The New Songbook is finally here!

Dear Hearts,

The Fourth Songbook - revised and more comprehensive than a school in the eighties, has finally arrived, and the link is available on the right of this page!

Download it now, and serenade the cat!  

Bay City Ukers - It's what your larynx was made for. 

How about the Fez?

Dear Ukanoobas,

Bay City Ukers has been the meeting place for happy pluckers since 2011, and newbies, more experienced players and even (gawd help us) Proper Musicians are very welcome to come along to join us on our sort-of-regular meet ups in Whitstable. 

I have heard scurrilous rumours that other clubs exist, and will be taking myself off to The Fez at Margate to see for myself what, I am told, is 'an evening of ukulele japery, fuelled by real ale', which takes place every Tuesday night. 

I make these sacrifices so that you don't have to, but if you wish to see it with your own eyes, the evening starts at 7pm.

Cover me- I'm going in...!

Best wishes,

Gordon

The Great Whitstable Ukathon and the Whitstable Ukulele Festival have both been and gone, to triumphal reviews in such esteemed organs as the Whitstable Times letters page.

So after such a great plucking summer, why not come along to the next Bay City Ukers evening and shake off the Autumn blues with a beer and a sing-song at the Golf Club, Collingwood Road Whitstable?

Bay City Ukers - it's like Bovril for the soul.

Ukathon 2017

The Great Whitstable Ukathon is nearly upon us!!!

Yes, it's nearly here...the Great Whitstable Ukathon Thing! But what is it, exactly, eh???

If you just calm down for a moment,  I'll tell you.

It's a meet up of Ukuleleists of every hue, gathered from every corner of wherever they come from, to play along together, sing, chortle and imbibe at the Umbrella Centre, Whitstable, CT5 2BQ from 7.00 pm on Saturday 27 May.

The songbook is available for download here:

https://whitukathon.wixsite.com/ukeathon2017

There will be a bar,  and it's all for the charity Médecins Sans Frontières. 

Come along and soak up the effulgence! 

The Great Whitstable Ukathing 2017!!!

Mark it up in your diary -  Saturday 27 May 2017.

An evening of plucking, singing, cheering, howling and chortling, and it's all for charity!!

HERE IS THE FUNKY WEBSITE, WITH THE SONGBOOK, AND EVERYTHING! !!!!

https://whitukathon.wixsite.com/ukeathon2017

UKATHING! 

Oh Yes! 

On 2nd May more than 90 people packed in to the Umbrella Centre in Whitstable where they plunked, plinked, strummed and sung their very hearts out in aid of Médecins Sans Frontières,  about whose work we were treated to several Expert Facts.

We learned, for instance,  that they could sooth your belli in Delhi, ease your pain in Bahrain,  and get you a CT scan in Tajikistan.  

I hope that everyone enjoyed whooping it up as much as I did, and thanks again to Val and her team for the organisation,  tickets, bar, raffle and generally jigging it about, and to Bill and Clive who bravely agreed to be my wingmen.

All being well, see you on 28 May for more diminutive cordophone shenanigans. 

Best wishes,

Gordon

 IT'S HERE AT LAST! 

THE UKATHONG SONGBOOK!!

Click on the Ukathing link below for the Ukathon Songbook (v.1.1.1)! Plagiarised and copied  from Ukulele websites, including Scorpex, Ukulele Wednesdays, Jim's Ukulele Songbook, Wukulele, Moselele and the Stockport Ukulele Club, to whom I am most grateful!



Start printing it off and get your carpals, metacarpals and phalanges around the mighty tunes!!


Ukathing Songlist

Note: Rawhide should be the following Dm version....
Rawhide

COMETH THE HOUR, COMETH THE GREAT WHITSTABLE UKATHON!!

Watch This Space for the song-list pdf, which will hit the blogspot in the next few days - in the meantime get along to Harbour Books in Whitstable and get your hands on the hot tickets of the year! 

2015, and the Second Whitstable Ukathon! 

Our first meet-up of 2015 was another outstanding success, with 44 ukanoobas going for it at the Golf Club, where we managed to achieve just the right balance between bonhomie and brouhaha,  enthusiasm and mania, hurrah and herrumph to produce an evening of great songs and happy faces.

Our next BCU session is on Thursday 19th March, but already plans are proceeding apace for the SECOND GREAT WHITSTABLE UKATHON on Saturday 2 May 2015. This will be an evening of four-stringed shenanigans to raise funds for Médecins Sans Frontières.  Last year we had over a hundred ukers singing, howling, strumming and hooting, so make sure you've got the date marked in your diary - details will be posted here.

Best wishes,  see you on the 19th :-)

Gordon

Happy New Yuke!

2014 - what a year. From the awful tragedy of suddenly losing our friend Brian, to the exuberant fun of the inaugural Whitstable Ukathon.

We never know what's around the corner,  but with a calm sea and a fair wind 2015 will bring us the second Whitstable Ukathon (watch this space ) and, I hope, many more sessions of trial-and-error, seat-of-your-pants musicianship from the 40 or more ukanoobas who get together on an occasional basis at the Golf Club to grab music by the scruff of its neck, and box its ears.

See you in February for the next session!

Gordon

Octoberuke

The days are getting shorter, and the cold rain is damping down the last embers of summer, letting us know that winter, in her white cloak and frosted hood, is knocking at the door waiting to be let in....

So what did we do to console ourselves?  Migrate south? Find a tea-chest, fill it with straw, climb in and hibernate? Not on your Nelly! We grabbed our ukuleles, got on down to the Golf Club and served ourselves up a warming musical stew of rich, meaty ballads, spicy canticles, peppery madrigals and oniony airs. 

It was, of course, another excellent and convivial night, and I look forward to seeing you all safe and sound in November. 

Best wishes

Gordon

August meeting....

What can one say about August? It nestles there quietly between July and September and has 31 sunny days. A jewel among these was the August meeting of the Bay City Ukers club, in which we felt the love which surpasseth all understanding - that being the sound of 36 people of various ages, colours, sizes and heights twanging through some marvellous songs and singing their socks off.

There's more where that came from,  and I hope you can come along on 9 October to do it all again.

Best wishes, 

Gordon

The July Meeting

Thank you to all the ukanoobists who turned up to give music its usual light-hearted thrashing at the Golf Club in July.

It all went rather well, I think, and Lyn's kind suggestion to try 'Those Were The Days' resulted in a surprise musical triumph! Part sad ballad, part drinking song - who would have thought it?! Needless to say,  we'll be doing that one again...

We're back on 21 August for more high jinks and  four-stringed japery. Come along and replace your woes with woohoos and your lamentations with ...er...lalalamentation (That's enough silly words for now).

See you then,

Best wishes,

Gordon

Ukathong - Definitely not pants!

The first ever Whitstable Literary Festival Ukathon went ahead on 10th May at the Umbrella Centre in the town. Ukists, Ukers, Ukees and Ukanoobas gathered from far and wide to pluck, strum, sing, howl, bark, shoop-shoop and wimoweh to within an inch of their lives. Up to 130 people whooped it up, and by all accounts,  a thoroughly good time was had by all.  

Tom Hodgkinson entertained with a couple of numbers, and Val's team were on hand to man (woman?) the bar and tidy up. Louis and Al were fine wingmen. Many thanks for making it such a great success :-)

We hope that we'll be able to do it again next year - watch this space!

Best wishes,
Gordon

Countdown to the Ukathon!

Dear Ukanauts, 

Cometh the hour, cometh the Ukathon, and indeed it cometh in less than two weeks! I, for one, am almost bursting with excitement, and I hope that you have bought your tickets and printed off your song sheets so that all you need to do on the 10 May is to put on your favourite hat, clean your favourite teeth and slip into your favourite tank-top before making your way to St Mary's Hall for what we hope will be a spiffing evening of hot cocoa and happy songs. 

Don't forget the next club night on 8th May when we will test drive the song book and see how she handles under steam so that it all goes smoothly on the Big Night!

See you there,

Gordon

The Ukathon Songbook Has Arrived!!!

With just over one month to go before the Great Whitlit Ukathon, my technical assistant has produced the long awaited Ukathon Songbook (v1.1.1!). 

The contents have been rounded up and kidnapped from numerous other ukulele club sites, to whom we are most grateful.  

So without further ado, you can now print it off and scurry off to your bedroom, attic, conservatory or shed to practice for the Great Whitlit Ukathon! 

Gordon

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzulRT53KTUHZkhmeExGdzFKOU0/edit?usp=docslist_api

The Great Whitstable Uke-a-Thon!

A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY!! On May 10th - evening - at THE UMBRELLA CENTRE there is to be a grand ukathon as part of the Whitstable Book Week. There will be a bar/open mic during the interval/and the authors of THE NEW UKULELE HANDBOOK will be signing their book. Gordon will be there to tweak the nose of music, leading a multitude of unbeatable songs. 

Tickets will be on sale via the Horsebridge Centre at Whitstable at a princely £5. 

Uke-a-Thon Song List

This list will be published here very soon for you to print out and practice. 

Busting into 2014!!

Dear All, we're going to get the blog up and running soon and will be adding new songs for you to print off for Uke Nights. Next session is on Thursday 23 January 7.30 til 10 ish. Be there, and be square!

I'll be sending out a rough guide to the possible playlist soon.



Gordon

From Gordon

Dear Ukers and Ukists

Thanks everyone for arriving in fine voice again for the last session - a most enjoyable evening.

Robin has contacts in the murky world of lawn bowls. I have been in contact with their club and we have been cordially invited to play at their venue on a Friday or Saturday in September/October.

This would be our first 'public' outing, and as I envisage it, it would be much the same as what we do already, but with the club members joining in with the 'way hey!'s and the 'Da doo ron ron's.

I'd be interested to know how many would be up for this, and will bring it up at our next jam session which will be on 27th September at the usual place (The Angling Association).

Let me know what you think.

Best wishes to all,

Gordon

Dear All
Due to the Olympics and other shinanegans, the next Uke Meet will be on Thursday 30 August at the usual venue. All of which means there are no excuses not to learn 'Heatwave'.....
Have a safe and happy Summer (!?) and I look forward to seeing you then.
Best wishes,
Gordon