The Leaving of Liverpool

John Spencer-Barnes, the MVS Director of Communications, exercised his vocal chords at the Tall Ships Regatta in Liverpool over the late Spring Bank Holiday.
He met up with friends from the Sunderland Point Sea Shanty Crew from north Lancashire who were there to perform during the event.

He joined the crew to belt out some shanty classics such as “Roll the Old Chariot” and “South Australia”.
John says, “I love sea shanties, which I’ve sung since my days at University back in the eighties and in my time with the Sealed Knot.
They’re an important part of a festival like Tall Ships”.

The crew are based at Sunderland Point which is a remote community among the marshes, on a windswept peninsula between the mouth of the River Lune and Morecambe Bay.
It was once the third largest port in England and was used by slave and cotton ships, but its importance declined as other ports such as Lancaster were opened up.

Sunderland is unique in the UK as being the only community to be on the mainland and yet dependent upon tidal access.
The only vehicular access to the village is via a single-track road which crosses a tidal marsh.