Official tall ships anthem for Sunderland is revealed

The people behind The Tall Ships Song. From left, Bill Queenan, photographer; George Shovlin, singer; George Lamb, songwriter; Eddie Miller, recording technician; Jimmy Smith, video maker.

A song which featured in the Sunderland Echo last week has become the official anthem of The Tall Ships Races Sunderland 2018.

The Tall Ships Song, written by North East lyricist George Lamb and performed by acclaimed blues singer George Shovlin, pays tribute to the city’s maritime heritage.

It featured in the Echo’s two pages of Tall Ships Races coverage last Thursday.

The spectacular sight of tall ships will arrive in Sunderland this July.

And now officials have confirmed it will be performed live to the 1.5m visitors expected to descend on Sunderland from July 11 to July 14 for the UK’s largest free family event.

The song, specially written for the event, recalls the days when the city’s river, the Wear, housed 65 shipyards, employing more than 4000 workers.

But it is also a welcome to the ships – which will sail across the globe for the event – to their crews and to the thousands of people who will come to celebrate them.

George Shovlin, lead singer of George Shovlin and the Radars, said the song is a celebration, not only of Wearside’s shipbuilding and coal mining heritage, “but of its regeneration – it’s an expression of joy and pride in the city as it was and as it is now.

Victoria French, head of Events at Sunderland City Council.

“That Sunderland has been given the honour of hosting The Tall Ships Races is a tremendous boost for the city,” he added.

“And we can’t wait to welcome people – especially if it’s their first visit – and show them what a fantastic place Sunderland is.”

The event schedule begins on Wednesday, July 11, when the ships will lower their gangways to visitors.