FND.

The youngest person I've talked to is 12.

Wow.

And sort of their parents, sort of my.

My mum and dad come along and talk to them as.

As sort of carers as well.

Which it's all about how can you do the things that you enjoy that are good for your mental health without completely causing yourself a massive amount of pain as the payback for going out and having that experience.

Because, I mean, for me, even with the chair and everything else that I use in order to balance my pain level after a shanti festival, I'm in bed for sort of three to four days with huge amount of pain afterwards.

But what I get out of the.

What I get out of the community, the performance, the just interaction with people, it is so good for my mental health that it outweighs the pain I feel after.

But I've still got to be very.

It's a difficult balancing.

Yeah, it is just balancing, isn't it?

It is just balancing.

So it's so great that you can be a mermaid because they do feature quite heavily within the shanty world.

And, I mean, what does that look like to you?

And being a mermaid, I'm guessing you know that the sea in the maritime culture is important to you and I guess you feel not only knowing that the mermaid makes you feel better, but you're just adding to promoting shanty scenes.

Yeah, it does.

It does add another dimension to it, especially with sort of all the.

All the legends about mermaids.

And so I've.

I've.

Been.

I've.

Over the past few years, I've got a few books now on mermaids and the different ones around the world and how they're similar, how they're different.

I do enjoy that.

But with the Pirate and the Mermaid, it makes it more visually accessible to sort of younger kids.

So usually I get sort of a lot of the little girls sort of coming up and sort of talking about it.

And sometime it's.

It's quite funny because the little girls come up and sort of young, Young lads come up as well, but they get to an age where the girls are still coming up to me for the mermaid tale, but the boys are coming up and sort of really interested in the chair as well.

Technology.

And then you've got dad who's got.

He's got the.

The pistol and he has the sea pirate.

And so, yeah, it brings.

It brings something new, slightly different.

You bring such character to it.

Other shanty mermaids have you tell me about them.

Usually at Plymouth, there's a lovely, lovely mermaid there who doesn't have a wheelchair, but she does have a.

It's almost like a trolley and it's the exact same one that we use for our pa and she.

She sort of has a.

Has cushions and everything.

She gets sort of pulled around in that one.

That was amazing.

That's so Good, isn't it?

You got to compare tales.

It's just that's.

That's from this tailmaker, isn't it?

Yes.

How do you know?

It's like, okay, I've got this one.

Do you leave your business card then, to make.

Make your own then.

I'm hoping to be able to.

To make some for other people at some point.

I'm designing walkable ones for.

For people that don't need wheelchairs.

Look at you.

You've got.

You found a niche.

Why do you think mermaids still capture people's imagination?

I think because there's just something magical to it and because it is.

Because they are global within the stories and legends and that.

I mean, there are different versions as well.

So you've got some people call them sirens, but then in Greek mythology, that's different because that's actually a woman's head with bird wings.

So it's different.

But then mermaids are the half fish, half person.

And because people have never seen them, but they capture the imagination because there are so many stories and songs.

And I think it's just that little bit of magic.

And even adults love, love the magic.

It's the smiles you get, it's the double takes.

Because occasionally I just sort of go down to the beach in Tynemouth and I'll just sit in my tail on the beach if it's a very nice day.

Yeah, I sort of occasionally go diving for shells and just in.

In shallow water.

But I think, yeah, adults still have the same wonderful.

There was a gentleman who'd just started going sea swimming in Dawlish, the next town over.

And in order to encourage his father to keep going, this man's son had been saying, well, you never know, you might see a mermaid.

Comes to Timothy, there's a mermaid on the beach.

And I think that day he was more excited than the children on the beach.

Wow.

Have a photo.

Yes, absolutely.

And it's wow.

Wow, Wade, that's amazing.

I mean, if you were a mermaid, where would you reside?

Where would you live?

Where would your mermaid.

Yes.

Not Timothy.

Not.

Not.

Not this.

Not this country.

Only on heat wave days is.

Is the.

The sea kind of inviting me in?

Yes.

Warm.

Tropical mermaids.

Tropical mermaid, please.

Yes.

That's on your shopping list.

I would rather be a tropical mermaid.

I like that.

And, you know, we know there are quite a few songs that talk about mermaids in the shanty world.

I mean, if you've got a particular favorite shanti song that kind of really represents me, the mermaid, I think I've.

Got two because, Gabe, it encompasses both the nice side and the not so nice side.

So one of them is A mermaid smile, which the lyrics were written by a chap from Timoth, Steve Oram, and then my dad put that to music.

So that's an original.

And the other one I have so much fun singing and it's written by a lovely lady called Ginny Dunn and it's a song called the Wave Soaked Maiden.

That one is very much a fun one to sing because it's definitely more of the sirenesque mermaids that drown sailors.

So that's.

So you've got the one where sort of she.

She saves the ship.

See a mermaid smile.

See a mermaid smile.

The crux of this narration is you'll see, you'll hear, you'll see the mermaid smile.

And the other one is beware the wave soaked maiden to whom the depths belong.

If you sail upon their waters, then you won't sail for long.

That's very positive messaging there from mermaids.

I can hear.

Well, it sounds like an incredible journey through all of what you've gone through, through pain, through difficulty, through periods of time that you can't remember because you've been on, you know, large amounts of pain relief and what you've done, you've encompassed it and made it to your own and you've taken hold of it and that is just phenomenal.

And this is.

It's worth absolutely looking up on their social media page where Cask is.

They are coming to the Real Ale and Shanty Festival here in Bristol.

You know, ultimately you should see them.

It's fantastic.

They're both amazing.

If you like pirates and you like mermaids, you get everything in one there.

We're definitely looking forward to it.

Yeah.

Nice.

Well, yeah, absolutely.

And then what else in the year have you got to look forward to?

Got other things that you're going to as a group.

Well, this coming weekend we've got Cockwood and Star Cross Shanti Festival.

There's Brixham Pirate Festival, Ilprakum, Newport, Gosport.

You name it, you're going to be there.

That's quite, Quite a few.

Quite a few to look forward to.

And I am incredibly lucky to have my.

My dad supporting me.

Yes.

And enabling me in order to do what I enjoy and for starting the whole mermaid thing in the first place.

Yeah.

Occasionally I do think he regrets it just because of how many shells I have in my craft shed, but I can imagine it.

Well, Catherine, thank you so much for talking to us here.

On Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

It's an incredible story and there is probably so much more that we could talk about.

But actually, listeners, please do go and talk to them because actually when you see them, you guys are always very open to talk about your journey and if there's more they want to ask you and, and get the nitty gritty of some of the details that you've done, then they can come and find you.

Can they?

Yes, absolutely.

And message me on TimothMermaid, which is on.

Which is Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Good night.

You're everywhere now.

And I'd also like to mention FND Friends, the charity that has helped me.

So, yeah, just shout out to FND Friends to support and a big thank.

You to Steve, who obviously is behind the scenes today.

He's doing all the kind of.

He's showing his face to the camera and clearly it's an audio, so they're not going to see you, Steve, but it's great to have you on board and I very much appreciate you helping technically and thank you both for spending time with us today.

One gray day so thick with fog the clouds hung heavy and low A fisherman out on the waves Hauled his nets up from below Tangled up amongst the co and bass and brill and bream Was something strange and scaly Like a vision from a dream La da da da da da da da da Vision from a dream she had fins where her feet should be her eyes were dark as a storm the siren that he caught upon that gray and fateful morn behind her lips her teeth were sharp Much sharper than his knives she said to him, come closer, sir, and I'll eat you alive.

Thank you, Catherine.

And thank you for spending the time talking to us here on Shipshape and Bristol Fashion.

So that's it from this month's episode.

Thank you for listening.

If you did enjoy it, then please do pop over to our website, shipshapepodcast.co.uk and leave us a review.

Review.

We would really appreciate that.

Fair winds and following seas and we welcome you back.

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