The New River Shanty Crew story
Skipper Ailsa Mainwaring had been edging towards starting a local community choir after discovering her skill in leading informal singarounds. Some raucous car singing on a family holiday in Ireland with The Longest Johns on full blast led her Father-in-Law to comment that he wished there was a local shanty group he could join.
Ailsa dutifully set up the Shanty Crew a few months later in September 2023 with First Mate Nick Siepmann coming aboard. December of that year saw their maiden voyage at Bowes Park Folk Club, and over the next few months they became familiar faces in the community, performing at other local events and growing steadily in number. They were recently featured in an article in Folk London magazine, and will be appearing at Weston Super Mare shanty festival, among others, in 2026.
Ailsa’s Father-in-Law has yet to make it to more than one rehearsal, but the New River Shanty Crew has grown into a warm and caring family.With a solid grounding in classical music, and degrees from both the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School, Ailsa leads with a firm musical hand on the tiller. The high quality singing produced by the Crew would grace any stage, and they are rightfully proud of their sound. But the focus is always on participation and the joy of singing together, whether embracing an audience, or simply sharing musical fellowship.
Meet The Skipper and First Mate
Ailsa Mainwaring
Ailsa Mainwaring is a teacher and community musician based in Enfield, North London. Her musical interests range far and wide: she sits on the organising groups of Bowes Park folk club and Derbyshire based KlezNorth music festival. She has co-directed Culpeper Community Choir in Islington since 2023, and worked extensively over the last decade with people living with dementia and their carers, including for London-based charity Songhaven. At the other end of the spectrum, Ailsa teaches music to very young children, and is working towards a qualification in this. Ailsa was generously supported by Help Musicians UK in a 2024 trip to Georgia for an intensive course in traditional Georgian polyphonic singing, and studied at Yiddish Summer Weimar 2025. She is a multi-instrumentalist, with a growing collection of accordions and an eclectic diary. Recent gigs included her klezmer duo, "Yiddiomatikh" performing at How the Light Gets in festival at Kenwood House, and a night of trad English and Irish tunes and songs in a renowned Soho basement!
Nick Siepmann
First Mate Nick has been a part of Bowes Park Folk Club since its inception (in fact, they share a birthday!) - from some shy mandolin-playing at its first meeting, to stepping behind the sound desk some ten years ago, and even headlining a few nights there with Ailsa and in various other configurations. But when Ailsa suggested the idea for the New River Shanty Crew, he knew he had to be a part of it – and since then he has become a true lover of community music-making. While Nick’s never too far from his beloved guitar, sometimes all you need is your voice and your loudest pair of boots to stomp in time! To learn more about Nick’s other musical endeavours, click on the link below to check out his website.
