Certainly wakening up these mornings and turning on the news has little to lift the spirits. This morning the leaked government document which has been exposed in a Sunday newspaper, if true, is a doomsday scenario. Shortages of fresh fruit is one thing but shortage of medicine is entirely another. Talking to a woman whose mother has cancer and is one multiple pills every day proves the seriousness of this, and her case is common to many others who rely on life saving medication. The thought of these, like the menopause preparations, being unavailable is terrible and I mean terrifying. Oil is rumoured will be in short supply as well, think of the repercussions of that coming about.
Actually, it’s too awful to dwell on as we’ll soon know if there’s a deal or not. I saw a car reg. plate last week DUP and I wondered who on earth would want to drive around with that identification.
As a interviewee from the South of Ireland said on a radio programme, just when this island has got itself sorted and things were running smoothly – the Queen able to visit Dublin and Leo Varadkar coming north to join in the Gay Pride saunter through Belfast – it’s crumbling around us.
Boris Johnson is strutting his stuff and being told off by the Speaker of the House of Commons for his lack of knowledge of the procedures of the House and his rudeness and Trump’s latest record breaking rally in New Hampshire etc etc I think we’ve every right to be frightened mainly because we have no influence and no control over what’s happening.
One question. Is a referendum binding?
For a huge number of people this weekend is special. Yesterday and today the seaside town of Dun Laoghaire has been rocking to the music of hundreds of ukuleles and happy people singing along. Players from all parts of Ireland and the UK and visitors from round the world were welcomed to enjoy the fun of the International Ukulele Hooley. But beware, you’ll be so enthused it’s quite likely you’ll head off and buy your own instrument and join one of the groups, be it Dublin where there are more sessions than any other part of Ireland, Belfast, Bangor or perhaps Crossgar, lots to chose from.
I got drawn into the Belfast Ukulele Jam, up to 70 men and women who meet every Tuesday evening in the Botanic Inn on Belfast’s Lisburn Road.
It was formed by Mark Stephen Hughes in 2015, he’d come across these groups in London and was fascinated by the instrument and brought it back to his home place of Rostrevor and interest spread like wild fire with Sean Lawlor and Nuala Connelly taking over the running of the group when Mark returned to London.
The Jam began in the Oh Yeah! Centre in Belfast and the people crowded in. They came from all over the city and then beyond, today they even fly in from England and one member is from Italy.
From Oh Yeah! the sessions moved to the Sunflower Bar but quickly outgrew that venue and now their meeting place is ‘The Bot’.
Sean Calls Himself The Bingo Caller.
Everyone has a list of 1200 songs on their iPads and Sean shouts out the numbers.
“Right everyone, 117” As one, 30 players with more arriving every minute, begin to strum and sing ‘I See A Pale Moon Arising’.
The only number they don’t play is the one most of us would think of – George Formby’s ‘When I’m cleaning windows’! Instead you hear Queen, Johnny Cash, ‘Teenage Kicks’ and ‘Blame It On The Boogie’ There’s an element of skiffle, a lot of pop and pure joy in what the Belfast Ukulele Jam do.
“As well as the weekly sessions, we visit nursing homes, charities and community events, and we’ve appeared at festivals such as Sunflowerfest, Fiddlers Green and now there’s excitement of the Ukulele Hooley in Dun Laoghaire. We can also be booked to play at private parties, weddings or corporate events.” There’s no limit! They’ve even been known to serenade travellers on a Translink train and they performed recently on BBC One Show during the Open golf in Portrush.
The music continued to swirl around the bar, ‘All About The Bass’, ‘Rock Around The Clock’,’Bohemian Rhapsody’ and more. Even when I sat in on this session, people came into the bar and stayed bringing their drinks to the fringe of The Jam and throughly enjoying it.
“One man from Donegal told us there are accidental nights when magic happens and for him this was one of them. That was lovely. We often get people asking to join,” Sean added, “no problem, just come along, no auditions and it’s easy to learn on YouTube.”
Indeed I was so enthused I actually went to Matchetts music shop the next day and for £49.99 bought my very own ukulele and I’m making progress. I was really chuffed walking through town with my music case and my uku (now I’m a student I can use the short form). It’s an investment for the whole family as apparently they are now being bought by parents and schools in favour of the recorder so there are budding recruits for the Belfast Jam. Members are teenagers up to 80s, grannies and grandpas, students, nurses, IT specialists, teachers and civil servants, and a tv producer.
“We‘re A Human Salad,”
So says Tommy, a long time member. And I was in the middle of this salad.
Geraldine sits beside Peter a former fireman from London who travels to take part in sessions, opposite is Tani from Italy, a musician who sports a washboard and four thimbles. Hetty sits astride a Cajon, which looks like a box but is a drum, snare towards the top, bass at the bottom and Sean multi-skills on ukulele and kazoo. One girl has tiny fairy lights round her ukulele and Dillon has adapted his as a flame thrower just to bright up the night! It’s a lot of fun.
Mary Rose and Nuala work at the Hospice and they bring their music to staff and patients every Thursday afternoon. They are off cycling in November through Cambodia and Vietnam with their ukuleles to raise money for the Hospice. Charity support is at the heart of this gathering.
My host, Sean Lawlor, was a potter who studied ceramics at university in England and Wales. He came home and apprenticed himself to a pottery business in Letterkenny. “You learn the skills of your craft at university but not the skills of business.” He did learn these skills and had a very successful business selling his range of ceramics in many parts of the world. Then he decided to diversify and established ’1st Impressions’ his Belfast based business that makes ceramic hand and footprint casts of children, families and grown-ups but his ukulele is never far from his side.
By the time I was leaving here was quite an audience including an elderly man sitting alone in a private corner of the bar, minding his own business but when I waved goodbye to The Jam I noticed he was singing along with my exit music ‘Sally Be Good’.
More details at www.belfastukejam.com
I’m sorry to hear that the latest Krypton series – which was to be made in Belfast – has been cancelled. It’s such a shame for all those working on the new programmes and the actors. I know how excited they were so it’s a blow for everyone.
The accompanying picture at the top of this blog is of a huge buzzard that visited in Donegal, a fine specimen, hope you can just about see it.
We moan about the weather and the rain that’s never far away but just look up at the clouds and the wonderful castles in the sky and remember if we didn’t have rain we wouldn’t have rainbows. So, there is Hope. Have a good week.