Flags, Klezmer, cops pounce, and Drakes Island is for sale (again)

All you need to know in and around Plymouth's waterside communities

Theatre Royal Plymouth to host landmark Jewish cultural event

The city's Jewish Community has revealed it is presenting a landmark evening of traditional Jewish music at Theatre Royal Plymouth as part of the UK's inaugural Jewish Culture Month.

Plymouth Jewish Community CIC (community interest company) has been set up with a mission to bring Jewish cultural life back to the Ocean City – one of England's oldest provincial Jewish communities, dating back to the 1740s.

The event, called Klezmer by the Sea, will take place at The Drum, which will be configured cabaret-style for an authentic klezmer experience. Professional klezmer trio The Klezmer Village Band will take to the stage on Wednesday 10th June, weaving haunting and toe-tapping melodies with evocative stories of musicians' lives and times.

"Plymouth’s most significant Jewish cultural event in recent memory."

The trio includes Ilana Cravitz, co-founder of the London Klezmer Quartet and Oxford University Press author, and Theo Malka-Wishart, a regular at Ronnie Scott's jazz club.

Tickets are available through Theatre Royal Plymouth at Klezmer by the Sea | Theatre Royal Plymouth

Tom Godwin, CIC director, told The Beagle: "We are delighted to be celebrating a cultural tradition that has travelled across continents and centuries, woven through the lives of Jewish and Eastern European communities right across Europe  and one that has always had the power to bring people together regardless of background or faith."

Jewish Culture Month is running from 16 May - 16 June 2026, and is a cultural coming together on a scale and depth not seen before, with more than 100 events across the country.

Caught on camera: police swoop and make arrests

Police pounced on The Hoe on Thursday afternoon and made two arrests. The drama was caught on camera by The Beagle correspondents. Six officers in three squad cars cuffed and carted off two men just after 3pm.

Meanwhile the Hoe's most brazen tent-pitch has been attracting comments. Someone put up a tent and spent several days living alongside the Tower and the Liner Cafe, with one of the city's best views from their bed - and even put traffic cones alongside to prevent visitors getting too close. The des-res went up just as the city welcomed visitors from giant cruise ship Artania (see below).

Up for an award

Congratulations to Beagle advertiser Plymouth Block Management, which has been shortlisted by The Property Institute in its annual awards, for 'Managing Agent of the Year' in the 1,001-to-3,000 units category. Congratulations to Mark, Spencer and the team. The awards are announced in mid-June.

Scratching heads at Plymouth Hoe's random flag collection

A Beagle reader writes: As a former Royal Navy signal officer and member of the Flag Institute, I take a daily interest in the flags flying on the Hoe. However there is some duplication, and no obvious sequence.

On one recent day in April the flags flown were: Plymouth Council flag, Plymouth City flag, Plymouth Ocean City flag, Devon flag, St George's flag, Commonwealth flag, Blue Ensign of Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Red Ensign, a blank pole, British Army flag, White Ensign, United States flag, French flag, LGBTQ+ Pride flag, Purple city flag, Plymouth Council flag.

Perhaps fellow Beagle readers could suggest a standard set of flags, and removal of duplicates and 'fillers'. For example some may consider the French and Spanish flags to signify the links to those countries courtesy of Brittany Ferries; the Polish flag, as the city is twinned with Gdynia; or the Ukraine flag?

Have your say: email contactthebeagle@gmail.com

Drakes Island is for sale - again!

The iconic landmark in Plymouth Sound is up for sale again.

It's got planning permission in place for a hotel. But since Morgan Phillips bought the island in 2019 it has stood largely untouched - apart from occasional guided tours, and a weekend rave.

Estate agent Carter Jonas has marketed the island, inviting offers for the freehold.

The Grade II listed island has changed hands four times in four decades. Mr Phillips told Plymouth Live he had already received interest from prospective purchasers.

Scene on the Sound - by The Captain

The Beagle's maritime correspondent (Royal Navy, retired) keeps his eye on the water

Last weekend saw the Pirates invade the Barbican and it was a much bigger turnout of followers of all ages than last year.  There were stalls selling everything from exotic food to maritime trivia, several shanty groups, a Morris side and more.  Put it in your diaries for next year if you missed it.

Some of you will remember that HMS Trent was here for a couple of weeks of training up to 2nd May. She is now on the other side of the Atlantic and has started her deployment. She will be working closely with the US Coast Guard and others to hunt down drug traffickers and be ready to provide humanitarian disaster response to help island communities in the Caribbean in the event of a storm during hurricane season, between June and November.

During HMS Trent’s 2024 West Indies deployment, she seized £750m of illegal cargo, so the crew will be hoping for similar successes this year.

Last Monday was a busy day in the Sound. All the foreign ships working up here went off to sea – the Norwegian, German and Belgian Frigates HNoMS Otto Sverdrup, FGS Oldenburg and HBMS Leopold I, as well as the Dutch Combat Support Ship HNlMS Den Helder.

The more unusual addition to the local naval forces was the Navy's Aircraft Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. She has just finished a 5-month refit in Rosyth and was anchored outside the breakwater for most of Tuesday. My guess is that she was receiving some initial safety training (such as fire and flood exercises) from FOST staff. She could then be seen moving up and down in the areas off Plymouth before leaving – quite possibly to off-load RNAS Culdrose to embark a couple of helicopters.

Getting a big ship like her back to full operational capability will take several weeks. You have to start with the basics – make sure everyone knows what to do if there is an onboard emergency, and then move on to team training for those who run each department. I think it was President Reagan who said that the flight deck of a carrier was the most dangerous workplace in the world. Some would argue, but the mix of speed, movement, fuel, explosives and weather is certainly challenging and, as with all the other departments onboard, thorough, regular training is essential.

The other visitor was the German Cruise ship MV Artania.  She spent Monday in the Sound and her tenders could be seen ferrying passengers to and from the Barbican landing stage all day. Some of you may think that the Artania looks familiar – in her early life she was the P&O Princess Cruises Royal Princess – christened by Princess Diana in 1984.  She subsequently became the P&O’s Artemis and in 2011, she was sold to the Phoenix Reisen Line and renamed Artania. 

• SOBW for those who don’t subscribe to the King’s Harbour Master’s daily naval movements email is South Of the BreakWater.  To subscribe just go to the KHM Devonport website and click to be put on the mailing list.