Appearances - 2016

Were you there? - have you got any comments or photos for any of the appearances below? if so, please let us know

15/12/16 Sky Lounge, Worcester

Thanks to everyone who played yesterday and I hope that the gig went well. I had an email from Pat, thanking us and indicating that they will want us back in 2017. Colin

9/12/16 Rotary Club, Worcester

17/12 addition...
Hi all you out-door giggers who played outside the Guildhall on Dec 9th. I have heard back from the Rotarians, They raised £707 for the hospices during the day and they are very grateful for our help. Best wishes, Allan

Hi all you brave outdoor giggers. Well done in a challenging venue. The Rotarians said that people only gave money while we were performing! Thanks very much for your support in the first gig I've led. Allan.  

5/12/16 Redditch Sight Concern

Gig in Redditch Sight Concern!
We did well! Rosemary

25,26,27/11/16 Christmas Fayre, Worcester

A great weekend's work from lots of players, for hundreds of Christmas Fayre goers :-)
Over £300 was raised for our new 2016 - 17 charity, the Alzheimers Society

20/11/16 Clarence Park, Malvern for Children In Need

Hi, Another great effort organised by Ken at Clarence Park for Children in Need!  We had such fun, the residents sang along and of course they loved Pudsey, courtesy of Allan C, he aced it!! We raised a minimum of £220!!! Rosemary

18/11/16 Amazing Gig Takings in Crowngate, Worcester for Children In Need!

Hi Everyone, Just to let you know a valiant team effort raised today £1.219.47p!
It was cold; but it didn't stop our enthusiasm and it didn't stop the people of Worcester from being so generous. Young and old alike joined in the fun and love of the day.
Four of us then went to radio H&W where we sang in a fashion let me be your Pudsey Bear!
Thank you so much everybody for your time and effort, plans afoot for next year!!
Rosemary

30 Sep Lamb and Flag Pub Worcester

Hi all, We had a very successful gig at the Lamb & Flag last night - four encores! Lots of fun, too. John H played bass and he was brilliant - adding a groovy, funky bass line to many of the songs. Rob

18 Sep Worcester Music Festival

Thanks to anyone and everyone who:
1. Helped with the Ukulele Workshop on Saturday 17th September - good fun and at least double the number of participants that I had been told about. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
2. Played in Drummonds on Sunday 18th September - another small but appreciative audience. We sounded great, possibly the best I have heard from a WUC 'big band'. So thanks to all of you but special thanks to John H for keeping us all in time whilst wielding a very large and heavy bass 'ukulele' (well it did have 4 strings so it was either a ukulele or a violin).
Colin

15 Sep Sky Lounge Worcester

This was my first time in the legendary Sky Lounge, where we were made to feel very welcome and well fed! (thanks to Pat and co.)... all for doing what we like best: playing songs and singing :-)
Hopefully more (better) pictures will come... Lorry

11 Sep Malvern Wells Fete

Dear All,
Thanks for today - I enjoyed it once we got going - sorry about the sound system problems - apparently the man who normally looks after it was away this year. Really nice to have the double bass too - thanks to Bob.  The parish clerk told me that there'll be a cheque for our charity on the way to treasurer Tom soon, Bill

10 Sep Peopleton Festival

Well in spite of the weather, the show went on and it turned out to be great one!!!
What a great gig that was and thank you to all of you who turned up to play; you put up with my bad counting in on one or two numbers but we all played really well and I thought we were very together boosted by a solid bass line from John who kept us on the straight and narrow! Additional thanks to John for setting up all the Mics, PA and sound desk etc.... Also thanks to (my friend) Stew who played along on lead guitar adding some interesting solos and twiddly bits to some of our standard numbers. And special thanks to Bill for putting the song packs together and dealing with my somewhat `off the wall` arrangements......Sweet Home Chicago will eventually get there I hope!!!  I really enjoyed the day as I hope you all did so thanks again to all of you.....here`s to the next one!!!! Rob

28 Aug Bell at Broadheath

Thanks to anyone who played at the Bell yesterday. The weather was very variable but we were not and played and sang well. Even the curved ball of Fireball XL5 went OK. Colin

Website editor note:
Videos from the club youtube channel plus contributors, of various gigs, are on our videos page.
A special note though for this one 'Chanson d'Amour', which is possibly the wettest gig that the club have ever played! But the show must go on... and by the looks of it, it did!
I'm not sure - maybe the buckets were used for more than charity collection on that day!
Well done guys :-)

27 Aug Sunshine Festival

Hi All, Thanks to all who played yesterday, another great performance. We had a good crowd who were singing and clapping from the very start. I knew we were doing well when the place suddenly started to fill up and by the end, there was hardly a spare seat anywhere. It was only after we came off that I realised it had started pouring with rain. Still, everyone appeared to enjoy it so that was a win win situation for all of us. We were joined by a Young Lady and her Dad from the audience who had brought their own Ukes with them. We invited them up to play a number, asked them if they would like to stay and play another and they ended up playing half the set with us. Brilliantly well done to both of them, you can see them on the left side of the photo.
Well, I think we have well and truly cut our teeth on Festivals now, I shall be emailing Michael Eavis to see if we can get a slot on the Pyramid Stage next year, what do you think? See you all soon, John

21 Aug Cripplegate Band In The Park

Hi All, Sunday was good. We set up in sunshine and bang on cue, the audience appeared and got themselves settled with tea and cakes from the cafe.  Apart from a mild panic when some of us realised that I had changed the setlist, (sorry about that girls) we played the first set to an appreciative audience. While we were wetting our whistles in the break, it suddenly started raining, but, being true stalwarts, the audience just moved their seats under the big trees and carried on as if nothing had happened. So we gave them another rousing set and had them clapping and singing along. Well it must have been ok as they vowed to have us back and we were also approached to play an 80th birthday party in November. Bill brought young William with him again. He is so comfortable and confident with us now, he is beginning to lark about. It won't be too much longer and he will be grabbing the mic and introducing the numbers ;>)) Well done everyone, see you at the next one, John

20 Aug Salwarpe Fete

Hi All, We nearly got blown away on Saturday, good job we had a great Marquee to play in! Apart from a few spots before we started, the rain held off so our audience didn't have to run for cover. Thank you all so much for stepping up to the plate and volunteering at the last minute, we ended up with a great crew. It was lovely to see the audience stay right to the end, I'm sure we could have played another hour and they would have still been there. John

13 Aug Callow End Village Hall

Hi All, Thanks for playing another great gig today. Good idea to have seats for the audience, thanks Brian. We got them singing along and even had dancers at the back and with 3 volunteers coming up to play, I'd say that was a success. Thanks also to John B for playing bass at the last minute. Hope you all got your tea and cakes, I certainly enjoyed mine. 
We had another success story later on, Pete L won the "Guess how many sweets in the jar" so he has got 1407 sweets to share with us on Monday. See you all Monday, John

11 Aug Vintage Tea Party for the MHA

Thank you, thank you everyone who took part in this morning's gig. You were brilliant! Boy! What a gig, did we have a BLAST!! It was fab. Everybody played and sang really well. The audience REALLY enjoyed it and we've been asked to go again.
Elaine, the organiser, couldn't praise us enough and she said she'd never seen anyone from the group get up and dance before!!!! Well done everybody, you made my life a lot easier!! Thank you John for all your hard work and for playing the Bass brilliantly. It sounded so good and really adds a dimension to the songs. See you all next week. All the best Lyn

---

4 Aug Crowngate, Worcester

A small, but dedicated team, put in a shift in Crowngate shopping centre.

30 Jul Worcester Foodie Festival - day 2

Hi All, Another great gig, thank you all very much for playing. We collected £86.47 plus €4.67 so if anyone's going on holiday? Particular thanks to William and his mum, he plays like a seasoned adult and to Rich for his nuggets of wisdom, I don't know how he remembers it all. See you later, John

30 Jul Worcester Foodie Festival - day 1

Thank you to everyone who played at Worcester Foodie Festival on Saturday. We seemed to go down well and collected £55.57 in the collection buckets. Someone in the crowd took a video of us playing I Want to be Like You and I have out a link to the video from our Facebook page, Colin

---

24 Jul Norton Hall Care Home, Worcester

Hi All, Well done today and a big thank you to all who played at Norton Care Home. Sorry about the starts and finishes guys. I've learned one thing from today, you can't lead effectively and play bass. You need the leader bashing out the chords for others to follow. The audience enjoyed us, there was quite a bit of foot tapping and several singing along. Come to think of it, very much like playing at university gigs in the 70s. Well done to Pattie on her first gig, fitted in seamlessly and played like a regular trooper, we will have to persuade her husband will bring his trombone instead of the bass. Could make for an interesting sound..........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See you all at the next one, John

16 Jul St Georges Church, Worcester, Fund Raiser

Thanks to everyone who played. We had been asked by the Church to speak about the history of ukuleles (thanks Carrie) and I think that worked well. Eirlys did a cracking job of Forever Young at a much slower pace than I was expecting which suited the song very well. Thanks to Bill for the A3 sheets and Lucy for the songbooks. A very enjoyable evening, Colin

...and well done on your solo. The team managed to slow the runaway train down so it didn't go off the rails. Both solos were great and Eirlys hit just the right pace with hers. Thanks very much for leading. Much enjoyed. Allan

Please pass on to your members the grateful thanks of The Friends of Saint George’s Church for the entertaining fund raising concert on Saturday evening.  It was good to hear some of the old songs again and the stories behind them. The ticket sales realised £320.00. Ian P (St. George's Church concert organiser)

14 Jul Free Radio Stage Crowngate, Worcester

Passed by an anonymous source...

'downloaded photo from twitter of Willy Wonka and his Chocolate Factory...'

10 Jul Macca Memorial and Worcester Oddfellows

Thank you to everyone who played at Sunday's gigs. The Macca  Memorial Family Day committee have thanked us for adding to the atmosphere at Cornmeadow Lane by playing such lively, happy music. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon tea party for Worcester Oddfellows who were a great audience. Well played every one, Colin

8 Jul Oldbury Park School, Worcester

A huge thank you to you all for today........despite the wind and blustery conditions we played really well apart from one or two incidents of racing away......it was the wind's fault!!!! Many thanks to the 'Uke Club Volunteers" who have supported the children at the school all year.....they really paid us back handsomely today by playing and singing their very best in two numbers at the start of the session. Had lots of feedback to say how much everyone enjoyed our playing (even though there wasn't an audience as such......outdoor gigs are always a challenge!!). Rob P

3 Jul Club Summer Do, Rushwich Village Hall

Hi All, Thanks to all who came along to the summer do this afternoon. I don’t think Rushwick on Sea has ever seen so many Ukulele playing Sailors / Pirates / and hula hula girls… I’m sure you’d agree we had a great time listening to some expert soloists - special mention to Nigel’s son William (the Ukulele playing future certainly looks bright in that house hold :-) ) and hearing all about 'Luke the Uke’ and his nautical exploits; all. with plenty of lovely sandwiches and cake… mmmmm… what better way to spend a gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon? :-) Cheers, Lorry, Jo and David

2 Jul St Mary's Church Fete, Kempsey

A lovely church fete :-)

30 Jun Lasletts Almshouses, Worcester

Thank you for an enjoyable and fun afternoon.
​Kind regards, Mike H - a resident of Lasletts Almshouse.

Dear Colin, May I thank you and the rest of the players for the wonderful afternoon last Thursday. The feedback I have received has been amazing.... Everyone loved it and said it was the best garden party they have had at Laslett's. You made the day. Again many thanks to you all. Oriana

19 - 26 Jun Malvern (3 Counties Show), Norton Hall Care Home and Upton Jazz Festival

Hi All,
I would like to say a big thank you to all those who have played on the last 3 Gigs that I have lead (recently)...

• ​Malvern (3 Counties Show) was good, I always enjoy the hymns, so many chords, so little time. The Rev Steve is always good fun, he doesn't quite know how to take us. I see today, Mark's Uke is playable with the help of a large piece of Duct tape, despite being trodden on in the green room in the Church tent.
• Friday went well at Norton Hall Care Home. We turned up only to discover that they were no expecting us. I had emailed the person that booked us earlier in the week and received no reply so was not entirely surprised to discover that she had left their employ. Nevertheless, we set up and provided a rousing concert to the residents who were expecting a nice quiet afternoon siesta. As we played on undeterred, we gradually noticed more and more foot tapping and even some singing and clapping so I think it was generally well received. (Memo to myself: if you receive no reply, find out why)! We played a full hour interspersed with the occasional break when somebody needed to get past.
• Upton Jazz Festival today and we were lucky with the weather up until the last couple of songs. Well done everyone for sticking with it. Bill is busy drying out the song sheets, he has them draped all around his house. All told, I thought it sounded good today, it's always hard to keep a large group together but it's a bit like an amphitheatre in that corner so that helps. We managed to hold a great crowd most of whom stoically stuck it out to the end. We also collected £32.99 thanks to Eirlys's quick thinking with her Uke case.

Well done all and thank you for playing, John

19 Jun Royal Three Counties Show, Malvern

Here we are again - 4th year running - at the "Church Tent" at the Royal Three Counties Show. We did our own stuff in the first session, including a couple of perhaps inappropriate numbers! - Winders and Green Door - and in the second session, we were joined by singing vicar Steve on his giant ukulele and performed numbers from the WUC hymnbook for the public to join in. Great fun all round, Bill

11 Jun Leadon Bank Care Home, for Ledbury Community Day

Dear All, What a great team, we played a storm. Lots of smiles from the audience and everyone I spoke to afterwards enjoyed it. Many thanks to Ursula for getting them dancing and joining us for a couple of numbers on the Uke, it's great to have a bit of audience participation. Thanks to Bill for putting the songbooks together, a labour of love if ever I have seen one. Apparently, he sits cross legged on the floor and enters a Zen like state which enables him to levitate and float around the room compiling them in a matter of seconds. Thanks also to young William for playing with us today, a star of the future I have no doubt! Thanks to Mark for bringing the bass. It always makes it for me to have a bass, it keeps it all together as well as adding depth to the sound. To the rest of today's team, a very big thank you. You make the job of leading so easy and worthwhile. Cheers, John

Hello John and the rest of you lovely strummers.
On behalf of the residents at Leadon Bank (and myself) I would  like to send a huge thank you to all of you happy people I am not surprised you brought out smiles, taping toes and beating hearts, you were so infectious and created a wonderful atmosphere. Your playing and singing  is so professional and with a twist of comedy. You looked very colourful  and cheerful. What amazes me is how well organised you are making it look so effortless and fun. John it was a good choice  to use a microphone. You make a very good leader and its great to have an introduction to the next song with a bit of humour thrown in. I hope you have noticed that the chosen charity we were collecting for today was for Megan Baker House. Thank you for your support for this very worthwhile cause. I wish you all a good summer, happy playing, and an amazing time at the Ukulele Festival in Cheltenham. I'm sure this is not the last time our paths have crossed. Our French friends would say ' à tout à l'heure ' ! With grateful thanks, Ursula

30 May Winchcombe Festival

Hi All, Thank you all for playing today, once again, we took the audience by storm. Lots of people came up to tell me how much they liked it afterwards and I was still collecting money for sometime after we finished. Someone even popped some money in before we started, while we were having a coffee. Thanks to Dave for organising, liaising, keeping us all informed and for hauling the stands and to Chris for looking after the buckets, we must have collected at least £50. Happy Uking (is that a real word?), John

29 May Droitwich German Twinning Association evening, Masonic Hall, Worcester

Hi Everyone, Sunday German Twinning Association dinner: Thanks to everyone who played at the farewell dinner for the Droitwich German Twinning Association and their German guests. You were all there so I don't have to tell how well we went down, Colin

---

28 May Wedding Party, Sinton Green

Thank you - and thanks for a great gig, everyone loved it! Pass on our thanks to the band - we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. Best Wishes, Dave & Krist.

27 May Droitwich German Twinning Association evening, Norbury Theatre, Droitwich

A great fun evening, with 7 intrepid Ukers from the club being one of a variety of acts. We played well and even if we couldn't see the audience (that's what it's like on a real stage apparently :-) ), we could hear them singing and clapping along :-). Thanks to Colin for arranging our bit.

22 May Charity Tea Party, Hanley Swan Village Hall

Thanks for today - Eirlys would have been impressed with our Delilah at warp speed!  And thanks for the bit of overtime we had to do with one of the Community Action minibuses failing. Hope you enjoyed the tea. We went down well - and Ursula is booking us for next year, Bill

21 May Clarence Park Village, Malvern

Hi Everyone, A special thanks to Ken A who arranged last night's gig. We were well received by the audience. One of Ken's neighbours claimed it was one of the best evening's entertainment he's been to at CPV! Ken has asked me to pass on his appreciation to everyone who played last night and I also wish to say thank you especially to the brave 'newbies'.

19 May Sky Lounge Worcester

Hi Everyone, Thanks to everyone who played today. It's nice playing in front of an audience that appreciates us! Eight CDs sold today which must be a record. We have also been asked to play at their Christmas party which will be a good one. Get your name down when it appears! Colin

---

Were you there? - have you got any pickies? - let us know

14 May Friends of Perrins House

A huge 'THANK YOU' to everyone who played so brilliantly this afternoon at Perrins House. We were so lucky with the weather and we had a good appreciative audience- even though some were sitting round the corner from us as there was no seating in front of us.
An even bigger thank you to John H for being in charge of the PA and hence the counting in -sorry I dropped you in it John, but no-one would have heard me on the front row!! ....and thanks also for our inimitable Bass player Mark- everything sounds so much better with a Bass in the line-up.
And we even sold a CD!! A good afternoon all round, Lyn

14 May Worcester Motor Show

Hi All, Just to say a big thank you to all those that played today at Worcester Motor Show, it sounded great from where I was. We held a good crowd, sold 2 CDs and raised £50.63 for MAAC :-) - Thanks Worcester!
I hope my waffle wasn't too tedious, some of you had to put up with it again at Malvern, so sorry, John

2 May Bewdley Festival

Many thanks again for coming to the museum, it was a pleasure to hear you play and we have had many compliments from visitors enjoying your sets. We would love to welcome you back, perhaps when the weather is more kind!
Kind regards, Nikki
Assistant Arts and Play Development Officer
Wyre Forest District Council

1 May St Richards Boat & Car Festival, Droitwich

Hi All, Thanks you all for playing at Droitwich this afternoon, it sounded great from the front, loads of pizzazz! I had several people come up as we were packing up and say how much they enjoyed it, I think DUC will have some new members before long. Hope you all enjoyed it, John

Were you there? - have you got any pickies? - let us know

30 Apr Wedding Party, Deer Park Hall, Pershore

We had a mellow afternoon playing to Faye and Stew's wedding party. A lovely wood clad venue room, with excellent acoustics and awesome Vale of Evesham views. Thanks to Colin for organising the gig and to Richard for the commentary. We did good :-) Lorry

24 Apr Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust

Hi Folks - Thank you to everyone who came on the trip yesterday for your enthusiasm that made it such a memorable experience!
Regards, Tony and Jane R

23 Apr St Georges Day In Gheluvelt Park Worcester

Thanks to everyone. There were 22 of us and I thought we were great, the audience seemed to enjoy our performance as well. As always have to say thank you to Bill who puts in a lot of work into producing and bringing along the songlists and stands, also to John H for counting in and to everyone who came, hope you enjoyed it. Also nice to have a mic'd up bass. Thanks again, Chris.

21 Mar Open Mic Club Night

The club 'open mic' night was fun for all, with a massive turnout and a few well sung 'mass club' numbers besides...

​Well done to all the 22 solo and group performers who introduced variety, humour, musical excellence, imaginative canal trips and sad polar bears!

...can't wait for the next open mic night :-)

18 Mar Evening of Music and Dance with the Selina Bella Strings and Worcester Rotary Club

Thank you email received from Worcester Rotary Club: I am writing to thank you and all the other Worcester Ukulele Club performers for such a brilliant performance at this event last Friday. You have probably been told this before, but your performances just make people happy- everyone enjoyed it. We wish you well - your club is obviously thriving and joyful, and I look forward to our paths crossing again

3 Mar St Joseph's Hall, Malvern - Thursday Club

A big, big thank you to everyone who played at St.Joseph's Thursday Club. We had some really good feedback and the audience thoroughly enjoyed our performance - we've been invited back again!!
Everyone played well and I must thank Mark and Tom for their input. Having a Bass there makes such a difference - it adds depth and helps to keep us all together- thanks Mark- and Tom's complementary strumming and riffs gave our performance great colour and variation - thanks Tom.
It was a great sound and I think we did the WUC proud. See you all next week. All the best
Lyn

---

14 Feb Leadon Bank Extra Care Home - Ledbury

Hello Colin, John and Strummers,
Yes indeed yesterday went very well. The band was great and everyone had a good time and was well entertained. More over £500 was raised for the Birmingham Children's Hospital. The money band members have gathered, is looking after a 2 year old boy who is very ill. His Great aunt is a resident at Leadon Bank.
Thank you very very much for bringing music and love on Valentine's day. If you ever need a venue for an excuse to play you know now where you will be most welcome. Kind regards and many thanks Ursula

13 Feb All Saints' Church Malvern - Birthday Party

Here we are back at All Saints' Church for Steve's 18th birthday party - a church full of his family, friends and a ukulele band - and lots of food and drink! Bill