20th June 2026 @ Cattewater Harbour, Plymouth (time TBC)

We have been invited to sing at Plymouth's very first Gansey Gathering Sardine Festival, organised by The Conscious Sisters CIC.

Yes you heard it - Plymouth is hosting its very first Gansey Gathering Sardine Festival to celebrate Plymouth's coastal heritage and the traditional Gansey fishing jumper. The event is part of a new, exciting four-part project funded by a grant of £64,490 from Arts Council England.

Inspired by the Janner Gansey—the traditional, hand-knitted fisherman’s jumper—and the story of the sardines that once sustained the city under siege from the Royalists, the sardine festival will honour Plymouth’s maritime past.

We will be singing a mix of traditional fishing songs, knitting ditties and some brand new compositions created during our upcoming community songwriting workshops.

Saturday 25th April & Saturday 9th May 2026

2pm - 5pm @ Plymouth Unitarian Church

FREE

As part of our recent Gansey Gathering commission with The Conscious Sisters CIC, we are hosting two open songweaving workshops where we will create new songs for the choir to perform at the Gansey Gathering Sardine Festival in June.

About the workshops

Songweaving is about creating songs together, live and in the moment, collaborating with other singers and writers to make something entirely unique.

Using a combination of creative writing, circle singing and vocal improvisation techniques, we will create material for brand new a cappella songs to be sung at the festival.

Our choir leader Daisy Higman is an experienced composer, voice teacher and vocal improviser, and will guide the group with structured exercises to help unluk new ideas and ways of playing with the voice.

We will use recording devices to capture our ideas, so you don’t need to read or write music to participate – just a willingness to sing, experiment, take risks and collaborate! The aim is to create several short, easy harmony songs with 2-3 parts, that reflect the wider themes of the festival.

If you’d like to get involved and learn some new skills along the way, come along!

The sessions are free and open to all - current members, past members and the general public. You can attend either or both sessions, but places are limited so booking is essential.

Mondays from 20th April: 7:00-8:45pm

There are so many amazing choirs in Plymouth - singers are really spoiled for choice! We offer all our new singers a free taster session, so that you can try us out first and see if we’re the right group for you.

There’s some really exciting stuff happening at Plymouth Community Choir this term, including a change to perform at the Gansey Gathering Sardine Festival in June, song writing workshops and our summer social.

If you’d like to sign up for one of our tasters, send us an email using the link below:

14th December 2026 7:30pm - 9pm

More details coming soon!