Play Perform Promote: Cool Things Happening in Great Yarmouth

The Ice House Is Cool Again

The Ice House in Great Yarmouth was once the most important building in the port, home to an immense herring fleet.  The Ice House enabled a voracious fishing fleet to operate.  It would have been the grease in the axle of a wheel of the industry, providing the ice for packing for fresh fish, enabling the catch to be transported to London and eastern Europe, where herring was much in demand.  Once a port serving close to a thousand boats, with all the ancillary work that thrived in its wake, Great Yarmouth was a prosperous town, employing all of its men, women and most of the able children in employment.  The critical importance of this ice house, prior to the invention of electric-powered freezers, must not be under-estimated.

 

Located on the seaward side of Haven Bridge, the Ice House was accessible to all boats, unrestricted by the ancient river crossing.  The building is just a brisk five-minute walk from the dilapidated Great Yarmouth railway station, a building which sets a sad tone for a visit to this fascinating, sea-worn town.  The riverside Ice House encloses a space close to 4,000 square metres.  It is thought to be the sole remaining building of its type in the country and may well have fallen the way of the others, demolition, or replacement by waterfront apartments.  However, with a Grade II listed building status, the Ice House was simply waiting for somebody with the imagination to bring it back to life.  Out There Arts were the people with that imagination and wit to turn the Ice House and old Drill Hall into a fulcrum for a National Centre for Outdoor Arts and the Circus.  The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with The Architectural Heritage Fund and local fertiliser company, Brineflow paid for the work.

All this preamble is important to underline how Great Yarmouth, without moaning about its end of the line location and ambience, is pulling itself together, with the help of some deeply committed people.  On Saturday, (24^th January, 2026) the Play Produce Promote project booked the venue to show-case the young musicians emerging from their studios and practice rooms. Play Produce Promote, was a pilot project designed to help build a sustainable new music scene in Great Yarmouth.  The team has been working with the local young people with interest in music, to learn how to play together, gain confidence and improve skills in all aspects of the music industry. 

Play Produce Promote runs monthly open mic events for the young people of the town. These are managed by Robin Evans, the promoter behind the outstanding open mic sessions at Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom, since the time the city began to shake off the restrictions and inhibitions of the pandemic. Now fixing his sites on building up a similarly self-sustaining music community out on the east coast, Robin was able to list sixteen acts for this midday session, on a bright, chilly Saturday.

The fun musicians must have playing in a band is probably tempered by their collective ability to produce something like a listenable output.  Practice sessions are essential, but are all very well until the nervous adrenalin is pumping round the body when the time comes to get on stage and play to an audience.

Playing in front of your peers is a good way to test your nerves, playing in front of your parents even more so.  The audience at the Ice House was almost entirely composed of parents, uncles and aunts, fellow embryonic musicians, with a few strays genuinely interested to hear what is coming downstream from the PPP well head.

Sixteen acts up and playing at midday on a weekend is a good effort.  The acts were split into groups, then solo performers. The bands were up first because of the time needed, (which wasn’t long at all) to change over equipment, leads and instruments, not least the drums.  Evans’ experience of open mics is such that he knows where technical issues tend to crop up, so he knew that placing solo acts on the second half of the bill would give capacity for quick changes, if the bands had slowed things up.

The first band, the confident, competent, loud Yesterday’s Problem was followed by Catalyst who featured a lead guitarist who played with sharpness and clarity. She presented herself well, without being showy, keeping her head up and maintaining eye-contact with the audience as she sang.  The band marked the first appearance of the afternoon of Rupert Whiteley, initially on bass, then swapping the instrument for the drum kit, with the drummer coming the other way. Whiteley, R. caught the eye by playing the bass lying down at one point, then by drumming with unremitted enthusiasm, the kit testing his reach, being as he is, yet to become a teenager.  Catalyst had put a fair bit of thought into their three-song set, with some choreographed moves, (lead guitarist and bassist kneeling (and he lying on his back at one point) during the verses, then standing for the chorus. These moves gave space to the singer, giving her more attention during the important sung parts.  It was good to see that the band was working at putting on an entertaining show, not just playing covers.

Malachi were an interesting trio. Sadly, the mix was not too good.  An extended solo was lost to the world and the singer, for all his gusto was inaudible, despite his volume. It was a shame, because I know that Robin Evans does all he can to encourage people to write and perform their own work.  I liked the energy of Malachi. For all that was missing in definition, the musicianship was obvious, as was the passion of the singer. I hope they find a bassist and that the drummer realises drumming plays a critical role in driving a band along, but ideally not crashing them into a hedge.

At every open mic, someone turns up who captures your attention.  Today it was Silhouettes, a duo of guitarist and drummer, who eschew covers for their own numbers.  Led by Harry Whiteley and his already name-checked younger brother, Rupert. These two grabbed attention immediately.  It was a bit of a “Whoa!” moment. They are good.  The songs were from the heart and soul of their world, growing up in Great Yarmouth.  They were lyrically sound, musically coherent and they rock.  I spoke to their dad, Mark who has directed me to their Youtube channel.  The boys’ love of music comes from trawling through their old man’s music, but they have built their own sound and baked in their own ideas for the songs.  Harry is quite the guitarist.  He has the ability to make his instrument sound like it is both guitar and bass, while Rupert demonstrated how drums should be played, to augment and add to the music, not compete with it.

 

These two were the icing on the cake of my trip to the old port.  They have something going for them, not least the originality of their own tunes. 

They were followed by Niche, with Rupert Whiteley appearing on drums yet again! What does he eat at breakfast? Niche performed well. Can they reach a point when they play their own compositions? 

Harry would be on stage again later, as a solo performer, but I had other commitments for the afternoon, so headed for the station after hearing James Dunwoody’s retro acoustic set covering the Simon & Garfunkel number, ‘Mrs Robinson’ and a Chris Rea number, then listening DI Lyrixx spoken word hip-hop appearance, which oozed confidence, had some cool backbeats, but sadly was not clear vocally in the mix. 

Next time I head over for one of these sessions, I will make sure my diary is clear for the whole day.  I was glad that I had made the last-minute decision to jump on the Yarmouth train to see what was coming out of the PPP project at this time.  Afterwards, I contacted Robin Evans, Play Perform Promote's Lead Producer to find out more about this exciting Freshly Greated backed activity.

 

Spencer Ide:        Hi Robin, I am so glad I got myself over to the open mic, was that a one-off event, or part of a learning module of some kind?

 

Robin Evans:        It was good to see you there.  Thank you for coming over.  It is a regular event we put on each month through Play Perform Promote for the young people of the town and the wider Great Yarmouth area.  Opportunities for the young people keen on playing music to step on a stage are very limited here, so these open mic sessions provide a safe space at a good time of the weekend for them to come out and test themselves.  Doing this on a dark winter evening would not be attractive for them, so midday Saturday is just right for them, their parents, friends and family. 

 

SI:        That’s such a straight-forward and simple bit of thinking to make the opportunity so accessible.  The number of people at The Ice House today was healthy, a good mix of young musicians, their supporters and proud family members.  What format do you follow for the open mics here?

 

RE:       As you saw, it is bands first, then solo acts later, so we stick as close as possible within our three-hour booking.  Bands do take longer to changeover than soloists, so that gives a bit of flexibility as the open mic goes on.  It is usually a maximum of twelve pre-signed up acts, although in January’s listing we had sixteen acts keen to play.

 

It is a regular event, which PPP put on at midday until three o’clock on the last Saturday of every month.  This gives our young people something to aim towards, making that first appearance in front of an audience is a huge step to take and once taken can be the making of a life-time’s love of performing and entertaining people.  Whatever music means to our performers, whether they have ambitions to follow former Great Yarmouth people like Myleene Klass MBE, (once of pop band Hear’Say and now solo act, TV and radio presenter and charity campaigner for women’s health), Hannah Spearritt from S Club 7 or Sophie Porter, who writes for Rolling Stone magazine, being at an open mic show to perform, to write about it, mix the sound, run the stage, or do the lighting is a vital jump out of the dreaming stage into the active stage of growing up.  Self-belief grows once that leap is taken and confidence is the key ingredient we encourage in our musicians.

 

SI:        So how do you build confidence in these young people?

 

RE:       Great Yarmouth is a pretty remote location. Norwich is nearly a fifty-mile round trip away, where there is a pretty robust music network, but here there are very few facilities for putative musicians. The first thing PPP provide is a safe, accountable space for them to come and learn, practice and build their skills in whatever music related discipline they are follow.  We build confidence by simply being here and welcoming participation, listening to what the young people want to do and encouraging them to try things out, then providing opportunities for them to take first steps to grow individually and personally, as song-writers, performers, or music technicians.

 

SI:         The regularity of the PPP opportunities and stability offered by always being there must be like all youth work, critical to building positive relationships?

 

RE:       Absolutely.  You will know from hearing the life stories of so many musicians, from all over the world, how important music is for young people.  It is a way to imagine, to explore your identity, to express yourself, let off steam, escape day-to-day restrictions and to dream big.  We have all been there, trying to make sense of the world as we grow up and music is such an important part of it for everyone, where ever they are living.

 

As Lead Producer, I am responsible for the whole project from coordinating one-to-one music sessions to running rehearsal spaces.  Our regular sessions take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4pm until 6pm and occasionally at the weekends.  It is a full-time job and so I am grateful to Gary Standley, who acts as a consultant on the project and Lucy Grubb who is the regular main facilitator, who runs the projects with us. 

 

SI:            Anybody else on the project?

 

RE:       My role is full-time and I get help where I can.  The Norfolk / Suffolk Music Hub helps out with the Wednesday one-to-one sessions.  Work shops are run with input from the Freshly Greated team. 

 

It is great work. The energy of young people and their engagement with music is wonderful, but it can be difficult too.  Working with young people always entails some element of pastoral work, as every youth group leader and teacher knows.  The teenage years are rarely smooth for anyone, so this work, which encourages them to express themselves through music is bound to have some delicate moments. 

 

SI:        But that’s not all is it?  What is coming up?

 

RE:       Last year we ran three gigs for young people and we will be putting on more this year. We have our eyes on the Great Yarmouth Winter Gardens project, so when that opens after the extensive and expensive refurbishments, PPP’s musicians will be doing something there. We have done stage take-overs at several local festivals.  First Light Festival  is in the pipeline again and we will be showing up at the bandstand in Chapelfield Garden, as part of the Norwich & Norfolk Festival in 2026, as well playing our part in the Gorleston Clifftop Festival 2026 on 1^st and 2^nd August.  There is also exciting work in the making under the IKLECTIK & original projects collaboration which promotes improvised and electronic music. 

 

Our aim is to make and cement connections into a sustainable music network which accepts and supports young musicians growing up in the town and local area. 

 

SI:        Where are your young musicians coming from?

 

RE:       We attract musicians from Caister-on-Sea, all over Great Yarmouth, Gorleston-on-Sea.  We have had some turning up from Acle, Poringland, Lowestoft, Bungay and even as far away as Watton and Dereham, which is remarkable.  It shows the interest our young people have in music, while demonstrating how young people need more local opportunities to get into music. 

 

I understand that the Great Yarmouth Charter Academy has no music teaching at all, not even from the start of Year 7, and other local secondary schools do not offer GCSE music in the area.  Children with a musical ability have to go private, or come to us.  Those with supportive parents, or to be fair, parents who are able to encourage and support their children’s interests are okay, but we meet young people here who may be carers for a parent, who have no money for instruments and kit.  Now, we cannot give kit to these children, but we can teach them skills, give them an accountable space for learning music and playing with other young musicians, so they can experience the joy of playing in a band.

PPP use the Ice House and Drill Hall in Yarmouth, but there is little else locally for young performers. The Empire in Gorleston has shut and as Norwich with that huge round trip, is the nearest regular studio space and then it is at least another hour to other places with facilities for young musicians.

 

SI:        Are pub venues any good for this project?

 

RE:       They are not right for these young people.  Any audience they attracted would not have any spending power and the setting is not right.  The local pubs that survive want sing-a-long tribute acts that can jolly along their drinking customers.  These young musicians may choose to follow that line later in life, but for now they need to be able to get on with learning their craft during daylight hours. 

 

SI:        What outcomes do you see for the young people engaging with this project?

 

RE:       The music industry is a really tough environment, but mainstream success is possible and there are many, many jobs associated with music which will always need young people coming through the stage door.  The pay in the main is patchy, so expecting to make a stable living from it requires a lot of hard work and funny hours, but being part of the music world is fun.  If a careers advisor tries to direct a young musician away from the business, they are wrong.  However, the young musician will have to be flexible about what day jobs to do, so they can make time to practice and perform, or of course, music could just be a hobby that balances the demands of the day-job.  We are very much in in favour of encouraging pursuit of music industry jobs, but with caveats about the fragile nature of employment and irregularity of pay, so the young people going into it are able to make well-informed decisions.

 

SI:        So you are not selling a dream then?

 

RE:       Not a dream. We are teaching the reality.  More than anything, after building the confidence and resilience of the young people who come to us, we teach them about the industry structure, how to put together tech riders, press packs, we are very much into the nitty-gritty of how to book a gig, develop a bit of stagecraft and promote and run their own show.  How far that takes them will be down to hard work and luck, with absolutely no guarantees, or promises about success. 

 

My role is to help these young people fit all the parts together and give them the confidence to give music, their own music particularly, a good go.  I am gluing a network together, so they can begin to build a sustainable music scene of their own in the area.  With still four years of funding for this project, I hope we will lay some foundations strong enough to bring others through with more facilities and opportunities in the future.

 

I am working with young musicians and songwriters who are better than me and some of them will find work in the music business, if they continue to work hard. More importantly this project, PPP, is about providing opportunities for the youngsters to learn about playing music and putting on their own events and enjoying playing with and to each other and live audiences. 

SI:        Robin, thank you so much for your time.  I wish you all the best for 2026 and look forward to catching up with you and these musicians before too long. Best of luck! 

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The Play Perform Promote project is a Freshly Greated initiative that is well worth keeping an eye on and supporting if you get a chance. 

   Spencer Ide

30th January 2026