Wigan Ukulele Club celebrated its 15th birthday this Wednesday. Founded by Stephen Corless in 2009, the club is one of the longest-established ukulele clubs in the country. The first meeting was held at the Railway Hotel Pemberton on July 1st.
Stephen’s advert in local press and on radio drew 14 people to the first monthly meeting. As interest grew, meetings became twice monthly, then weekly. With an increase in members, the club moved to larger premises and met at the Crooke Hall Inn for several years.
Wigan Council provided two grants, funding a laptop, projector, printer, and later some PA equipment. By then, the club had a performance band playing at church halls and other small venues. In 2012, the club was invited by the committee of Wigan’s twin town, Angers in France, to play at their festival. A trip to Ireland followed to perform at the Ukulele Hooley festival at Dun Laoghaire near Dublin in 2013. They made a second visit to Angers in early 2014 and performed at larger venues such as the two-day Southport Steam rally at Leisure Lakes, Mere Brow, and the Fylde Vintage & Farm Show.
Stephen stepped down as chairman in 2014 and was appointed Honorary President. Paul Roberts became the new chairman. Membership had grown to over 100, too many for the room at Crooke, so the club began meeting on two nights: half the members on Wednesday evenings and the others on Tuesday nights. Joint meetings were held quarterly at the Ravine at Pemberton. Eventually, a separate ukulele club, Phoenix Ukulele, formed from the bulk of the Tuesday night members, while Wigan Ukulele Club continued to meet on Wednesday evenings. In 2015, they held a Ukulele Festival at Crooke with performances by The Mersey Belles, Phil Doleman, and Wigan’s own Chonkinfeckle, AD Cook, and Ric McCormick, along with Michael Adcock and Rob Collins.
In addition to their performance band, Paul Roberts formed a Ukes in Schools group that visits area schools to encourage children learning the ukulele. This group continues to play at schools throughout the region.
Paul Swift became chairman in 2015, and the club moved to its present home at Wigan Sports Club. They still meet there on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 to 10:00 pm.
In August 2015, they performed on all four days of the Southport Flower Show and have continued to play there each year on an ever-larger stage.
In September 2016, they invited members and friends from other local uke clubs to join them for a weekend in Llandudno. Over 100 people attended, filling an entire hotel, and they performed on the promenade and the Great Orme, raising money for the Llandudno Lifeboat. They have since returned to Llandudno for three more weekends.
Over the years, the club has recorded five CDs, four of which are still sold at gigs and online. Production costs are met by club funds, and all proceeds from CD sales go to their charity fund.
The club is proud of its fundraising activities. The generosity of those who watch and listen to their performances enables them to support many charities, raising around £13,000 annually. Their main charity beneficiary is Wigan & Leigh Hospice, but they also support the Air Ambulance, Rosemere Cancer, Rainbow Hub, Llandudno RNLI, Southport Lifeboat, Derian House, Macmillan, and other national and local causes. Wigan Asda has been very supportive, allowing the club to play in their foyer each Christmas to collect for the Hospice. Last year, the club played a 12-hour Ukulele Marathon at Asda, raising £2,000 for Children In Need. They plan to repeat the 12-hour strum for Children In Need this November.
