Tall Ships and Ukuleles

Photo: Andria Hill / Janice Lightly

Have two years really passed since the Tall Ships last came to Gloucester Docks and I joined Friends Ukenited to play my ukulele? Yes, they have... and here we are again, belting out 'City of New Orleans', 'On the road again', 'Valerie' and more to an appreciative audience who rewarded our efforts with a heart-warming £100 for local charities.  And what fun we are having!  Can you see me? I'm behind Janice - the lady with the red trousers and red hat.  Centre-stage is Terry, in his bright yellow Hawaiian shirt, who has the amazing gift of welding this disparate band of players into a group that sings, plays and (more or less) keeps time together, and all without any practice beforehand.

Joining Friends Ukenited does have another great benefit; free entry to the event. So, as soon as our performance had ended, my friend Bridget and I joined the lesser souls who had paid £10 a head to get in, and set off to look at the Tall Ships.

On the way we met Gloucester's town crier. "O yea, O yea. At 4.15, come and see men defy gravity!"  Umm... I wonder what that could be.

Disappointingly, there were only four Tall Ships in the dock. This is the Grayhound. (Shouldn't it be Greyhound?) We could have gone aboard but I had my eyes set on a ship on the other side of the dock.

Here's a rather poor shot of her. Perhaps overawed at the sight, I forgot to set the camera to 'high res' before zooming in from the opposite quay.

Here she is as we approached her from the blunt end. She's the Matthew, a replica of the ship that John Cabot sailed across the Atlantic in 1497 when he discovered Newfoundland. We could hear harmonious singing coming from the poop deck, so eagerly went aboard to investigate.

These fine-looking nautical gentlemen call themselves Short Drag Roger and, by their own admission, hail from that famous maritime city of Oxford.  We stayed on board to hear them sing several rousing sea shanties, including one in which the guy third from the left gave me a wink, held an outstretched arm in my direction and sang that he would whisk me away for a life of bliss in some far-away port. I don't get offers like that every day, really I don't!

I blew him back a kiss but felt compelled to decline his offer. Then, as I turned to descend to the lower deck, a deafening roar that sounded like a low-flying jet fighter emanated from the quayside.

Ah, so here was that gravity-defying act that we'd been promised. Unfortunately, they were having technical problems and, despite the ear-splitting noise, this was a high as the poor guy went. Serves him right, I say, for trying to get airborne at a nautical event. Neptune's revenge!

My verdict on Tall Ships 2019? Well, I saw a lot of people wandering around, often rather aimlessly. Thankfully, lots of them stopped to hear us sing and play but I think I might have been rather disappointed if I'd paid £10 to see a few fairground rides, dozens of food and craft stalls, lots of narrowboats and just four tall ships.

The Matthew in 2017

There were also noticeably fewer people there than in 2017, though admittedly this was Sunday and my last visit had been on a Saturday.  But for free admission in return for an hour's "work" with my ukulele, it was a great and memorable day out with lovely friends.  Thank you, Gloucester!