On Thursday, August 29, the The Vagrants Crew left Pembroke Dock to take part in The Flying Dutchman Festival at Terneuzen in Zeeland, a southern province of the Netherlands. It was a long journey, leaving home at 11 pm and finally arriving, via Dover/ Calais, at 3 pm.

It did not leave much time to get settled in to the various accommodations, changed and on stage by 6 pm.

The 'Captain' Peter Pearce said: "Once again, our welcome was simply fantastic and the hospitality frankly amazing. To begin the festival we had the great honour of singing the Zeeland anthem, albeit in English, but well supported in Dutch by our local counterparts.

"We cannot thank our hosts enough for their kindness, consideration and generosity, it was really a festival to remember and we were all thrilled when we received the invitation to take part again in September next year.

"We would like to express our thanks to Europecar, Pembroke Dock, for the hire of the minibus, Myferrylink for the channel crossing and Martin Cavaney for the photograph".

In early October, the Crew are returning to Ireland to take part in the Portmagee Shanty Festival, Co. Kerry, another long haul, but all looking forward to it immensely.