The first year they sang at the amphitheatre, near the cliff lift, about 200 people attended and it had grown to 800 last year, he said.
Musician Ayling said he and his wife were inspired to create the group following the Covid-19 pandemic, and drew from the history of the town they had moved to five years ago.
“We wanted to get singing again and enjoy the work that we used to do,” he said.
Interest from children in the area saw them create children’s choirs and they have since visited dozens of local schools to share the music and its maritime roots.
“Just getting the whole class, and sometimes the whole school, singing together, it rarely happens now in some schools,” he said.
Ayling said the group put a positive spin on their modern songwriting.
“Originally, shanties were work songs, they were sung in hard conditions,” he said.
“They were about the rhythm of the ocean and the rhythm of the work that was being done on the boats.”
He said people came away feeling positive after the shows, and a bucket would be passed around to raise funds for the group and the RNLI.
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