But still that did not satisfy me. We needed
some company and more volume, so I placed an advertisement in the Bures
St Mary Parish Magazine seeking like minded people who saw a beauty in
the gentle plinky plonk of the ukulele. To my amazement and joy, 8 other
people replied, and we started to meet in the tower room of the Church
in Bures. We had to contend, on a monthly basis, with meetings of the
Mothers Union, blocking up the windows so that they could not see us,
or hear us. The were very gracious about it, and commented that although
they could hear us during their prayers, it was not too intrusive. At
first we played a selection of songs which I had collected, relatively
easy ones with few chords , and built up from there. Anything from Gospel
to Blues, Pop to Reggae, Traditional to Folk, Country to Indie, often
taking us from our comfort zones into unknown areas of music alien to
us. A few fell by the wayside due to work commitments, but happily were
replaced by others.
Two stalwarts of the group were Howard and Brenda Walkden who live just
within the parish of Whites Colne. They offered to let us rehearse at
their house on a Monday evening. Almost all of the band were attendees
at the Connections coffee morning in the Mount Bures Village Hall, so
we would see each other regularly, as well as practice on Mondays. The
centre of gravity for the group shifted, therefore, from Bures to Mount
Bures.
Ray had joined the band and was invaluable, as a former teacher and skilled
musician, in encouraging, instructing and arranging some of the music
to suit the dynamics of the band. His rendition of The Boxer, by Simon
and Garfunkel with Jan and Jay harmonising became the highlight of our
performance.
Many of the band were
starting from scratch, but through much practice and the suffering
of painful finger tips, we felt we had became proficient enough to
be heard by people outside the band. Jan offered our services to play
at the Mount Bures Harvest Supper. That gave us a very powerful incentive
to raise our game to the standard we wanted. But first we had to have
a name. As most of us came from Mount Bures, Suzanna suggested the
Mount Bures Ukulele Group, or MBUG. That was it and the name stuck. |
Download Harvest Supper Song List |
The band chose some songs which they hoped
would be familiar with the audience so that they could join in, and others
which we enjoyed playing. Not only did the uke playing improve, so did
the singing, as people realised that they could sing, indeed actually
had good voices. Then came the harmonies! So we could play, we could sing
and we could harmonise. Next stop O2.
Not quite, but half way
there when we went to play at the sheltered accommodation where Jan
Hughes mother lives in Southend. For that gig we chose some old classics
which everyone enjoyed, especially the band, for they have interesting,
if tricky chord sequences, a good tune, and all those at the home
knew them well enough to join in. After that gig it was good just
to settle back into the routine of each member of the band choosing
songs to sing at our rehearsals. There is a comfort in that, which
builds up confidence, practices skills as well as pleases the ear,
and means that one can still play your favourite song, or introduce
new ones into the band. |
Download Southend Song List |
Published 27/06/18
|