The Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival took place in June, with 23 groups from around Europe taking part. The event is one of the world’s biggest maritime music festivals, and one of its main aims is to raise money for the RNLI.

While the festival is free to attend, bucket collections and sales of the official programme are expected to have raised over £4,000. More than 7,000 people visited Falmouth over the 3 days.

Local shanty group Falmouth Shout organises the event, supported by the local RNLI branch and sponsored by local businesses such as Skinners Brewery. Many Falmouth Shout members have connections with the local lifeboat station, including Alan Barnes, who was Coxswain for 14 years. The group has now raised over £30,000 for the RNLI from the annual festival and other appearances.

Next year’s festival is on 18–20 June. Find out more on falmouthshout.com.