The first year they sang at the amphitheatre, near the cliff lift, about 200 people attended and it had grown to 800 last year, he said.<\/p>\n
Musician Ayling said he and his wife were inspired to create the group following the Covid-19 pandemic, and drew from the history of the town they had moved to five years ago.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to get singing again and enjoy the work that we used to do,” he said.<\/p>\n
Interest from children in the area saw them create children’s choirs<\/a> and they have since visited dozens of local schools to share the music and its maritime roots.<\/p>\n “Just getting the whole class, and sometimes the whole school, singing together, it rarely happens now in some schools,” he said.<\/p>\n Ayling said the group put a positive spin on their modern songwriting.<\/p>\n “Originally, shanties were work songs, they were sung in hard conditions,” he said.<\/p>\n “They were about the rhythm of the ocean and the rhythm of the work that was being done on the boats.”<\/p>\n He said people came away feeling positive after the shows, and a bucket would be passed around to raise funds for the group and the RNLI.<\/p>\n Follow BBC Tees on X,, external<\/a> Facebook, external<\/a>, Nextdoor<\/a> and Instagram, external<\/a>.<\/p>\n