Ticketed

Essential Information

Type Events and festivals
Location
Cutty Sark
Date and Times Thursday 16 May 2024 | 7pm-9.35pm
Prices Adult: £18 | Members: £16

Discounts available for Members. Not a member? Join now

“If ever there was a story of survival vs greed, honour vs entitlement, courage and bravery vs careless exploitation, this is it. I believe such a story in living memory needs to be told now, and remembered for the future.” 

Songwriter Reg Meuross

About the performance

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Reg Meuross will be joined by historian Brian W. Lavery to present 12 Silk Handkerchiefs, which tells in music and multi-media the story of the disaster and subsequent uprising led by fearless fishwife Mrs Lillian Bilocca.

12 Silk Handkerchiefs, Reg Meuross’s 2018 album inspired by Brian W. Lavery’s book The Headscarf Revolutionaries, opens a window on Hull’s Hessle Road fishing community in the aftermath of the Triple Trawler Disaster of 1968. Joined on stage by stalwart of the Hull folk scene, musician Sam Martyn, Reg’s powerful songs are interwoven with narration from author Brian W. Lavery and an audio/visual show that includes rarely-seen archive footage, photos and audio from the time of the disaster. Three Hull trawlers, the St Romanus, the Kingston Peridot and the Ross Cleveland, perished and 58 men died in what became known as the Dark Winter.

Fighting fishwife Lillian Bilocca’s successfully campaigned for improved trawler safety; sole survivor Harry Eddom who returned to sea just 11 weeks after the sinking; and the superstitions; lives and deaths of all those affected: all of these stories are contained within a fascinating and moving work of social and political history described as Meuross’s “most important work to date” by Pennyblack Music.

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Reg Meuross says: “12 Silk Handkerchiefs is a classic tale of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and the mighty strength of the human spirit. For years the Hull trawlermen and their families fought for survival in the harshest of working conditions: frozen seas with very little safety or protection. It took Lillian and her fellow revolutionaries to fight the companies who were exploiting this community’s poverty and need for work. They took on the Government itself until desperately needed changes in the safety laws were made."

Programme

7pm Doors open

7.30pm Performance starts

8.15pm Intermission

8.35pm Performance resumes

9.20pm Q&A

9.35pm End

The performance will take place in the Dry Berth under Cutty Sark's magnificent hull. Drinks are available to purchase and are permitted in the Dry Berth throughout the evening.

"A finely spun tribute… rich in honest emotion, deep humanity, resonant lyrics and infectious melodies."

Mike Davies, Folking.com

“Meuross has achieved something rare and important: he has reanimated a valuable piece of history, and he has done so with great sincerity and emotional depth. 12 Silk Handkerchiefs is a fitting tribute not just to Lillian Bilocca, but to the power of individuals to bring about change for the better."

Thomas Blake, Folk Radio UK

"Further confirming Reg Meuross as one of the most eloquent and compelling singer-songwriters ever."

David Pratt, Fatea Magazine

This event is part of commemoration of the National Fishing Remembrance Day.

The event is kindly supported by The Seafarers' Charity and Seafish.

 

Tickets

Please note that a non-refundable booking fee is added to each transaction, but there is no booking fee for Members.

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