Ships Log - August 2026

August carried the Crew from a country fair and a brewery taproom to the grounds of a medieval castle—but one of the month’s most memorable musical moments occurred entirely by chance, over a quiet drink in a Porlock pub.

We began on 2 August at Porlock Country Fair, where seven members of the Crew took to the field for an afternoon of shanties and maritime songs. Away from our own performance, we particularly enjoyed watching the family dog show—although, wisely, none of the Crew attempted to enter.

A lively and appreciative crowd joined us for the singing and gave us a wonderfully warm welcome. We are delighted to have already been invited back next year and look forward to returning.

On 8 August we ventured inland to Wiveliscombe for our first appearance at the Exmoor Brewery Tap and Bottle Room. The evening had a slightly shaky beginning, with the Crew initially finding ourselves a little too far removed from the main gathering. Once we moved outside and closer to the crowd, however, everything fell into place.

The audience quickly became part of the performance, joining the choruses and encouraging us throughout the evening. By the end of our planned set, they were not yet ready to let us go—and two encores followed before we were finally allowed to stand down.

Excellent beer and a very welcome hog roast added to the occasion, ensuring that performers and guests alike went home well fed as well as well entertained. What began uncertainly became a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and we very much hope it will be the first of many visits to the brewery.

Our next engagement came as something of a surprise. When another performer had to withdraw from Dunster Castle’s Sunset Sessions, the Crew was invited to step in at short notice on 13 August. It was an opportunity we were delighted to accept.

Dunster Castle provided one of the most striking settings in which we have performed. On a beautiful summer evening, we sang outside in the castle grounds as the day began to soften around us. The music evidently travelled beyond the castle walls: we later heard from a Dunster resident who had listened from their garden and is now interested in joining the Crew. We cannot think of a much better recruitment campaign than a few harmonies carried on the evening air.

The night might have ended there, but on our way home we stopped at Porlock’s Top Ship for a drink. Inside were British and German representatives who had attended that day’s rededication of the grave of Wilhelm Reuhl, a young Luftwaffe airman killed when his aircraft was shot down over Porlock Bay in September 1940.

Reuhl was buried in Hawkcombe Cemetery, where generations of Porlock residents continued to tend his grave. Eighty-six years later, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the German War Graves Commission worked together to install a permanent headstone—a fitting act of remembrance and reconciliation. (Read more)

We overheard members of the gathering singing and offered a song of our own. One song led to another, and before long the pub was filled with music and stories shared between people who, only a few hours earlier, had gathered to remember a tragedy from a very different age.

It was entirely unplanned and all the more special for it: an evening of fellowship, remembrance and music that none of us will forget for a very long time. It was also a powerful reminder of what traditional songs can do—crossing boundaries of language and nationality and bringing strangers together around the same table.

Our final formal engagement of August brought us home to the Ancient Mariner on Thursday 27 August for another of our Thirsty Thursday sessions. The pub was packed, the audience was in fine voice and we were kept singing until last orders.

The evening also gave us the opportunity to try our new portable busking PA, built around two Roland CUBE Street EX units. The compact system proved a great success, giving the Crew enough support to carry across a busy pub while retaining the relaxed, informal character of the evening.

From a faire in Porlock to two encores in a residential street in Wiveliscombe, a sunset at Dunster Castle and an unforgettable gathering at the Top Ship, August has given us some wonderful memories. Thank you to every venue, organiser and audience member who welcomed us, sang with us and helped make the month so enjoyable.

September begins with another maritime destination. On Friday 4 September, we will be helping to open the Sea Ilfracombe Maritime Festival with an evening performance at Ilfracombe RNLI Lifeboat Station. We hope that plenty of familiar faces will make the journey along the coast and join us in the boatshed for another evening of songs and stories of the sea. For more details visit their website: Sea Ilfracombe Maritime Festival

Wherever the next song begins—on a stage, in a castle garden, inside a lifeboat station or spontaneously around a pub table—we remain committed to keeping the songs and stories of the Exmoor coast alive.