A musical in four minutes — a love letter to Cleethorpes
Music and Words by Stuart Wood
Featuring vocalists Alice Murray & Sam Simmons
'Beautifully tragic in the best possible way'
Postcards From Cleethorpes is a musical in four minutes — a love letter to Cleethorpes, inspired by a collection of postcards sent from the town in the 20th century.
Composer Stuart Wood worked with local voices and musicians, including a brass band, to capture both the joy of a Lincolnshire seaside pleasure garden and the quiet melancholy of the Humber estuary, as the backdrop to an evocative tale of love and loss.
Alice Murray and Sam Simmons bring their gifts for heartfelt storytelling through song.
Ruth Varela’s art direction weaves the drama into original vintage postcards.
Part-funded by Create North East Lincolnshire, the project brings together professional and community talent in a celebration of seaside culture, identity, and memory.
“Haunting, whimsical, sublime” - Natasha Holmes - Tell Tale Hearts Theatre
“This is awesome!” - Kofi Smiles - BBC Radio Humberside
Postcards From Cleethorpes
Words & Music by Stuart Wood
I only came for the day
Thinking that I would go back to L.A.
Knowing that you would have rent me the room
At the house in Marina Del Rey
Though I’ve only been here a while
I noticed my face with a smile
It won’t be forever —
And what’s forever anyway
Round and around
Like the wheel on the sand
The course of our love
Never ran smooth
It’s the end of the line
The ebb of the tide
Divorce left us broken
With so much unspoken
The truth is that you are in
My thoughts, I’m in Cleethorpes
So I’m sending my love
On a postcard from Cleethorpes
I got your postcard today
I got to see how a stick of rock gets made
It took two weeks to arrive from UK
I ate four donuts and a ninety-nine with two flakes
The thought of your hand
Sticking the stamp
Stuck between two grains of sand
We go round and around
On the merry-go-round
And I wish that we both could agree
I wish you were here
And I’m glad you are there
By a river disguised as the sea
On the Humber sand
There’s a Wonderland
Since the
Divorce, I been dreaming of sea shores
Oh, I do like to be beside the sea when tea pours
I got remorse, but you couldn’t be more
So I’m sending my love
On a postcard from Cleethorpes
Oh I wish that our dream had come true
‘Coz I’ll never stop loving you
Though it feels like it's written in stars
This year, we love from afar
It’s hard to say this on a card
But me and you —
We’re like the Mouse and the Moon
We’re in Cleethorpes
In Cleethorpes
Oh we do like to be beside the sea
In Cleethorpes
You’re in my thoughts
I’m in Cleethorpes
So I’m sending my love
On a postcard from…Cleethorpes
I only came for the day
Credits
Words & Music
Stuart Wood
Art Director & Camera
Ruth Varela
Lead Vocals: Alice Murray and Sam Simmons
Mix by Tom Milner
Pump House Recording Studio Louth, Lincolnshire
Drones
Chris Frear
Peter Jackson
Logo and colour palette
Catherine Phelps
Children's Choir
Blaze Musical Theatre, Grimsby
Casting & Backing Vocals
Acting Lincs
Backing vocals
Olivia Alanora
Ged Dalton
Chelsea Jade
Alexander Raines
Lee Waddingham
Community Choir
Recorded at Grimsby Central Hall by JG Audio
Back To Brass
Cornet - Ian Keightley, Cornet - Gary Bridges, Flugelhorn - Karl Hanson, Tenor Horn - Becky Mills, Euphonium - David Kerry, Euphonium - Kev Macdonald, Bass - Chris Gloyn
Drums & Percussion
James Taylor
Bass & Acoustic Guitar
Phil Chapman
