“There are things here to shake and rattle…..” Wakeylele at Crofton WMC

1st June, 2022

‘Red, White and Blue was the order of the day at Crofton WMC, Wakefield, for the Darby & Joan Celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebration.

Elsie, resplendent in a red white and blue head scarf was the first to arrive before the rest of the band trickled in. It’s amazing to see what we bring to a performance these days. In the beginning when we were the Gaslighters and Wakelele Beginners we would bring our ukes, music stand and ourselves. Now, Band Curator Marie came with armfuls of Union jack bowler hats and little flags to wave, music stand pendants and even Hawaiian garlands for when we sang Honolulu Baby . There were shakers and rattles to hand out. The Bennetts had the club banner and Margaret’s increasing array of percussion instruments. Dave Burgess struggled in with the band’s sound system and microphones and Mike Sidebottom came bearing a selection of sound effects; whistles and bells.

The ladies of the Derby and Joan Club had put together a splendid home made buffet for the interval including a gorgeous trifle. This was set up at the back of the concert hall. The event was well attended and soon we were ready to go with the crowd waiting in excited anticipation. We launched into the Wakeylele Intro.

We’re Wakeylele, Ukuleles and we invite you to sing along
There are things here to shake and rattle
You can help us with each song

Maureen, the self styled master of ceremonies loudly assured us that she would love to shake something, she always loved to shake something, the bigger the better she said. It was clear that she and the audience were going to have a good time. At the interval Mike S, in the spirit of the occasion, said he was heading for the toilets and would be back in two shakes.

In the First Set, “Blackpool Belle”, with sound effects went down well, as did “Green Door”. After the Interval the “Thursday Group” put on their masks for “Stray Cat Strut”. Once again Maxwell’s Silver Hammer was popular as was a fine solo of “Teenager in Love” by Roy B. At the end, after the “Old Time Medley” there were shouts of “more” from the audience so we finished with “Bring me Sunshine”

 The length of both sets was shortened slightly because of time constraints which meant that some of our excellent soloists, including Beryl with ’57 Chevrolet” and Pippa with “Only You” didn’t get a chance to shine.

The Club contributed £50 and a collection held at the interval raised £80 which meant that apart from a lovely event to celebrate the Queen’s 70 years on the throne, the event raised £130 for Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, filmed by Jenny Sidebottom