A UKULELE group which normally meets at Burneside every Monday evening has found a new way of keeping playing together.

The Bryce Street Strummers – they meet at the Bryce Institute – have been going for several years, and apart from rehearsing on Mondays, are regularly asked to play at events and care homes.

But rather than let the lockdown end their weekly rehearsals, the group turned to an online platform to keep going.

One of the members is Phil Hopley, of Barrow, who joined the group in 2017.

He said: “We have a Facebook page and somebody had mentioned trying to have a virtual strum. Someone else said they believed Zoom was the way to go.

“I am a retired software engineer so it seemed to make sense for me to have a look. It was hastily arranged and I think we had 10 people on the first night.”

Normally the group has up to 30 people attending on Monday nights, and the online Zoom sessions have proved almost as popular, with up to 23 people joining in.

“It is not quite the same,” said Phil. “When we are at The Bryce on a Monday somebody picks a song from one of the books and everyone plays together.

“Because everyone is in different places with different internet speeds, I mute everyone else, and we all play along to the person who chose the song. At the end I open it up and everyone says what they think. You can hear the person leading the song and hear yourself at home.”

The Ukulele Showband section have had to cancel all their performances, although the South Lakeland Folk Festival has carried forward the performance bookings to next year.

In the meantime, the Monday online sessions are enabling members to keep in contact and playing together.

“You still see the familiar faces which is what people enjoy. Because people are on laptops or PCs you can see everybody,” said Phil.

“Normally on a Monday night we meet from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. The way we are using Zoom, it is free for 40 minutes, so we do a 40 minute session, have a five minute tea break, then start another 40 minute session.”

He added: “I live in Barrow, but if people are in rural areas, in Sedbergh and places like that, they are probably feeling a bit more cut off.

"Since the lockdown we have a second private Facebook page where people are uploading videos of their own performances for all the other group members to see.

“The first night I went there I was made so welcome by the people that I wanted to carry on going.”