About the individual Shantymen:- Rob Newson

I guess this is the place where we can say a little bit about the individual members, and I think I will take this opportunity to tell you about Rob.  Robin Newson, is the tall distinguished guy who plays the squeeze box and does magical tricks with a song called Paddy Lay Back and a bottle of green liquid marked 'Pox' (Chicken pox of course, sailors were known to suffer from it - relentlessly) He is also a founder member of the Shantymen and was our first conductor when Paul Wegg was the musical director.  Well Rob has decided its time to hang up his squeeze box, harmonicas and whistles.  I can say with all honesty Rob will be missed by us all.  He is a very talented guy and guided the developing Shantymen in a myriad of ways.  Perhaps his most important contribution was to instil in us the need to be professional at all times, he gave us the confidence to add drama in our performances and he led by example.  He has an unfathomable repertoire of sea shanty’s and never tires of singing them.  He is a great teacher and performer to boot and I personally never tire from listening to his rendition of 'Paddy'; it never ceases to entertain me.  He draws his audience into the song with him and sings to each of them individually, he’s great to watch and we have all learnt so much from him.

I guess I will finish this tribute by saying my personal thank you to Rob and assure him that he leaves the Shantymen in a significantly healthier state than when when we started and the majority of that is down to him.