The Ukulele Scene
Find out here about the music scene around Bishops Stortford, how Bsus and ukulele players get involved, music festivals in the area, the ukulele scene locally and further afield, where you can buy a ukulele and where you can learn to play ukulele.
The Stortford Music Scene
As well as the regular Monday sessions you can find Bsus members and their ukes at the open music sessions around Bishops Stortford. Here are a few of them (contact us if you would like to know the dates of any of these sessions):
- Every other Monday evening at the Old Bell in Sawbridgeworth
- Every Sunday evening at the White Lion in Sawbridgeworth
- Sunday evenings once a month at the Prince of Wales in Green Tye
- Sunday evenings once a month at the Butchers Arms at North End on the A130 between Chelmsford and Dunmow
Individual Bsus members also have slots at the weekly Acoustic Club in the Half Moon. The sessions here are on stage with mic and amps in front of an audience. Contact Keef or Annie to book a session - see the website for details.
For general information about Stortford and what's on see Bishops's Stortford Guide.
Music Festivals
Stortford Music Festival is held each year on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend in the grounds of St Mary's School on Windhill. Bishops Stortford Ukulele Society played there in 2008 and in 2009 and will be returning in 2010. Festival headliners in 2010 (apart from Bsus) include The Blockheads, Chris Difford, Boo Hewerdine, The Redneck Beatles and Steve Ingrey.
Woodfest is held annually in September in Hatfield Forest and Bsus will be playing there again this year. The festival is organised by the National Trust and as well as the music there are demonstrations of traditional wood making crafts. The 2010 event is on 11th - 12th September.
The Ukulele Scene
The nearest other ukulele club to Bsus is Cambridge Ukulele Co-op (Cuckoo - work it out). We have joint gigs with Cuckoo and Neil manages to be active member of both clubs. Almost as close, although we haven't made contact yet, are the D'Ukes of Chelmsford. A little further away but close enough for Kath and Steve to be joint members with Bsus is the SOUP Ukulele Club from Enfield.
Our number one inspiration and probably singlehandedly responsible for the current UK uke craze are the wonderful Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. And check out their Wuthering Heights video. A bit further north, the Newcastle Ukulele Allstars were another inspiration. Down in East London, the Duke of Uke is a great ukulele and banjo shop and recording studio. For links to ukulele clubs across the UK, ukulele shops, bands, downloadable gizmos and more see both UKuke and The Mighty Uke.
Buying a ukulele
Bsus members Keef and Annie run the excellent Bonsai Guitars online ukulele shop. They also have a stall at many ukulele and music festivals.
Learning to play ukulele
Bsus welcomes beginners, and at each of our fortnightly sessions someone will be on hand to give tuition for the first hour. For the rest of the session we all join together to play a few tunes in a really informal setting.
For more formal tuition we can recommend couple of ukulele teachers. Talented guitarist and ukelele player, Bsus member and Acoustic Club co-organiser Keef Jackman offers one to one ukulele lessons. You can contact Keef through the Acoustic Club contact page. We can also recommend Bazza (Barry Oldnall), an experienced guitar, banjo and ukulele teacher based in Harlow, and a good friend of Bsus.
