The lunchtime ukulele club lifting spirits in Bristol
If you're walking past the church in the village of Oldland Common, just on the outskirts of Bristol, you might well hear something you don't expect.
It may well be the sound of the lunchtime Ukulele group filling the air. The group meets every Wednesday at Oldland Common United Reformed Church.
The members believe there is no session quite like it.
Jacquie Sullivan from Knowle has been attending for three years. "In some sense, it’s like the friendships here are unique because I would not have met these people if I hadn’t come to this group," she said.
"People notice if others aren’t here, and you can ask about people. It just makes you feel you are part of something, outside of the normal humdrum."
Don Gourd from Keynsham joined in September. "It gets you out of the routine. It’s good to come and see people, meet people," he said.
"Have a laugh, have a joke, have a cry at the music we don’t do very well. It just brings you out of yourself for an hour.
"You leave here, and you are uplifted. The music is buzzing around your head. You’re singing your song, you’re tapping your feet as you drive home, so yes. It’s a great uplift.”
The group was started four years ago by Ben Searle.
He told ITV West Country: "It's not my group, it’s our group. It’s very much a place where you make friendships and where you have ideas. It’s very much everyone’s space, that’s what I like."
Top fun beliefs about the Ukulele
1. The real inventor of the Ukulele remains unknown.
2. Ukulele translates as ‘jumping flea.’
3. The Ukulele was brought to Hawaii by the Portuguese
4. The Ukulele only has four strings.
5. George Harrison from The Beatles was a big fan of the instrument.
Source: https://www.itv.com/.../the-lunchtime-ukulele-club...
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