Pride of Britain Charity Concert Highlights!

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Hi there. We're going to start this episode in a slightly different way and a bit of a. A somber way. Unfortunately, Chilli lost his mum at the end of November.Barbara is and will always be an incredible super fan of the Port of Bristol shanty crew. And she did it not just because Chilli is a singer and a member of the crew, but actually she fully supported everything that we did.But unfortunately, after a short spell of illness, she died. And we are all hugely sad to hear this news.And as you can imagine, we're coming alongside Chile to support him and his family who have been impacted by her death as we are now in January. And not having her around for Christmas was significantly sad for them all.However, if you ever knew Barbara, you would know that she was a just a born volunteer. She gave so much time to either be in a school governor or she was the Lord's mayor tourist guide for Bristol.She did so much work with the sea cadets and the Royal Marine Cadets. She was a significant member of the community and it is a massive loss. The crew were given the honor to sing to her one final time at her funeral.And so I'd like to dedicate this entire episode to her, who I know would have loved everything that we took part in December for the collaborative concept. And we'll just now hear the crew, as you can hear in the background, singing to her for one final time.

Waves are breaking under all away and shadow Fall away down channel all the inside when my days are over.

Fall.

Away your heaven Fall away for heaven.

Sheer shape and bristle Fashion boys along the hardest side from evil gods to wonderful Even all the line Secure the barrels down below Bind them, tie and lash em this vessel, she is certified ship shape from Bristol Fashion.

So hi there, everybody, and welcome to the next episode of Shipshape and Bristol Fashion. This is episode 24, and let me.

Be the first, if not one, of.

The many people that have said to you, happy New Year. We're looking forward to this year.There's lots of exciting gigs that we're looking forward to take part in and of course, more importantly, meeting you guys and of course, hanging out with other shanty crews from across the United Kingdom. So on this month's episode, we're going to be covering the live coverage of a collaboration of the Pride of Britain regional finalists.We've been talking about this for A couple of months now, and it happened on the 20th of December, and it went really well. And so we thought we would just treat you to some of the audio from the evening and also some of the audio from those regional finalists.And so we, we know that you will enjoy this as it covers all the good highlights of the evening. If this is the first time you've listened to us, then please do remember that this is episode 24.There's plenty of other episodes that you can listen to, whatever platform you're using to listen to this podcast, then go back and have a look and listen to the other episodes. There's so much content of what we get up to here at the Port of Bristol Shanty Crew.And if you are a regular listener, hey, it's really good to have you back. And we do appreciate your consistent support for this podcast. It makes it all worthwhile.

So we can welcome the wonderful Charlotte to Shipshape and Bristol Fashion. Welcome, Charlotte. How are you?

I'm very well, Justin. Thanks for asking me on the podcast.

Oh, it's great to have you here. Now, listeners, you're about to hear what I'm going to say is an audible delight of a bit of a mix mash of the.The evening that we took part in, which is an incredible concert that we collaborated with Reese, the night pianist, all under the kind of stern control of. Of Charlotte. And you're going to hear that very shortly.But before we get to that point, we are talking to Charlotte, who has been fundamental in organizing all of this. And it's worth recognizing that it has been a couple of weeks since the event.In fact, we've gone through Christmas now, and so we're actually just calming down and, and probably reflecting on how great the event was. But, Charlotte, how are you feeling? How do you think the event went?

Huge relief is the biggest feeling I have at the moment.I think the morning after the event, I woke up and really had a huge smile on my face because I thought, yeah, that went as well as I could have anticipated it going. Everyone had a wonderful evening. The feedback from the event was absolutely tremendous.Messages were coming rolling in the next morning, just singing everyone's praises, really, for the. The beautiful performances that were put on and the money that was raised.

Yes, we'll get back to that very shortly. But let's. Before we clearly talk about the event itself, let's. Let's just work out, how did this come about?Charlotte, how do you go from being a volunteer and a fundraiser for this incredible charity and for all the work that they do. To be standing in front of what I think was around 480 people in this incredible chapel. Tell me, how did it all come about?

So I have volunteered at the Veil for around four years. So I go in once a week and look after, clear out, clean out, feed animals and have an absolute well of a time looking after the animals there.And I from, from volunteering, really realized that they need fundraising as well. They need money coming in to keep the doors open.So I decided to do fundraising and I started to do crafts that I would sell at local markets and open days and fairs and just saw how much of a difference that money can make. And my difference is tiny compared to their bills that come through the door every week.But I feel quite strongly that if everybody can make a little bit of a difference, then that can make a big difference in the end.And I'm so passionate about animal welfare and looking after our planet, looking after our ecosystems and making sure everything functions that we need, these wildlife hospitals. So I was extremely driven to keep going and keep fundraising for them.And it was a Tuesday morning and I was volunteering and the founder, Caroline, came up to me while I was hanging, washing on the washing line, and she said, you're going to kill me. And I looked at her and said, I think I am, aren't I? And she said, you are.And she said, we have nominated you or put you forward for a Pride Britain nomination. And I was completely shocked and she said, look, it's not likely to go anywhere, so don't get your hopes up, but I just thought I'd tell you.And then by 2 o' clock in the afternoon, I had a phone call from ITV to say, you have been shortlisted as a finalist. And it was all like, in one day. And I was absolutely amazed, taken aback, terrified, excited, every emotion that I could think of.And, yeah, then, then ITV came and did the, the filming at the Vale and then did some filming at my house to put the VT together to go towards the, the pride of IT and regional final. So, yeah, that's how it all started.

It's amazing how just a little nomination from somebody who can see your worth and what you did to apply yourself to this incredible fundraising activities that you do and of course the cause, and suddenly you are, you've got a TV company that's with you, recording you, trying to capture as much VT as possible.Because I think from my memory, because clearly we've gone through the same process, is that that video then gets put in front of a Panel to then be obviously formally kind of a regional finalist. And. And actually, I think we shared air time. We were on the telly together, weren't we?

Yeah, yeah, I think you were Wednesday and. No, I was Wednesday. You were Thursday or something like that.

Yeah, it feels like. It feels such a long time ago now. But I do remember, to the telly, who are.Who are these wonderful people across the region that are doing very similar great things? And I do remember, how do you pick a winner? Oh, my goodness.

Yeah, I know. And I think that was what was so beautiful about it, that everyone had their own beautiful story. And I know what. I know myself.I always feel that what I do is not as good as what everybody else does, and everybody else is these amazing people. But when you see yourself on telly and then you get all these people commenting and.And reaching out to you on social media and saying, wow, this is amazing. I was so humbled and so taken aback by the outpour of love and, yeah, it was. It was beautiful.And that same day that my VT went out was the day that Reese, the night church pianist, got in touch with me and he reached out and he said something like, you're the most lovely lady and I would love to do some work with you. And I was. I think I cried, actually. I'd just been emotional all day, but I think I cried because I was just, this is such a lovely soul.And I'd seen his VT before.I think he'd been on earlier in the week for another region, and I'd seen his VT and he'd touched me then, and I thought, oh, my God, this guy is amazing. He's just so passionate and so, so beautiful. So for him to reach out, I was just like, oh, gosh, this is crazy. And then she mentioned.He mentioned your names, and I was like, oh, this is going to be good.

I could imagine there was a light bulb moment thinking, you know what, let's make the Most of our 15 minutes of fame across the region and do something fundamental for your charity.Because clearly both Reese and us as a group, we clearly are managing and we're representing larger charities at times, but actually to really focus on your charity, which is just a little pokey area in the region that that really needed to have a focus on. And so I guess there we are. The idea was born and it was time to collaborate and formulate something.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think that was my. My drive has always been about spotlighting the need for help for these wildlife hospitals.They are in little areas all over the place and they get no government funding whatsoever. And Vail Wildlife admit 8,000 patients a year and it costs 2,500 pound a day.And that's at the moment, I think in January, electricity bills are going to go through the roof and we've got, you know, incubators on, lighting on, washing machines going 24 7. The costs are immense. So, yeah, I wanted to shine a spotlight on wildlife hospitals, but in particular the one that I volunteer for.So this was a huge opportunity and the, the bigger it could be, the better for me.

Yes.

And that's how. Yeah, that's how the collaboration started and Reese planted this seed and this seed very quickly grew, actually. It's more snowballed, didn't it?And it did carried on and carried on and got bigger and bigger and bigger. And that's why it was so amazing in the end.

And it was a beautiful event. Beautiful event and a incredible venue. And I think people wanted to support your cause.They could really, through the posters, through the promotion, through our own kind of little videos we did to promote it.

You could really see that there was.

A, there was a need, there was a purpose and people, people bought tickets.

They came, they did, they did. And, and again, I use the word humbling. It's a big word that I've used a lot over the last few months. It just, it makes me so emotional.I think on the night you probably heard it, Justin, I managed to get through the first page of my welcome to everyone and then the minute I said I was humbled to be nominated as a Pride of Britain, I just, yeah, my voice went and the tears came and I can't tell you how much I've cried over this event. But not, not, not tears of frustration, not tears of. Tears of just pure emotion. Yes.I practiced my speech for the night over and over and over again until I was really happy.And then on the morning I said my speech and I suddenly started crying halfway through and my other half said, oh, no, we haven't factored this in, we haven't factored emotion. How do we deal with emotion on the day? And I think it was just as I said before, I'm just so passionate about it. I. I just feel that it just.Yeah, what they do there is amazing, it's truly amazing when, when you go and I've taken hedgehogs from my own garden there, you take a hedgehog in, it's poorly, it's sick, it needs care. They do everything that they would in, like a hospital for humans, but yes.They've got a vet there, they've got an operating theater, they do all this work and then at the end of the day or the end of that journey for that hedgehog, you're able to release it back to the wild and that releasing back to the world. I can't tell you that feeling. It's the best feeling in the whole entire world.

So imagine, I can imagine. And you do such great work as part of a massive team of people that work around this little creature.And I'm guessing right now it is quite challenging. It's winter, it's dark, there's fireworks, there's Christmas, all of this.And there's lots more people on the road that maybe shouldn't be on the road because they've had one or two Sherry's. And I guess that the biggest casualty in some of this world is those little creatures.

Yeah, it is.And sadly, and I don't like to hop on about it too much, but sadly, it's as humans and our interactions with our environment that cause a lot of the problems.So as you mentioned, you know, cars, fireworks, fire, bonfires, streaming injuries, garden tidying up, disturbing of nests, all of those kind of things that impact on how the casualties come to us. So a lot of them are sadly because of human interactions and we can't, we can't always change that.We can do certain things to try, but just recognizing that if you've got a sick animal, there's somewhere there that can help and you can take it to it, I think you're doing a job than as a human.

Yeah, definitely a very good reflection on that for us to take away listeners to really look after those little people.And wherever you live in the United Kingdom or around the world, there's going to be a wildlife hospital somewhere that is probably worth just coming alongside and recognizing the incredible work that they do. But we know that Vail is one of the busiest in the UK, isn't it?

Yeah, it is, yeah. Yeah. The 8,000 patients that come through the door are varied.So it's, you know, mainly hedgehogs and we're lucky to have hedgehogs because hedgehogs are, you know, endangered and the numbers are declining. So to have them coming into the hospital is great.But we have foxes, badgers, loads of different birds, birds of prey, little tiny weeny birds, huge, you know, humorous birds that come through the door. Water birds, swans, ducklings, pheasants, rabbits, everything deer. So, yeah, it's just so varied.You never know when you hear the bell go at the front door, which is a patient coming into Tria, you never know what it's going to be. And some people come in with the biggest box ever and they've got the tiniest wood mouse in there.Coming with the tiny box with a little rabbit in there. You never quite know what's coming through the door. And yeah, it's, it keeps the staff on their toes.But as you say, it is that bigger picture within the team. It's. Volunteers are hugely important.But then the care assistants that are there 24, 7 and they're overnight if needed, well, they're there every night, but they work until the work is done. Vets that come in, the admin, the, the, the charity shop runners, you know, there's, it's a huge team that the work together.

I can, I can just hear and once again, your passion for this incredible place and you can see why it's so important by the fact that they get no other government funding. It is all just purely by donation.

And the goodwill of people.

And so your objective was of course to do a big juicy gig with a collaboration, knowing that we all were. We've all got our fans, we've all got our people that love to follow.They all are either going to be supporting the charity or they know Reese, who of course was the overall winner and well deserved and, and we'll hear a bit of his story later on during the audio of the fantastic event he had by going to the Pride of Britain award. But of course, you know, people came and they came in in their hundreds to support your charity.And, and so the objective of course was to raise some money. And so what was the final token?

The final total was £6,227.27.

Wow, that is amazing. Such an incredible amount of money to, to, to just a couple of hours of evening of entertainment really.But we know that it's taken months and months and planning and I think, you know, we all are incredibly grateful for the hard work that you had put into this event. And I think, you know, Rhys the night shows pianist, he really seemed to enjoy every second of it.I know when I was singing in this incredible audience, incredible venue, he was enjoying every single second of it, which was so good.

Absolutely. I remember walking in.So we had the choir, Cheltenham's children choir and we had musicality choir, so an adult and child choir singing as people arrived between 7 and 7:30.And I walked in with my clipboard and my shaking legs as I walked down the, the aisle towards the, the Front of the church and the music and the, the ambience and the feel from everybody there of almost anticipation, excitement, happiness. It was just all those emotions and I just, yeah, I just wanted to soak it all in. If I could do that again, I would do was just wonderful.

And guys, if you are listening and would love to actually see some of this stuff then pop over to either of our, our Facebooks on our website, everywhere there is.So put some of that information in the show notes where you can see some of the, the highlights that have been put together because it was phenomenal.It was an incredible chapel, candles, just hundreds of people and of course there was an interval as well where you could go and have a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine. And there was another singer in there as well.

Yeah, Georgina, bless her. Georgina was there doing some jazz Christmas carols and yeah, she was amazing. I just wanted to keep that ambience going.I didn't want people to arrive and suddenly be thrown into your wonderful port of Bristol SH crew and then there'll be a pause and then Reese comes on. I wanted it to be a fluid evening. I wanted it to be full of music, full of happiness and that's why I wanted people singing when people arrived.I wanted people singing when we were having our refreshments. I just wanted it to be a joyous evening.And what was lovely was everybody gave their time freely and happily and I think that's what really stood out to me. You know, I'd approach people and say, oh, this is what I'm doing. Would it be something that you would be interested in doing?And every time a big fat yes came back and I was just like, thank you, thank you, thank you. I just couldn't be more grateful for everyone coming together. It was amazing.

So good.I think, you know, your enthusiasm and your passion just oozes through and I know that you made a conscious effort to even come and see us at one of our gigs so you get to see what we were like and met the crew and they are a crazy bunch but you still loved us and you still let us come along.

And I adore you. I don't know about love you, you know, you just made me and I came saw you at the church down Methodist chapel, I think it was.And yeah, they were just so welcoming and I'm so glad I did that because I just felt like I got to know the crew and I was then ready to welcome the crew on the night. It just. Yeah, you were all amazing.

Even Chile didn't put you off?

No, Chile had me on his knee.

Oh, that's atypical for Chile, bless him. Yeah, well, I mean, listeners, next up, you're going to hear the incredible audio from the evening. But one final question for you, Charlotte.

What next?

I know, I mean, I think you should never try and beat it because that's going to be a moment in your life that will always be. One guess is you're going to carry on doing your, your crafts and.And again, I'll put a link in the show notes that you can go to Charlotte's website. It's some incredible work that you do and people, people buy them and, and of course they, they, they. All that money clearly goes to a good cause.

24000 pounds worth of people have bought them, so it's amazing.

Wow.

20.

That is phenomenal. You must, you must see some of this work that you do. You are.

Do you get any rest time? Do you get.

I mean, because you've clearly got a very, very busy day job. You are a gp, a bit like our doc. You're a busy man, a busy ladies, and I can't believe you fit it all in, but hats off to you.Any other thoughts and plans of what.

You'Re going to do next to raise some money?

I was going to say I wish I have more of a talent because I have to. My talent is with my hands, being able to make things. But I've realized that perhaps I can organize things as well.I didn't think I was a particularly good organizer, but I think I can organize things now, so I would love to organize something else.Rhys was talking about something for maybe a summer production somewhere and yeah, I would be well up for arranging anyone or anything that wants to come together and raise money for any cause. I think next time we do something, we do it for other causes as well.Even though Bail Wildlife is so important to me and I definitely are going to carry on fundraising for them, I just feel like if we can do it across all of our charities, I would be happy to because I know that you raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust.

Yes.

Yeah.

Homelessness and mental health charities. So I think we can collaborate on our charities as well and I would love to do something else.

But yeah, let's monopolize on this moment because clearly the Pride of Britain is going to come around again.There's going to be another bunch of people that are going to really be, be beneficial from their moment in the limelight, but to try and maximize it.Well, Charlotte, it has been fundamentally beautiful to talk to you and thank you so much for coming back on the show and talking about your event and listeners. What we're going to do now is we're going to kick off with a bit of the. Of the choir, which is great.

They're going to sing some Christmas tunes.

So I know it's a January episode, but you know what, we can reminisce about the Christmas and then just some highlights from us. And of course, Rhys, the night pianist. And we'll get to hear a little bit of his backstory and how he his experience at the Pride of Britain Awards.

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Good evening, everyone.

Welcome. Thank you.

There will be many thank yous and introductions throughout the night, but first of all, thank you so much for your being here to support Bay Old Wildlife Hospital. A huge thank you to the children's choir and the musicality choir for a wonderful welcome as you arrive.Thank you also to Cheltenham College for allowing us to perform in this beautiful chapel. It really showcases our performance.

Tonight we'll be introducing Port of Bristol.

Shanty Crew to my right.

Thank you.

And Reese Wing Jones, the night church pianist. For those of you who I haven't met, I'm Charlotte.I'm honoured, or was honoured to be a Private Britain regional finalist for supporting Bale Wildlife Hospital. I thought the nerves would get me rather than the tears.

I'm afraid I a little bit of.

A crier, so I apologize in advance. Charity moves me and that's why I feel this way. Anyway, I'll try not to.I also volunteer, which gives me a real insight into the need for fundraising. And tonight is all about Vail Wildlife Hospital.It's about raising funds, but just as importantly about raising awareness for the incredible work that they do. Vail treats over 8,000 patients patients every year, making it one of the busiest wildlife hospitals in the UK.Their running costs are currently around a whopping 2,500 per day and they receive no government funding, relying entirely on donations, as well as caring for injured and sick wildlife. Vail also supports, educates other rescues and works within communities to raise awareness about the importance of protecting our wildlife.They're open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and they will never turn an animal away, no matter how small, common or complex the case may be, every single life matters. Their aim is always to treat, rehabilitate and return animals to the wild where they belong.Our wildlife is essential for balanced ecosystems and for creating an environment where animals and humans can thrive together. By being here tonight and purchasing a ticket, you are directly helping Vail continue this vital work.To put that in context, a 15 pound ticket provides a hedgehog with a much needed anaesthetic for surgery, 20 pounds confirms an X ray for a critically ill patient, and five pounds a week can provide food for a hedgehog in the care. So thank you all so much for your generosity and support. It's also fantastic to have Caroline Gold MBE in the audience tonight.She'll hate me for this. Caroline is the founder of Vail and she celebrated 40 years of helping British wildlife in 2024.So I want to say a personal thank you to Caroline for all. I'm so sorry, Carl. I'm now delighted to hand over to Heidi Hargreaves, one of our amazing vets at bay.

So as you prepared. I am one of the Bennett at the Wildlife hospital and in my circles I'm also best known for my food animal impressions.But I shall say that for Christmas and birthday times.

So.

I had the best job in the world. I think I'd like to challenge you on it.Anyway, my job is so vague, at one point I can be dealing with an illogical fox, a trapped deer in the fence, handfuls of hedgehogs and a small bird in the palm of my hand, which I next to me because it can't fly. The days can be chaotic, sometimes sad. But what I love the most is the ability to be able to prevent and shorten harm.And hopefully I'm just a small part in the bigger picture of actually releasing them back to the wild. But notice I said the word just is a word I hear far too often.I just clean out the head hook, I just do the payroll, I just answer telephones, I just fold up towels. I just help to organize the raffle for Christmas. There's no just about it.It's because of all of those amazing people that we can do this amazing life work for all the thousands of animals, tens of thousands in the last 40 years. And may that yawn continue in the future. So I want to say to you, thank you for just buying a ticket tonight because you're also part of the team.And one person who says just more than one or twice is this person behind me. I'm just a doctor. I just volunteer a few hours a week. I just make some reads and donate the costs to Bell Wildlife Hospital.By the way, they are beautiful. You can see them in the break. I don't get Any commission. So please, please, please buy the ned. Truly, truly beautiful.

Keep looking behind me because I can.

Feel her trying to push me off the stage. I actually spoke to a few of your close family members and asked her ask them was it because of Veil that she said this?Just was it something that she's always been like? And I asked, asked her big sister if she said she's just for the moment, for example. Anyway, it turns out that actually she's always been like this.In fact her big sisters. One of her first memories is of Charlotte pointing her little finger to her daddy, saying, great, don't kill that spider.Which is quite surprising because actually quite a lot and here are scared of spiders, let alone the children you don't need to be. And I can tell you they definitely are one.And also her poor partner, you think they went away on holiday, they'd have some time together to focus on the raids and son. And yet no. Charlotte managed to find a really poorly injured cat and at great cost.Her time and money was able to get Betty help for this cat and little Tony was able to be rehomed off as well.And then lastly, from my own experience, I know that just a pair of PJs doesn't stop Charlotte running into the garden in case she sees one wildlife in her garden maybe needing an extra little bit of care.So I hope, Charlotte, that rather than you just saying it, I just pull things together to make tonight happen, that you can sit back and relax and think, wow, we did this. I did this. Thank you, Sean.

So we are, I am now joined by the Port of Bristol Chanty crew and I will hand over to the lovely crew to introduce themselves. But I just wanted to say about them, they give their time freely to support festivals and charity fundraisers.Their chosen charity is the Teenage Cancer Trust and in just three years they've raised over £52,000.

I'm sure that will be more than that. Does not stop there.

They support so many of the charities and tonight they give their time to support Vale. Their commitment was recently recognized when they were nominated for the beautiful Pride of Britain award.So I'd like to welcome onto the stage the lovely port of Brisbane.

Okay, here we go. Now, looking out at you, I can tell just by looking at you, actually, that many of you are in fact classical scholars.No, seriously, I can tell that many of you have read Horrors of the Sea in the original Greek. I'm overawed by that. Now, the chap who wrote this song, a good friend of us called Tom Lewis.It's not really about the brave Odysseus, but there is a chorus in it. And you will remember, I'm sure, that when Odysseus, who had a blinking horrible time really, to be fair, at sea, he came back to land and.And he decided to march inland with an anchor over his shoulder. And he said, when anyone says to me, what's that funny thing you've got on your shoulder?He knew that he was far enough away from the sea never to go back. Now, unfortunately, Tom Lewis, who wrote this song, could not think of a good rhyme for anchor.

Tanker, tanker.

So in this song, he's carrying a rowing oar, an oar over his shoulder. I'll say that carefully. He's got an oar over his shoulder. Here we go. Lord Nelson knew the perfect way to cure your mind.And if you pay attention his secret I will share to any seasick sailor he gave this advice for free if you feel sea sit underneath a tree.

So I'm marching in land from the shore up over the shoulder Every when someone ask me what is that funny thing you got? Then I know I'll never go to sea no more no more Then I know I'll never go to sea no more the man down he blow the man down Away Hey.Blow the man down Blow him right back Back into old Bristol town Give me some time to blow Nandan As I was a walking down for the wind Straight to me hey grow man A charming young damsel a chance for to meet Give me some time to grow man Dan Grow the man.

Down.

Blow the man down Blow him right back into old Bristol town Give me some time to blow land down 40 ships had sailed the sea proudly Bearing gay man's name but there's one that will never again Owhen Lost in the Irish Sea at 1am in Ramsey Bay Captain Till was heard to say Our contract is to deliver the in this rough weather we must not fail. O Ellen landing of the Iron Man.

Company.

O El and landing lost in the ivory sea shaped and crystal flashing voids on our side from maven gorse to wonderful secure and barrel stand below binding tie and mashen this certified.

Is.

A lonely place where the storms are.

Many and the shelter scarce on the.

Restless waters and the troubled scarlet you.

Can see that molly monk wheel and.

Fly down upon the southern ocean Sailing down below Cape Horn Won't you ride the wind and O white seabird Won't you ride the wind and go olly bo down upon the southern ocean Sailing down the illo cape or Sea the Bristol town loaded down the brandy O Or sea to Bristol town loaded down the Grandio the Grandio rolling all through the deep green day towards the hills of Red Cliff Bay Corn crates steams upon her way from the mill at night to the break of day o' er the sea the Bristol town blowed it down Grandio or to see the Bristol town It's all for be grogy Jolly, jolly grog all for good ear and tobacco where the santo with the lassie's drinking G Far across the western ocean I must wander where are me boots?

Me noggin noggin boots they're all gone.

For beer and just hair you see.

The salt were wearing and the uppers were letting in and the hills were.

Looking out for better weather Land is all for me grog Me jolly, jolly craw all four Only beer and tobacco well away Joe, if I didn't kiss the girls my lips will go homely Away all the way all away Go all away, hey all the way we haul away together Away all the way all the way, hey all the way we hope for better always Away all.

The way.

He supports many charities, including homelessness and mental health charities. Tonight he's joined forces to raise money for bail. So thank you, Reese. He's also the ITV west country regional winner. Fundraiser of the year.Congratulations. So please do welcome my amazing Reese.

Sam. Thank you very much, everybody. My name is Reese, the night church pianist. I from core. And all this, everything happened by accident.This song is called Exodus. Thank you. So, yeah, I, yeah, I made the vick of swearing went viral and that's how all this started.And I was this mysterious night church pianist for six months.So while I was sleeping on the streets, I came into the church, played the tune they recorded me, I disappeared and everybody was going like on call live. And who was I? What was I doing? And there was all these comments that said I should do a concert.And I agreed on the condition that the money raised would get my mates off the streets. I didn't want to take any money for myself. It didn't feel right after what I saw. And that decision turned my life upside down.It started off as one concert, then it went into a whole lot of concerts. I called it the Night Church Piano Tour. And yet today I've raised over £31,000 and I've successfully got my mates off the street.And from there, national news got involved, press got involved, Sky News, the Times. I'm even. I'm even working with Peter Andre of all pageball.We're launching a media project, top secret charity media project for 2026 and so yeah, keeping if you are on social media, check out my pages and you'll see what we're planning. It's pretty awesome. And from there I did the night church piano tour got extended. I released my first album called High and Bye.So that's five tracks that I wrote while sleeping on the streets. One of them you'll here tonight and yeah I, I want that.I at the end of 2024 when all this happened I thought 2025 it would just fizzle out and I'll go back to some kind of normality like well, a normal situation for someone in my situation and I was wrong about that, very wrong. I'll tell you more about Pride of Britain in a minute but first I want to play a little song called Dusk till Dawn. This is by Zane and Sia it. Sam.So I've had quite a few questions especially from Port of Bristol and shot Charlotte recently. What happened at the Pride of Britain awards? What did I get up to now? Who's seen the Pride of Britain Awards this year? Who's seen it?Oh, a couple of you. Yeah, it's two hours broadcast but the actual record was free, so it's three hours. So it was about one hour cut off from broadcast.So you didn't see everything that happened on screen and that's one of the reasons why the regional winners didn't get any screen time because there wasn't any time. It was a packed night, there was a lot going on. The red carpet experience was very overwhelming.I went from a shop doorway to the red carpet in 20 months. It's mad, it's loud and I felt light headed, felt a bit sick. But I was really lucky because Chesney Hawks was behind me and.

He got me through it.

Oh, bless him. And at the end I spoke to Carol Waterman. Don't worry Porter Bristle, Shanty Crew. I sent her your love. I did, I made sure of it.

And.

And the actual ceremony itself, you could go around to any table and speak to whoever you want. I spoke well. So I met the Chasers, I met Ann Pikerty and I met the Vixen. I met Gladiators. I also, oh, this is funny.All the celebrities was staring at me because I was wearing a hoodie and Beverly Knight said, oh, I wish I could wear a hoodie. And then. But there was one celebrity that I didn't recognize who confronted me and said, you can't wear that in there. Take it Off.And he was very serious. And I said, I'm a regional winner. This is more image. This is what people in Cornwall know me as, the hooded piano player. And he defused.He defused and said, oh, shook my hand, had a selfie with him. So I didn't know who he was. So I took the phone back to our table and the brothers who are regional winners, they said, wow, you met David Hunt.I nearly got knocked out by a world champion boxer for winning the team. But most of the night I spent with the other winners planning collaborations like this one.

And.

Also I did spend the after party with Ronnie Wood. Yeah. I partied with the Rolling Stone. I don't think he was supposed to be drinking because the PA car dim away. Yeah. But it was crazy night.Wonderful night. And Port of Bristol and Charlotte, they deserve to be there too. Everyone deserved to be there. It was. Yeah.I plugged this event as much as I can to everybody. Peter, Andrew's regards as well. Says it was just us all up. So that's very awesome. I'm glad I didn't perform at Pride of Britain.The attention was too much. But when you perform on tv, there are loads of rules.

You're listening to Shipshape and Bristol Flight Fashion, sponsored by the Nova Scotia Pub. Come down and see us on Bristol's historic harbour side.

Too many.Well, this next track I'm going to play is a fusion of one of my favorite songs from the musicals and also the classic piece which I swear Andrew Lloyd Webber was influenced by to create this track. So I have fused a Clair Delau with music of the night from Phantom of the Opera. Let's see if it works.So I find that the further back in time you go, the better music gets. Who agrees? Do you find that music sounds the same, Dr. Dan? Do you know why? Because it is.

And I can prove it.

Now, they have different tunes, but all news music has patterns. Now this pattern here, which is journeys don't stop believing.Just a small town girl Living in a knowing world she took the midnight he got his pattern going now James Glance. My love's brilliant My love's pure A sore creature without sure look like these people kill and people die. Okay, this next song I'm about to do is.Is a little medley, a medley of one of my favorite film composers. I just find the music in a film. No, Melanie reframes the music makes it though. It's more than just covering up dodgy sound effects.It sets atmosphere. I just feel that a lot of the awards award winning Blockbusters are due to this man, Hans Zimmer. So I'm going to play a couple of hands in the tunes.Sa. Thank you so much. Wow. I've still got one Hand's Immature in the bag and it's for the Port of Bristol, Chantilly. Maybe in a bit.We're going to go on to a couple of festive numbers. Now, this is a couple of my favorite Christmas songs. I'm going to mash up two songs again.The first one is oh, Holy Night and I'm going to follow it up with Fairy Tale Of Newborn. Thanks for the last couple of songs in the set. Have you enjoyed the show so far? My penultimate song of the evening, it's.It's been a crazy ride and I've got to do some thank yous.First of all, can we please give a round of applause to Del and the team at Trudeau Music Management for looking after me, making sure I get to the gigs, making sure I'm well looked after. And then he really stepped up when all of this exploded and I was just getting overwhelmed with everything. They saved me.So, please, round of applause for them. So. And I just need to.I just need to say that with doing Pride of Britain, with winning was like when I went viral, I swear to use my gifts properly and I looked on it as a gift and I used gifts the right way. When I won Pride of Britain, I looked on that as a gift and I'm using that gift in the right way. I'm collaborating with others.I want to do bigger fundraisers, do more events like this tonight.And not only I want to continue fundraising, I also want to go into schools, into conferences and speak about homelessness and my experience, because there's such a stigma and a lot of that stigma isn't true. And if I can do that on an educational level, then maybe it can help the world be a bit kinder. And that's one thing I wanted to say tonight.Getting myself out of homelessness. I didn't take any offers when I went to viral, had ls. I had offers of spare rooms, squatting in second homes.There was one celebrity I won't name, but they wanted to bail me out and I said no, I wanted to get myself out. And the reason is that I wanted to show people that it's possible to help yourselves, but help others at the same time.In society, it's believed it's one or the other and it's divided us. And there's these sayings that you can't pour from an Empty cup or you have to fit your mask on first. That's false and I'm living proof of that.Because it costs nothing to be kind. You don't have to solve other people's problems. You can just be kind. Showing up. And that was one thing.When I saw the other Pride of Britain finalists, when I saw the other winners, what they've done, my way of kindness is like, let's team up, let's work together. Let's not be divided in our efforts. If we are combined in our efforts, bigger things get done when we're together.I mean, one man can do a lot, but a lot of people with the same goal, the same heart can change the world. And speaking of world, I wasn't going.

To do this one.

This was a challenge. Someone bet me 50 quid that I couldn't sing in every country of the world and play the piano.And someone bet me another 50 quid I couldn't do all the elements of the periodic table. And then someone bit me another 30 quid and I couldn't do the first hundred digits of PI.All the countries of the world, all the elements, first hundred digits of PI. What could possibly go go.United states, canada, mexico, panama, haiti, jamaica, peru, republic, dominican, cuba, dominica, seclusion el salvador too san marino, colombia, venezuela, honduras, guiana still guatemala bolamia de argentina and ecuador chile, brazil, costa rica burmese parai, granada bahamas redano paranormal europe by surina bolia and montenegro norway and sweden iceland and finland germany and uae and short form united arabs switzerland, austria, slovakia, italy, turkey and greece poland, romania, georgia, albania, ankara, oman, bulgaria, saudi arabia, hungary, cyprus, iraq and iran niban israel joining aid you england, northern ireland, scotland and wales kuwait and bahrain the netherlands lot of the belgium and portugal france, belarus and mark and spain ubezd on kyrgyzstan, ukraine temescal macedonia vatican city, tajikistan rakazistan croatia vietnam equatorial king south africa slovenia caperti armenia, bosnia and hersa garbinia, gabatika morris and sankis of nevis the kremer the army coast is the more antigua and with you the same is circle the grenadines and pandora congo, india, pakistani, sri lanka, new zealand, Malta and palestine timole ss fatini runama the holy sea the central africa public marshall islands fiji, australia, sudan and shelton. There's antibody acetaminium and selenium are hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen Arenium and nicronegative.With bromide Lithium, beryllium and barium Holm Aluminum, helium and erbium phosphorus and potassium fluorine and terbium mechanism Mercury, magnitudin and magnesium dysprosium, ascandium, cerium, as promethium, potassium, polonium, platinum, Tunisian titanium, tellurium and calium and chromium and calcium and curium silver, Californian for bean fermi and bikinian asinian chloride. Sam. And now we're on a screen. 30 in the 32. Now we're blue on you 7915. And then a two 88 to 41. So much fun. Four run nine. So one six nine through nine.

Nine every seven.

51.

Halfway done. Where's a wide 7? 4 is on the 4 number 4 for 9, 2. 67.

Thank you.

And now let's come to my final song. I want to say thank you so much for supporting Bauer Wildlife Hospital tonight. I, like I said it was.I was talking with local of final Britain winners and finalists and.

I was.

Just so inspired by what everybody does to make the world better. And when I did this, I didn't expect to get that. I didn't expect to be nominated for that. Even when I heard I was nominated, I thought, that's nice.Before we go no further. But we don't do this for the awards or recognition, we do it because it's right.And the portal, Bristol, Shanta Cru, Charlotte, all the other winners and finalists I'm speaking to, collaborating with. I'm all over the UK next year with Bonkers. But I just want to.I just want to say I love what you do, keep doing what you're doing because the world needs it and if there's anything I can ever do to help, whether it's another concert or you just need. If you need anything on there.

So the evening includes big thank you again to everyone who has made this possible and thank you all for coming. But I think the stars of the show are. Wonderful performance. Thank you all again. Safe journey home to everyone.Merry Christmas and wishing you a very well. 2026.

So that's it for this month's episode. I hope you really enjoyed the audio. It certainly was a great event to be part of.And the acoustics and the whole kind of getting together to raise such valuable funds for an incredible charity was all worthwhile. Now, if you've been listening to this episode and would love to give a small donation to that charity, then you still can do that.So if you pop over to their website, which is valewildlife, all one word, all lowercase.org.uk, you can then click the button that says memberships and donations and there's a clear button there that you can click to donate donate just a little bit of money to contribute towards their work. I will include that link into the show notes and every every five every.And so again if you are interested in donating then do pop over to their website vailwildlife.org UK so that's it for this month's episode of Shipshape and Bristol Fashion. Thank you once again for listening all.

The way through and we look forward.

To catching up with you next month. So fair winds and following seas take.

Care Ship shape and Bristol fashion boys along the harbor side From Avon Gorge to Underfo we'll even haul the line secure the barrels down below Bind and tie and lash em this vessel she is certified Shipshape and Bristol fashion so haul away me laddie boys haul away you're free Haul away me laddie boys and save a drink for me Haul away me laddie boys haul away your friend Haul away me laddy boys and save a drink for me.