GU10 – Songs of The Sea

GU10 is an all male music group that takes its name from a Guernsey fishing boat registration. We specialise in sea shanties and songs about the sea.

The group was set up by Peter Falla and Fraser Hiddelston to coincide with the Year of the Sea which Guernsey celebrated with its SeaGuernsey 2005 program of events.  After a phenominal summer playing at more venues than we care to remember (!), we took the unanimous decision to continue performing during 2006, and again in 2007 !
All of the other members of the group were hand picked by Peter and Fraser. All are good singers and some   play musical instruments – Simon plays the Mandolin, Guitar, Concertina and Banjo, Richard plays Guitar, Dominic the Guitar, Penny Whistle and Mandolin, and John, Dean and Neil add their own brand of percussion to the whole proceedings.
A GU10 performance is not just about singing to an audience, it’s about the audience taking part as well.

Meet The Lads…..

PETER FALLA

Peter works for Visit Guernsey and believes passionately in his island home. In 1987, after a long break (since singing in his youth !) he became a member of the Guernsey Glee Singers – and became their Chairman for seven years. He has since gone on to perform on stage in theatrical productions with the Stage Door Theatre Company – including the part of Freddy in “Godspell” and within the chorus of “Chess”, He has also taken on a non-singing role in Ray Cooney’s farce “Caught in the Net”, and one of his biggest challenges to date, playing Candy in “Of Mice And Men”. More recently has taken on a new challenge, as a director of a new theatre company – Evoke Productions. Peter also enjoys competing in the Guernsey Eisteddfod. The Captain of our ship also “enjoys” the challenge of preventing mutiny with the crew of GU10 !!!!!!!!

DEAN DE LA MARE

Dean spends his days (and quite a few nights) gainfully employed as a Paramedic with Guernsey’s Ambulance & Rescue service – which also involves working as part of the Inshore Rescue Boat team, the Cliff Rescue Team, and onboard the marine ambulance Flying Christine III. In his spare time Dean is a Duty Manager at St James, as well as working with the Guernsey Jumbulance charity, and appearing on stage in theatrical pose, as well as with GU10 !!!! Somehow, he also finds time to indulge his passion for climbing and hiking – although he still hopes to find time to walk the Pennine Way.

SIMON HOWITT

Simon is one of Guernsey’s most well known lawyers. In the past few years he has taken up singing, and surprised himself in winning the Guernsey Press Cup in the 2005 Eisteddfod for Bass Singers. Anyone who knows Simon will have come across his wierd and wonderful collection of musical instruments, and his passion for playing them. With everything from a piano thru to a banjo, concertinas, guitars and even bagpipes (which he’s still battling with!) you never know what he’ll turn up to a gig ready to play ! Simon also fits around his commitments with GU10 playing with the band “Damaged Goods” – although he did have to make a very swift dash between piers (and gigs) on Liberation Day. We knew he was on his way though, as a tell tale series of cigar smoke clouds could be seen making progress along the Quay past Woolworths !!!!!!!!!

RICHARD COLLAS

Richard has had a life spent in music – in the Eisteddfod, local choirs including Choral Society, Glee Singers, GADOC and Scout Gang Show productions, as well as bands. Followers of the local music scene will know of folk rockers Caravan, with whom Richard performed between 1977 and 1989. Richard enjoys songwriting, and has penned GU10’s first original number – “Coming Home”, a story told from the perspective of a fishing boat crew. Richard plays 12 string guitar, as well as singing vocals.

TRISTAN BOSCHER

At 30 Tristan is the youngest member of the group. He spends his days wading through a sea of insurance paperwork. With a passion of rugby, and more recently touch rugby, Trist very rarely stays still for long ! He has been actively involved in local amateur dramatics for 13 years and thoroughly enjoys acting and singing. He is often cast in a comedy role, making an ideal pantomime idiot with little acting required ! We often find Tristan a willing volunteer for some role-playing within our more lighthearted numbers.

DOMINIC CHUBB

Dominic has performed locally both as a musician and actor for a number of years. Since the 1980’s he has played and sung in various pop/rock and blues bands appearing at a number of local venues. He has also played a number of gigs in the UK with local bands at London’s Embassy Club, Mean Fiddler, and Dingwalls in Camden. Dominic has also been involved in Youth Theatre, GADOC and Studio Theatre productions as both an actor and musician, including “Under Milk Wood”, The Mayor of Casterbridge”, “Red Noses”, “The Elephant Man” and a production for children called “The Gingerbread Man”. He also played lead guitar in the stage bands for local productions of “Little Shop of Horrors”, “Forbidden Planet”, “Tommy” and “The Wiz” and produced and directed Studio Theatre’s full cast version of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. In GU10, Dom plays acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin and ukelele.

RAY WATTS

Ray moved to Guernsey in 1970 to set up a dairy farming business. In 1977 he joined the Guernsey Glee Singers and has been fully involved in all their concerts and performances to date. Highlights have been with the BBC’s “Friday Night is Music Night” and “100 Best Tunes” with David Jacobs, also performances of “Gilbert and Sullivan” with the Savoyards of London. Ray’s other interests include rugby, being a former member of the Guernsey Rugby Club and he played in two Siam Cups against Jersey – so despite his being our most senior member, he can still lug the pa system around when needed !

JOHN MOUNTFORD

John has been singing in groups and choirs for 50 years (although by his youthful looks you wouldn’t know it!). He has been in Glee Singers for 20 years and performed in many local concerts and Eisteddfods, not to mention a variety of musicals over recent years. John’s sporting passion involves the sound of leather on willow. A long time backbone of Guernsey Cricket – you’ll often find him umpiring and scoring matches during the summer months. Joining Peter and the GU10 crew seemed a good idea at the time, and so far he hasn’t been disappointed. His ambition is to sing in a male voice choir so this is the nearest thing to it! John is currently embarking on learning to play the cajon drum – each to their own……….

NEIL ARCHER

Neil is 42 years old and is Guernsey born and bred. He has performed as an actor in a number of musicals including Me and My Girl, Guys and Dolls, Chess and Godspell, and most recently Evoke Productions staging of Evita. By day he has moved through a colourful spectrum of vocations – everything from civil servant to radio presenter (and a whole lot more), and now spends most of his time behind a television camera at Channel Television. GU10 is his first venture into the hedonistic world of boy bands, which he hopes will continue for a long time to come……

MARTYN MITCHELL

In the 1970s and 80s, sang in a number of hotels and bars either solo, in a duo, or other combinations! In the 90s it was mainly as part of a rock and roll band which played at various venues across the island. The band played a variety of sixties, seventies and eighties rock and pop songs. Martyn has a wide taste in music, having first played and sung folk music and then incorporated in his repertoire many songs from well-known singer songwriters of the seventies and eighties. When not singing, Martyn enjoys the theatre and has popped up in a number of productions over the years – rather apt that he played an Admiral in a recent production of Evita then !!

JOSH GABRIEL

What can we say ????   He’s the new recruit to the ship, and he’s a really great guy, with a great voice, and has been heard in a number of productions thoughout Guernsey – including in the Eisteddfod, as well as productions staged by Studio Theatre and most recently Evoke Productions performances of The Sound of Music.   When not exercising his vocal chords you may find Josh moving mountains on the rugby pitch…….