Children's Ukulele Festival

Our first children's uke fest 

Our first Children's Ukulele Festival took place on 2nd Feb - and what a wonderful day it was!

Around 90 young uke players aged between six and nine from seven Norfolk schools came to The Garage in Norwich to celebrate World Play Your Ukulele Day with workshops, sharings and a performance by The Banana Ukulele Band.

The schools which took part were Avenue Junior, Little Melton Primary, Mulbarton Infant, Mulbarton Junior, Newton Flotman Primary, West Earlham Infant and Recreation Road Infant. 

The children are all learning ukulele in school, either as a whole class or in our lunchtime and after school clubs. The aim of the day was to inspire, motivate and celebrate their achievements.

They attended workshops with tutors Gemma Cullingford, Ian Brownlie, Alan Southgate, Kim Moore and Rachael Morrison. Some of the teachers and support staff learned how to play ukulele in 45 minutes with Clara Wiseman.

Students from Little Melton Primary and Mulbarton Junior worked towards their Arts Award Discover.

The festival was produced by ILOVEUKE, hosted by The Garage and funded by Youth Music.

​Thank you to The Garage team, the schools and, most of all, the young uke players for taking part. It was a really special day, and we very much hope to do it again next year!

Photos © Teele Killing 

Workshops 

The children were split into three groups for workshops. Gemma's group created a film soundtrack, Ian's group composed a soundscape for a story and Kim's group prepared a fun performance of choreographed songs. 

Sharing

After our workshops we met in theatre to share what we'd learned.

There were also smaller group performances from Avenues Junior and Newton Flotman Primary and ​Ian led a song called Ukulele Lady which we all played together - about 100 of us all together!

The Banana Ukulele Band

After lunch we were treated to a brilliant performance from The Banana Ukulele Band. They were really fun and after the show they came back for a Q & A session so we could find out about professional musicians and their work.

We were featured on Mustard TV and in the Evening News and EDP 

Mustard TV article

Video from the EDP - full article here

Gemma's video

Gemma made a video montage to remember our amazing fun-filled day!

Feedback from schools

"Our children were alight with joy about the event. They loved every second and have been totally inspired."
Mrs Wood, West Earlham Infant School

"It was an inspiring and hugely fun day. Parents and children have approached me to say how great it was. Huge thank you to everyone."
Mr Johns, Newton Flotman Primary School

"Fantastic event! The children had a brilliant time and haven't stopped talking about it."
Mrs Longcroft, Mulbarton Infant School

"It was excellent. Children were buzzing afterwards. Thank you!"
Mr Pritchard, Little Melton Primary School

"There was a really lovely atmosphere throughout the day - inclusive and friendly and excited! The Garage was a great venue and it was so nice to give the children an opportunity to perform on a real stage!"
Parent volunteer, Recreation Road Infant School