Quayside Ukes has now been going for over eight years. It all started in response to a request to run an evening ukulele jam at the Duke of Wellington pub in Shoreham. The ‘Uke at the Duke’ jam was born in January 2011, led by the great and inspirational Lawrie Stevens. It started off with a good attendance and quickly became a vibrant monthly event. Over the next six years this very popular jam just got bigger and bigger. It had outgrown the pub and a larger venue was needed. In November 2017 ‘Uke at the Duke’ moved across the road to the Sussex Yacht Club and became ‘Quayside Ukes’.
These jams are now led by Derek and Pete. ‘Rock Steady Pete’ has been around from the early ‘Uke at the Duke’ days being Lawrie’s right hand man. Derek, who has run Ukulele Jams during various Steyning Festivals, took over from Lawrie in November 2018 when Lawrie and his wife Sally decided to move to Wales. The jam is as busy as ever having over 90 ukulele players strumming and singing away to songs from the different decades and genres. They’ve even got a Bass Ukulele and Cahon player backing them up. Players are encouraged to help lead songs during the evening making it more inclusive. The main aim is to have fun and hopefully improve playing the instrument!
A ‘Mini Quayside Ukes’ session started a couple of years ago where players can work on music for the main jam. This has proven to be popular and is hosted by Jo every fourth Tuesday evening at 7.30pm also at the Sussex Yacht Club.
Quayside Ukes produces its own songbooks, always introducing new ones with Volume 17 being launched in May 2019. Derek and Pete have recently introduced the use of Powerpoint to project the songs onto a screen, although some players prefer using their own printed song sheets or computer tablets. Members are invited to submit their favourite songs for inclusion into forthcoming books. We even have a few original compositions!
Quayside Ukes meet at “The Sussex Yacht Club”, 85/89 Brighton Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, BN43 6RF on the second Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm till 9.30pm.
The Mini Quayside Ukes meet every fourth Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm till 9.30pm at the same venue.
All abilities are welcome. Just come along! Membership is free, although we do ask for a voluntary £2 contribution to go towards funding of the Sussex Ukulele Festival and other Ukulele events. If you would like any further information please email quaysideukes@outlook.com
We are currently (April 2019) busy organising the 7th Sussex Ukulele Festival at the Ropetackle Arts Centre in Shoreham, Sunday 15th September 2019. The festival will have Workshops, Ukulele Jams and Special Guests performing. The theme this year is ‘The Summer of 1969’ so cast your minds back to Woodstock, the moon landing, flower power and ‘love and peace’. Get up into the loft or the charity shops and dress to impress in your best 1960s gear. Have a look at our festival website
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