WOW … JUST WOW!!!
Every year we say that our annual Ukulele Day is the best one yet. How are we going to beat that? But every year we do!
Ukulele Day 2025 was held on Friday 24th October and this year it was Fulham Gardens turn to host the event. It was the 5th time that the event has been held and everyone agreed that it was an amazing day and that it was the best one yet!
Our Uke Day, has evolved into a full-day ukulele festival in which Mr. Whitehead’s Year 5 and 6 classes, come together with Year 5 and 6 classes from Marion Primary, to perform.
We sang and played the national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, with Auslan signing by students from both schools. The sound of almost 100 ukuleles was awesome and gave us an idea of what was to follow.
We then all joined in a jam-a-long session with the Uke Day All-Star Band consisting of Andy, Dawn and Jacky, joined by Mr Starling from Marion, who played bass. This was followed by songs which were led by students from each of the four classes.
Ben Roberts, who played a uke like we’ve never heard before was truly inspirational. Ben presented some awesome original instrumental tunes and demonstrated how to use the uke to make percussion sounds. He also told us how music and playing the ukulele can benefit us because it is a feel-good instrument which makes us happy and helps with our well-being. When Ben performed Folsom Prison Blues, we were invited to join in which was great fun.
After lunch we played a song called On the Beach at Waikiki together before Andy from the band showed us ways to make the song more exciting. A highlight of the workshop was Mrs. Nicole demonstrating hula dancing. She then chose Mr. Philbrook and Mr. Starling to join in. We all agreed that they were both very good hula dancers and looked fabulous in their Hawaiian grass skirts, leis and floral headbands.
To complete our day together we sang and played some lively songs finishing off with Sweet Caroline which almost lifted the roof off the PAC!
Our Uke Day was a true celebration of the ukulele and of the joy that this little instrument gives us when we can play together and make new friends.