The Saltash Songs and Shanties Festival returned in June for it’s second year.

Nearly 2,000 people came to enjoy the festival which filled the town’s venues with music for the entire week (June 18 to 25).

Originally intended to be just a one-off, post-COVID event in 2022, the festival was so popular that it is now supported by the Arts Council’s Grass Roots Music fund and looks set to become an annual fixture.

The festival featured the best music and musicians from South East Cornwall and the Tamar Valley, including all genres from traditional to contemporary. The music kicked off with a day celebrating Cornish women in rock with a free workshop and all-female gig at Livewire, featuring The Eyelids, Rue and young Saltash band The Other Woman.

Concerts through the week took place in 11 venues across the town and even included an event in the swimming pool. Swimmers took a dip accompanied by Lyndon Forster’s hamdpans, and declared it the most relaxing concert they’d ever been to.

The youngest audience members joined in with a concert for under five’s with folk group Tipil. This ended with a traditional serpent dance around the town library.

A street piano was installed for the duration of the festival on the Waterside and was played by musicians young and old. Notable performances included a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by a young pianist who was still wearing his wetsuit after a swim in the river Tamar. The video of this has received over 10,000 views on social media. Twenty amateur performers aged eight to 80+, also gathered for a pop-up piano session on Sunday.

Other events included an invasion of early Spanish music to Mary Newman’s Cottage (the former home of Sir Francis Drake’s wife), shanties and folk music in St Nicholas and Faith Church and a free concert by the award-winning Saltash Town Band.

The event ended with a sell-out gig in the Saltash Social Club by female shanty group Femmes de la Mer and up-and-coming local band Windjammer.

Festival Director Lindsay Endean said: “The response to this event has been phenomenal. There is so much great music in this area and it is fantastic to be able to bring it all together in a big celebration for a second year. Planning for next year has started already”.

Saltash Songs and Shanties Festival is supported by Arts Council England, FEAST Cornwall, Cornwall Council and Saltash Town Council.