About Squinty McGinty's Band

Squinty McGinty‘s Band are a four piece band comprising Fiddle, Guitar, Bass and Accordion, with vocals. For ceilidhs and barn-dances we will do the calling to lead the dancing.
We’re based in the Hampshire / Sussex area of Southern England and will happily travel anywhere in Hampshire, Dorset, Sussex, Wiltshire, Berkshire,Surrey and surrounding areas although we may charge a bit extra for travel where appropriate.
Since the band was performed around 2003 we have played for hundreds of barn dances, ceilidhs, weddings, Irish nights and Burns nights. We are proud to have been the regular Irish band at the Glorious Goodwood horse racing festival each July since 2003 - come along to the ‘Far End Bar’ in the Lennox enclosure and say hello. We also perform as ‘The Old Seadogs’, playing songs of the sea and tradiitional shanties for nautically themed events such as Trafalgar night.

What our clients said

Many thanks for yesterday evening – everyone had a great time..Best wishes

Mike – Slindon – June 2024

It was a pleasure to welcome you to East Preston again. Everyone had a great time and probably lost a few pounds as well !!  We enjoyed the clip, too. Please send our thanks and good wishes to the rest of the band. Best regards

Janine – East Preston – June 2024   

 we so enjoyed it, it was really fun with great music and dances.Happy Easter!

Gemma – Colemore – March 2024

Please pass on my thanks to all members of the band for a fantastic evenings music, very enjoyable. Hope to see you again in the future. Best regards

Benny – Gosport – Jan 2024

Thankyou again for being part of our day.. And for the video!! Love it, great memories. Feedback we’ve got from people saying how much they enjoyed the band and having something different to a dj at a wedding was a great touch.

Thankyou again,

Lauren – Selborne – April 2023

What a great evening that was! – Jacqui – Havant March 2023

 
Great night – Ruth – Havant March 2023

What a night! We were expecting it to be good but Squinty McGinty’s Band exceeded all expectations.  It’s hard to find enough superlatives to describe what a fantastic evening you gave us yesterday after such a long absence of indoor events at our village hall. We all agreed you were bluddy magnificent! Your musical skills were awe-inspiring, voices melodious and the variety of tunes were so well-judged. As you might have noticed from your audience’s enthusiastic response, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening and let the hall with big smiles on their faces.

Thank you so much and hope to see you all again. – Penni, Conford,  – March 2022

Thank you so much for the great entertainment you and the band provided for my “do” at Tuppenny Barn on Saturday. Everyone really enjoyed the evening and whether they were dancing or just admiring from the sidelines it certainly was the perfect way to mix everyone up. Please pass on my special thanks to your lovely caller, Helen, she was so patient with us all and I felt by the end that even I had grasped some of the simpler moves.
 
It was a really special evening for me and my family and friends and certainly exceeded my expectations in every way. – Lyn, Southbourne – Nov 2021
Once again, thank you and the band for a wonderful evening and accepting to play for us.
I’ve only received positive feedback about the music.. etc. – Trevor, Petersfield – August 2022

Thanks so much for coming along – we had a great day and loved introducing family and friends to a barn dance. Numerous people commented on how good you were, so thank you! – Elliott, Edenbridge, Kent August 2022

We had a fabulous time. So many of my family and friends still say to me it was “the last good event before the plague hit”! We were so lucky with the timing as we were out in lockdown a week later! You’ll always be my go to for a good old barn dance. Xx – Christina,  Oving, W.Sussex – March 2020
Just to say a huge thank you to all of Squinty McGinty and Helen for making last night such a success.
 It was a tremendous evening and many people have said how much they enjoyed it! ‘Til the next time – many thanks and regards.   Jackie, East Preston West Sussex. – June 2019

Thanks again for a great evening on Saturday. You have made a lot of converts! – Alan, Rustington , W.Sussex – Sept 2018

The whole band was brilliant! We loved the great playing and also the tartan theme going on. Thanks again for your patience as we were running late. Many thanks.   Alasdair and Bethany,  Dunsfold, Surrey –  July 2018

Gallery

The Old Seadogs

‘The Old Seadogs’ are a four piece band (Fiddle, Guitar, Bass and Accordion plus vocals) performing shanties and other songs of the sea for nautically themed events.
We have performed several times in the great cabin on HMS Victory, and also for Trafalgar night celebrations on HMS Warrior, as well as Pickle Nights* in the naval establishments in the Portsmouth area such as Fort Blockhouse, HMS Collingwood, HMS Excellent, HMS Sultan and onboard HMS Prince of Wales in 2022.
Other events which we have been involved with include: Festival of the Sea, Portsmouth Dockyard - July 2005, Meet the Navy, Portsmouth Dockyard - July 2008, Crick Narrowboat Festival, Northampton - May 2009, , Hamble Food Fayre, Hamble Quay - September 2017 & September 2018, Portsmouth Dockyard Christmas Festival 2007 - 2019

* Whereas Trafalgar Night is celebrated by the officers of the Royal Navy, Warrant officers and senior ratings have their own ‘Pickle Night’ celebration around Nov 4th . HMS Pickle was a schooner attached to Nelson’s fleet which was despatched to Falmouth after the battle with the news of the victory and of Nelson’s death. November 4th marks the arrival of HMS Pickle in Falmouth .

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