PLAYING the ukulele has a bit of a tradition in Portland and the Council for Encouragement of Music and the Arts wants to keep that alive.

CEMA president Jan Colliver said the organisation discovered that there were a few ukulele players in Portland who would like to get together and play socially with other enthusiasts.

Executive members were keen to help out and when Mrs Colliver went to discuss this with Portland Arts Centre co-ordinator Virginia Winter she was delighted to discover that the latter not only played ‘uke’ but that she and her husband had been involved in running a group in Charlton before moving to Portland and she was happy to help plan some sessions.

Ms Winter, a keen singer, began playing uke in 2012 tutored by James Rigby as part of a flood recovery project in Charlton.

Mrs Colliver, a retired Music and Movement teacher, began playing ukulele as a retirement project in 2019.

She attended classes with Rosie Collins and Jess Cook and some sessions with the Melbourne Ukulele Community before the coronavirus lockdowns.

Since 2020 she has joined weekly Zoom sessions with Melbourne Ukulele Community and recently completed the Cynthia Lin 100 Days project.

Lindy Stuchbery began ukulele lessons with the former Portland Ukulele Group and has really missed the social aspect of group playing over the last couple of years.

She particularly enjoyed opportunities provided by Jess Cook’s lessons where participants played different parts of arrangements; some on melody and others on chords.

Ms Stutchbery organised some sessions through the Portland library in 2021 but felt she needed to find other enthusiasts to run more sessions.

She was happy to join the planning group.

Then there is Ron Colliver who took up U Bass playing during the lockdown period and is a regular volunteer musician in the weekly Singing Strong program at Harbourside Lodge.

Ms Winter, Mrs Colliver and Ms Stutchbery (with the support of CEMA Inc) are planning four ‘Ukulele – Social Strum and Sing Sessions’ on the first and third Mondays of July and August.

They are keen to point out that the sessions will not be lessons, and that they have the names of teachers who are available for private lesson teaching.

Initially the sessions will run for one hour.

In the first half-hour Mrs Colliver will lead some vocal warm ups and lead songs with easy chords and the second half-hour will see some harder chord progressions.

The first two sessions will be held at the Portland Business Hub, Richmond St, (the right-hand side of the McIntyre Arcade) from 5.30pm to 6.30pm on July 4 and 18.

These sessions are for people who can play ukulele and who enjoy singing and playing with others.

Anyone who wants to attend should email president@portlandcema.org.au or call Ms Winter on 5523 2263, Mrs Colliver on 5526 5264 or Ms Stutchbery on 0424 910 760.