This song never fails to leave me sobbing, and I'm an American. When we visited England back in 2010, i couldn't leave without visiting Rye to see the lifeboat house. It was so disappointing to see the state it was in: dilapidated and looking like it would fall over in the first strong wind. I'm hoping some effort has been made since then to restore it and make it a proper memorial to the crew of the Mary Stanford.
This is the first time I have witnessed the comments under this song. I am proud to be a member of 'Meet on the Ledge' and humbled by these comments. Thank you all.
A beautiful song for such a sad event in the History of Rye Harbour. I would like to say thank you to 'Meet On The Ledge ' for capturing the memory of this event in song and I hope many will find time to reflect on the brave deeds done by others for others. My thoughts go out to the families of those brave men of the Mary Stanford and the current RNLI.
Probably the best compliment to Allen, that someone thinks it a "traditional" song. It is, in the best tradition, but the song itself is not so old. And it ranks up there as one of the best ever sea ballads ever.
First time I've heard this song, beautiful and a fitting tribute. I've grown up not far from Rye Harbour and often visit, take a walk beside the river to the sea. A more beautiful, peaceful and close knit place is hard to imagine. Which makes the story of the Mary Stanford all the more tragic. Whenever I visit I take the time to visit the beautiful memorial in the small churchyard. May their sacrifice never be forgotten. Well done for helping keep their memory alive through your music.
I have written a 90 minute radio play based on the disaster, which I am trying to get produced on radio or film. Some of the relatives of the families have read it. I researched it carefully and was able to talk to both Bob and Eva Southerden, Charlie Southerden's brother and sister. They have both sadly died since, Eva shortly before her hundredth birthday. Eva was 15 on the day of the tragic events and remembered them well. She and Bob were incredibly helpful and gave me first hand testimony. Eva could remember her dad's exact words when he arrived home after helping with the dreadful aftermath, when the bodies were washed ashore. John Stanley Head was indeed known as Jack or Jackie, as Eva confirmed and has been alluded to in a comment from his family on this thread. Eva referred to him as "Jackie." Nevertheless, despite some historical inaccuracies, it's a brilliant song from a brilliant band and I'd like to use the beginning and end if I ever get my play produced. For anyone interested, there was also a BBC documentary made in the 1950s, where they interviewed people from Rye Harbour about the events on that terrible day in November 1928.
Further to my comment there is also deeply moving footage of the funeral you can view on Pathe News. 3000 people packed this tiny village that had a population of around 200. Seeing the coffins, bedecked in flags and floral tributes and carried by sailors and members of the RNLI, is a most incredible sight. Charlie (Hookey) Southerden's coffin was carried by members of the Winchelsea football team for whom Charlie played on the wing.
Awesome! They are a cracking band who I've had the pleasure of seeing several times. (And back in the 90s went drinking with thanks to my good friend Mike Barr) I taught Allen to play "Wonderwall" back in about '95 on a camping trip near Ludlow! Can't wait to see them again!
This band is amazing, I listend to them when i was a smal boy. My mothers best friend leslie, her bros the drummer. And thats how i know them, Any one heqar got there album "Duck Soup"!!!
Walked past the boat house monument on Sunday and pleased to see they are not forgotten. But does anyone know who Mary Stanford was? the ship was named after her generosity for funding it but can't find anything out about her.
Meet on the Ledge - Bourne Valley Folk Club, Friday 17th Feb - brilliant. Ron's voice never better, and although we missed Mabel's gentle influence, Allen's slightly manic range of special effects made up for it. Too loud for father in law though!
A lovely song although it's a shame they sing Rye instead of Rye Harbour. I know the rhyming couplets would run dry but it was the small community of Rye Harbour that was shattered that night. My Grandmother aged 18 helped reclaim the bodies from the sea. It's beautiful to think that John Head has a final resting place for him should the sea ever give him up. True unselfish heroes. Long live their memories and the RNLI.
My partner is the granddaughter of Herbert Head the cox and the niece of James and John Head. Unfortunately the band has not done their homework as John Head was never known as Johnny or even John but Jack. Their younger brother Bill was still alive and still living at the same house from where the Father and Brothers left for the last time on the 15th November 1928. If anyone had bothered to ask him he could have put them right. He was most upset as my partner still is upset at this oversight. Also they were not men or Rye but of Rye harbour which is a completely different place
+Ian Ferguson Hi Ian, we are performing the Mary Stanford song at the church service in Rye Harbour this year which is a great privilege. We have amended the words to Rye Harbour and Jack not John, but would very much like to get in touch with your partner in case there is anything else we can do to ensure true authentication, could she get in touch with us please?
Andi. Thanks for your mail and the news that you are going to make those changes. However the real problem is that the performance is going to take place at all. It is after all a memorial service and not a public entertainment event. Many people in the congregation will have had their lives changed forever and come to this annual service to commemorate brave lives given and to seek solace in an act of Christian worship. A performance such as your does nothing to provide that. The annual Remembrance service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall is all the more moving since it is never changing. Its a pity that the service in Rye Harbour is not allowed to do the same but is subjected to the whim of others who have no connection to the villiage but feel the need to "Liven things up". I am sorry if this reply is not what you were expecting and it only fair to warn you that Ann and her son Steven will be speaking to the vicar about this before the event and no doubt to you after it.
+Ian Ferguson I feel sorry that you take such a position about this song. Perhaps you would be interested to hear how it came about. In brief, Allen Maslen had said that he could write a song about anything, a friend heard him & came back to him with a book about the Mary Stanford lifeboat disaster & said go on, write a song about that. Allen read the book, was very moved by it & the song came to him pretty much fully formed. He is a songwriter, not a journalist, so a small amount of poetic license I think can be permitted. "Johnny" has a more pleasing rhythm to sing than "Jack" which is very clipped. Also, Mary Stanford, the lady, was the mother of John Stanford the benefactor, but "Wife" fitted the verse better. Despite being from land-locked Warwickshire, Meet On The Ledge have enormous respect for the RNLI and as a mark of that they take a collection for the RNLI when they perform the song at their concerts. The tradition of folk music is to pass on oral history to the next generation, otherwise such tragic events and deeds of bravery may be forgotten; which would be a worse oversight, in my opinion.
This song never fails to leave me sobbing, and I'm an American. When we visited England back in 2010, i couldn't leave without visiting Rye to see the lifeboat house. It was so disappointing to see the state it was in: dilapidated and looking like it would fall over in the first strong wind. I'm hoping some effort has been made since then to restore it and make it a proper memorial to the crew of the Mary Stanford.
yep - we're getting to grips with raising money to restore/preserve the boathouse. Fundraiser on November 17th (two days after a
significant date).
RIP Grandad
This is the first time I have witnessed the comments under this song. I am proud to be a member of 'Meet on the Ledge' and humbled by these comments. Thank you all.
What a lovely song and dedication to some of bravest men on the planet
My son works a lifeboat and this truely affected my thank you its a tribute worthy of the worthy!!
A beautiful song for such a sad event in the History of Rye Harbour.
I would like to say thank you to 'Meet On The Ledge ' for capturing the memory of this event in song and I hope many will find time to reflect on the brave deeds done by others for others.
My thoughts go out to the families of those brave men of the Mary Stanford and the current RNLI.
Probably the best compliment to Allen, that someone thinks it a "traditional" song. It is, in the best tradition, but the song itself is not so old. And it ranks up there as one of the best ever sea ballads ever.
Takes me back to the days following motl... and... what a great song and tribute...
First time I've heard this song, beautiful and a fitting tribute. I've grown up not far from Rye Harbour and often visit, take a walk beside the river to the sea. A more beautiful, peaceful and close knit place is hard to imagine. Which makes the story of the Mary Stanford all the more tragic. Whenever I visit I take the time to visit the beautiful memorial in the small churchyard. May their sacrifice never be forgotten. Well done for helping keep their memory alive through your music.
It is an honour for me to live now in Rye Harbour. In 1962 I fought against a flood in my country. The sea can be cruel.
I have written a 90 minute radio play based on the disaster, which I am trying to get produced on radio or film. Some of the relatives of the families have read it. I researched it carefully and was able to talk to both Bob and Eva Southerden, Charlie Southerden's brother and sister. They have both sadly died since, Eva shortly before her hundredth birthday. Eva was 15 on the day of the tragic events and remembered them well. She and Bob were incredibly helpful and gave me first hand testimony. Eva could remember her dad's exact words when he arrived home after helping with the dreadful aftermath, when the bodies were washed ashore. John Stanley Head was indeed known as Jack or Jackie, as Eva confirmed and has been alluded to in a comment from his family on this thread. Eva referred to him as "Jackie." Nevertheless, despite some historical inaccuracies, it's a brilliant song from a brilliant band and I'd like to use the beginning and end if I ever get my play produced. For anyone interested, there was also a BBC documentary made in the 1950s, where they interviewed people from Rye Harbour about the events on that terrible day in November 1928.
I'D LOVE TO READ YOUR PLAY TIM.
Further to my comment there is also deeply moving footage of the funeral you can view on Pathe News. 3000 people packed this tiny village that had a population of around 200. Seeing the coffins, bedecked in flags and floral tributes and carried by sailors and members of the RNLI, is a most incredible sight. Charlie (Hookey) Southerden's coffin was carried by members of the Winchelsea football team for whom Charlie played on the wing.
Awesome! They are a cracking band who I've had the pleasure of seeing several times. (And back in the 90s went drinking with thanks to my good friend Mike Barr)
I taught Allen to play "Wonderwall" back in about '95 on a camping trip near Ludlow!
Can't wait to see them again!
Hero's too a man, Not forgotten!
Greater love hath no man..... heros all....
love this.
This band is amazing, I listend to them when i was a smal boy. My mothers best friend leslie, her bros the drummer. And thats how i know them, Any one heqar got there album "Duck Soup"!!!
we met in the seales braeakfast room missed your set but catching up on you tube outstanding cheers pmcox
Was well aware of the tragedy but until around 15' ago , whilst looking for details on Wikipedia, was made aware of this lovely song and tribute
The reading at the beginning is from the memorial window in Winchelsea Church and was written by Henry Newbolt.
My favourite band, and I live near rye
Great band
R.I.P. Charles 'Sonny' Southerden
lovely traditional song about tradegy at sea
Walked past the boat house monument on Sunday and pleased to see they are not forgotten.
But does anyone know who Mary Stanford was? the ship was named after her generosity for funding it but can't find anything out about her.
What a brilliant song. What a great Band.
Have they any albums on sale?
A beautiful tribute to these brave men. Does anyone know the man who did the reading at the beginning? Thanks.
A well know thesbian from Stratford Upon Avon Mr Wilson Roberts. Sadly Wilson died last Friday 20th December 2013.
Thank you. I'm very sorry to hear of his death. R.I.P.
its my daughters post page
Meet on the Ledge - Bourne Valley Folk Club, Friday 17th Feb - brilliant. Ron's voice never better, and although we missed Mabel's gentle influence, Allen's slightly manic range of special effects made up for it. Too loud for father in law though!
A lovely song although it's a shame they sing Rye instead of Rye Harbour. I know the rhyming couplets would run dry but it was the small community of Rye Harbour that was shattered that night. My Grandmother aged 18 helped reclaim the bodies from the sea. It's beautiful to think that John Head has a final resting place for him should the sea ever give him up. True unselfish heroes. Long live their memories and the RNLI.
My partner is the granddaughter of Herbert Head the cox and the niece of James and John Head. Unfortunately the band has not done their homework as John Head was never known as Johnny or even John but Jack. Their younger brother Bill was still alive and still living at the same house from where the Father and Brothers left for the last time on the 15th November 1928. If anyone had bothered to ask him he could have put them right. He was most upset as my partner still is upset at this oversight. Also they were not men or Rye but of Rye harbour which is a completely different place
+Ian Ferguson
Hi Ian, we are performing the Mary Stanford song at the church service in Rye Harbour this year which is a great privilege. We have amended the words to Rye Harbour and Jack not John, but would very much like to get in touch with your partner in case there is anything else we can do to ensure true authentication, could she get in touch with us please?
Andi. Thanks for your mail and the news that you are going to make those changes. However the real problem is that the performance is going to take place at all. It is after all a memorial service and not a public entertainment event. Many people in the congregation will have had their lives changed forever and come to this annual service to commemorate brave lives given and to seek solace in an act of Christian worship. A performance such as your does nothing to provide that. The annual Remembrance service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall is all the more moving since it is never changing. Its a pity that the service in Rye Harbour is not allowed to do the same but is subjected to the whim of others who have no connection to the villiage but feel the need to "Liven things up". I am sorry if this reply is not what you were expecting and it only fair to warn you that Ann and her son Steven will be speaking to the vicar about this before the event and no doubt to you after it.
+Ian Ferguson I feel sorry that you take such a position about this song. Perhaps you would be interested to hear how it came about. In brief, Allen Maslen had said that he could write a song about anything, a friend heard him & came back to him with a book about the Mary Stanford lifeboat disaster & said go on, write a song about that. Allen read the book, was very moved by it & the song came to him pretty much fully formed. He is a songwriter, not a journalist, so a small amount of poetic license I think can be permitted. "Johnny" has a more pleasing rhythm to sing than "Jack" which is very clipped. Also, Mary Stanford, the lady, was the mother of John Stanford the benefactor, but "Wife" fitted the verse better. Despite being from land-locked Warwickshire, Meet On The Ledge have enormous respect for the RNLI and as a mark of that they take a collection for the RNLI when they perform the song at their concerts. The tradition of folk music is to pass on oral history to the next generation, otherwise such tragic events and deeds of bravery may be forgotten; which would be a worse oversight, in my opinion.