07/04/2026
‘Gansey Gathering Sardine Festival’ plus callout for five fishermen to wear ganseys for exciting artwork. 👕
The revival of the humble fishing jumper known as the gansey has sparked a wave of ambitious new work for The Conscious Sisters CIC, producers of socially engaged art in Plymouth and beyond. Now, with a grant of £64,490 from Arts Council England, the organisation is set to deliver an exciting four-part project.
On Saturday 20th June, The Conscious Sisters CIC will present The Gansey Gathering Sardine Festival—a vibrant pop-up creative event at Commercial Wharf, on the Barbican, celebrating Plymouth’s rich coastal heritage. Running from 11am to 4pm, the festival is free and open to all.
Alongside this, the CIC is issuing a call-out to commercial fishers to take part in an ambitious new artwork, ADRIFT. The sisters need five fishermen to wear a bespoke gansey to sea for six months to see how the garment stands up to modern fishing practices. The gansey designs will explore the contemporary challenges faced by fishers today.
Inspired by the Janner gansey—the traditional, hand-knitted fisherman’s jumper—and the story of the sardines that once sustained the city under siege from the Royalists, the sardine festival will honour Plymouth’s maritime past. The Conscious Sisters CIC hopes to see one hundred local people wearing Janner ganseys on the day. Entertainment will include shanty groups The Seagals and Seaweed in the Fruit Locker, alongside hands-on coastal crafts such as crab pot making and fish skin leatherwork. There will also be storytelling and story walks for those who want to find out more about our fishing heritage.
Later in the year, to mark International Gansey Day in October, a digital event will bring knitters together from around the world to celebrate and explore the unique
craft of gansey knitting.
The project began in March with a course at The Box, where 40 volunteers are learning to knit the ‘Janner Gansey’. No small undertaking, the 15-week course reflects the complexity of the craft—each gansey contains an average of 123,233 stitches and takes at least 150 hours.
Fiona Evans, Producer for The Conscious Sisters CIC, says:
“We want to celebrate our fishing heritage through art and creativity. So much raft was linked to this economy including gansey knitting and many of these reative skills are now disappearing. We are interested in sustainability and what we can learn from makers of the past.
Our sardine event will be like no other…there will be sardines to eat of course but we will be showcasing our creative coastal heritage with free activities for everyone. We have set ourselves the challenge of getting one hundred people wearing the Janner Gansey fishing jumper on the day. It should be quite a spectacle”.
Richard Allan, CEO, Cattewater Harbour, says:
“We’re delighted to be hosting the Gansey Gathering Sardine Festival on The Wharf in June. Not only do events such as these highlight the importance of Plymouth’s marine and maritime heritage, they also provide a fun, family-friendly day out in the heart of the Barbican. We look forward to bringing more events such as this one to The Wharf in the future.”
The event will be on 20th June 11am to 4pm At Commercial Wharf Madeira Road, Barbican, Plymouth, PL1 2NX.
