Budding and blooming Longford ukulele players perform live at Rose Cottage, Ballinalee

An intergenerational musical evening hosted in Ballinalee has given a number of young musicians a taste of live performance.

The Music Generation Longford concert in Rose Cottage was a blend of budding and blooming ukulele players.

Resource Worker with Music Generation Longford, Rachel Berry, explained the background to the event: “The Music Generation Longford Ballinalee Intergenerational Ukulele Collective started eight weeks ago.

“This all-ages group has members from age six to eighty-four, some of whom have been involved in our ukulele programme since September, and some who have never held a ukulele before.”

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Over the eight weeks Music Generation Longford worked with participants learning chords and songs for the performance:

“When Rose Cottage Café opened, we thought it would be an amazing opportunity for our community ukulele group to perform in this new community café,” Rachel said.

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The location was perfect for the first outing: “The staff at Rose Cottage were so accommodating and couldn’t have done more for us. A special thanks also to local Ukulele Group The Sneaky Tequilas who performed with us.

“Ukulele is a fun, community instrument and it’s been amazing to watch how each person has progressed to performing songs, and making friends along the way. It’s been a lot of fun and everyone should be so proud of themselves,” the Music Generation Longford Resource Worker said.

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This is not the end of the initiative: “We will be opening registration to continue the Ballinalee Intergenerational Ukulele Collective in September and we’re welcoming new members to join. If anyone wants information please email musicgenerationlongford@lwetb.ie,” Rachel told the Leader.

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Music Generation Longford is managed by Longford Local Music Education Partnership, led by Longford and Westmeath Education and Training Board in partnership with Longford County Council.

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