Our Name

Our name is derived from ‘The Mariners’ Way,’ a fabled ancient route used by sailors to travel between the ports of Bideford on the North Devon coast and Dartmouth on the South Devon coast. South Zeal lies en route, and the King’s Arms in the village is believed to have been one of the hostels.

How it All Began

Mariners Away’s home port is the village of South Zeal on the northern flanks of Dartmoor (although we are at least 20 nautical miles from the sea!).

Without fully realising its significance at the time, our history began on 22nd November 2007 when Bill Murray, a well-known folk music singer and storyteller based in Dartmoor, was asked by Mike Eastman, a member of the Lyme Bay section of The Cruising Association (one of the oldest and largest cruising yacht clubs in existence), to provide some musical entertainment at the association’s annual dinner in January of the following year. Hence, Mariners Away’s very first performance is recorded as 17th January 2008.

Accompanying Bill and Mike on that memorable night along with a number of other local notable characters were Steve Mathewson, Bev Hilton, and Ian Solomon – an unlikely trio who are still pro-active members of Mariners seventeen years on. Chris Aylen is another founder member who still joins us from time to time.

While membership of Mariners tended to fluctuate in the initial years following that inaugural gig, in addition to the aforementioned trio of Steve, Bev, and Ian (‘Solly’), a dependable and talented core of singers emerged over time. This core included Dave Denford, Peter Ritchie, Lew Bean, Trevor Munkenbeck (who is now the crew’s musical arranger and primary songwriter), David Ashby, Ian McAvoy and Paul Mills, with the occasional ‘guest’ appearance by the very talented folk singer/songwriter and true Devonian, Jim Causley.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 subsided and artists were once again allowed to perform in public, the addition of Eric Partridge, Glenn Bearne, Adrian Cornelissen and Chris Just added to Mariner’s numbers while Dave Kent has now reinforced the bass line to create a formidable sound at full force.

Remembering Those we Have Lost

Sadly, in 2019 Mariners said farewell to a great shipmate, Peter Ritchie, a late Commander RN, who passed away in January of that year after a long battle against cancer. Founding member Dave Denford, the ‘Singing Blacksmith’ and husband to Shirley (aka Roger the Cabin Boy), also passed away in May 2020.

Despite his incredibly positive outlook after receiving the damning prognosis, the redoubtable Lew Bean also sadly lost his seven-month battle with cancer in June 2022. We are delighted that Lew’s wife, Celia, still supports the occasional Mariner’s gig, and we are always delighted to see her.

More recently we were rocked by the sudden and unexpected passing of Danny Reddington on 5th August 2025. Danny had only just turned 40 and was Mariners’ youngest member. He joined the crew in June 2024 and made his debut at Falmouth International Shanty Festival.

And so to the present day

Led by our musical impresario Trevor Munkenbeck, we practise on Thursday evenings at the King’s Arms in South Zeal, in the hope that “practice makes perfect.”

Mariners Away perform throughout the year at events in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall and occasionally further afield too such as the Weston-super-Mare Shanty Festival. Over the last two years we have appeared at a veritable fleet of events including shanty festivals, folk festivals, beer festivals, cider fests, wassails, coronation celebrations, birthday parties, weddings, funerals, WI Christmas parties, hospital wards and in September 2023 we were even aboard SV Britannia, the historic fishing smack, at her relaunch and now berthed in Exeter Quay as she undergoes her finishing touches.

We’ve also had the unique honour of appearing on BBC Spotlight, the early evening magazine news programme when we serenaded the South West TV audience as the regional airwaves were handed back to the national network.

The year was filled with unforgettable milestones, and we’re excited to share some of those highlights with you. A huge thank you to all our friends, supporters and crew members of Mariners Away who’ve accompanied us on this amazing journey.

We made sure we stayed connected to our roots throughout the twelve months by entertaining regulars at a few local pub gigs such as The Golden Lion in High Bickington, The Duke of York at Iddesleigh, The Bull and Dragon in Meeth (twice), The Kings Arms at Winkleigh, while not forgetting our very own Kings Arms in South Zeal of course where Carolyn and ‘Woody’ yet again very kindly allowed us to continue to use the pub for our rehearsal space on Wednesdays and Thurdays.

We were also delighted to support All Saints Church in Okehampton and St Edmond Church in Dolton with their respective fundraising efforts.

We had a blast providing entertainment at various weddings, private parties and special events too including a fun performance for the Exbourne Women’s Institute in December, while we are always pleased to support the Britannia Sailing Trust as they continue the impressive restoration of SV Britannia in Exeter Quay.

We were also surprised to receive a most unexpected standing ovation at the finale of our Heart of Devon summer concert in Bow, we just thought everyone was getting up to leave… apparently not. 

Throughout the year, we performed at a number of well-established shanty and music festivals such as Port Isaac, Hatherleigh, Lyme Regis and Falmouth of course, while also supporting several newer ones at Cockwood, Bude, Weston-super-Mare, Barry Island, North Tawton and Exeter Quay – our set at the Bishop’s Blaize being particularly memorable as 10 Mariners fought valiantly for space on a stage the size of postage stamp!

In complete contrast to Exeter, at Falmouth we were privileged to be invited to perform on the magnificent main stage at the world famous International Sea Shanty Festival in mid-June, with our set also being broadcast live on local radio!

But one of the most meaningful, poignant and personal moments of the year came when we were invited to perform to celebrate the opening of the new cardiology unit at Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. As our relationship with RD&E develops we were honoured to represent the Royal Devon Hospitals Charity by providing pre-match entertainment at the Premiership rugby union match between Exeter Chiefs vs Harlequins at Sandy Park on the charity’s behalf in October – an exciting change of pace and venue for a land-locked sea-shanty crew!

One of Devon’s most prestigious entertainment venues, The Plough Arts Centre in Great Torrington played host for our third exclusive and memorable concert in as many years to an near sell-out audience, long may that arrangement continue.

Another highlight, saw us make our third radio appearance of the year when we travelled to Truro performing live on David White’s BBC Devon & BBC Cornwall afternoon slot.

But perhaps our biggest milestone of the year came in December, when we were privileged to perform at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, the premier officer training academy in the UK. We were invited to entertain the first-year officers’ at their private graduation dinner, which was extra special due to the college’s rich history. It is of course where our late Queen, Elizabeth II met her future husband Philip, and where our present monarch, King Charles III and future king, Prince William also trained.

We wrapped up the year with a return visit to RD&E and entertained patients around the wards. The most touching moment came on Avon Ward, where our music apparently gave one patient the strength to get out of bed for the first time that day, walk down the corridor, and join us in the singing. There were tears all around!

From Lyme Regis to St Ives, Bideford to Plymouth and all points in between, our recent journey has been nothing short of incredible. In 2022, we delivered 42 sets across 28 gigs, and by the end of 2023, we had added a further 45 more sets over 27 gigs.

By the end of 2024 we actually performed a remarkable FIFTY TWO sets across 30 different events!! Not bad for a crew with a combined age of around 712, or an average age of nearly 72!

Contacts

For details of our performance rates, set lists, media info or any other questions, please contact one of the following:

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