St Ives Ukes

An entertaining day at the Old Riverport Ukulele Festival at St Ives in Huntingdon. The festival opened at 10.30am with the last notes strummed at 9.00pm. The theme this year was Steam Punk. Many people came dressed in exotic and fascinating costumes. I came in my railway uniform. A real steam punk. See extra.

In between on the main stage were 14 local uke groups performing for a 20 minute slot with each set having one song for audience participation. Alongside the main stage were workshops and an open mike and, of course, a cafe and bar.

In the afternoon while groups continued to perform on the main stage Uketok held a two hour jam with club members and anyone else who wanted to join in from festival goers. We had over 30 people strumming along during the session.

After a quick refuel at Wetherspoons the evening session began with a Uketok strumalong on the main stage followed by two professional acts: The Mad Axe Man Murderers and Ukulele Simon. The two acts could not have been more different. The Axe Murderers were a traditional uke band, while Ukulele Simon was a virtuoso of the ukulele using loops and sounds created live to interpret a range of well known tunes.

Not content with all the uke playing the evening was rounded off with one final strumalong.

Some Uketokers needed further strumming time so back at the Pike and Eel one final session began and is still going on now! We’d has enough so retired to our room to relax and enjoy some chocolate…