Making Days gets jamming with the Strumbrellas

Here at PSS Wellbeing Centres we share our plot of land at the Dutch Barn with the lovely Making Days, a day centre for adults with learning disabilities also ran by PSS.

Recently we have been looking for more ways to collaborate with Making Days, making the most of two great services to teach and inspire one another.

Our plucky ukulele group the Strumbrellas did just this when they taught Making Days how to strum and invited them to sing along with their favourite songs.

Here Pete Ryan shared how their first week went.

Week 1 at the Dutch Barn

So we're off to a flying start with the first session of Making Days and the Strumbrellas coming together as a group to sing and play some favourite songs. We are having four sessions leading up to CultureFest on 6th August, where Making Days and the Strumbrellas will perform some popular tunes.

The group got down to business, kicking off with a popular Beatles tune, Octopus's Garden. Everyone sang along, and the group played ukuleles, tambourines, cowbells, whistles, and drums. Everyone got to have a go at strumming ukuleles and in no time at all, the group got into the groove. We were singing and playing song after song. One favourite was the theme tune to Only Fools and Horses. We had several requests for this tune and played and sang it quite a few times, trying to get a hang of the chords. It's fair to say it's become a firm favourite. At our next session, we will start rehearsing the songs the group has chosen to perform at CultureFest.

Pete Ryan