Report by Phil Bar photos and Videos Jane Barr, Joe Fisher

The Ridings Return         27th March, 2026

 Late March, the early morning rain having cleared and the final part of a mini -tour of the district for some in the band, who have hardly had time to recover from the ensuing all night parties, following successful gigs at Ossett and Wakefield, especially having consumed dodgy substances such as dandelion and burdock and rum flavoured ice cream.

  Today, Wakeylele arrived in force armed with new gig material to breathe fresh spring air into a venue that is in need of a bit of TLC.

   Leading us fearlessly into action was Mike Carr, whom I contacted for advice very recently about the intro to (aptly), Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow. I then signed off as Worried from Walton and Mike replied in positive and reassuring fashion, referring to himself as Optimistic from Ossett. And so, he remained true to his word as, along with plenty of trusted favourites he grabbed the bull by the horns and gave debuts to: Ob – La – Di, Ob- La – Da, Glass of Champagne, Human,

Beautiful Sunday, City of New Orleans 

 in addition to the aforementioned Fleetwood Mac number. Not surprisingly, amongst this lengthy list, there were one or two stuttering starts, but the main body of every song was pretty much on the mark.

  To ease us and the spectators into the first set, Mike sensibly began with several well- honed songs, all of which saw the band on top form to the extent the interval arrived in the blink of an eye, concluding with the first of the newbies,  the easy listening Ob – La -Di, which you may remember was a top ten hit for both the Beatles and Marmalade. 

A half-hour break gave time for taking in what we had seen around us so far. For instance, not only did Magz comment that several people had been posting fivers into the adjacent YAA bucket, but even before the show had started Joe had presented Donna, one of the volunteer staff with a cheque for £250, rounding up the amount we made from the gig at Whitakers.

   Meanwhile, the Ridings was getting busier and we had already seen people of all ages coming and going, very young and quite old, some looking full of the joys of spring, others a bit world weary, (not surprising given the present turmoil – I understand that shares in Shanks Pony Ltd are doing well). One senior lady, trim in figure and dressed smartly, whose white stick obviously indicated that her sight was impaired, made her way carefully to a chair and stayed to clearly enjoy the first half offering whilst a much younger couple were seen on two occasions, he with long black hair, sporting a moustache and a beret, reminding me a lot of the prints of Che Guevara you see on t- shirts; maybe he’s got plans to revolutionise Wakefield.

   Back to the action, that is once Mike S had returned from his extended coffee break – (hence two versions of a team photo, reminding me of the U2 hit With Or Without You), and three consecutive debut numbers starting with Glass of Champagne, a potential banana skin, but, as the saying goes, (striving to keep up with the times) we smashed it and there were a few clenched fists accompanying ‘Yes’s’ at its breathless conclusion. Riding on the crest of this wave, and aided greatly by Mike’s skilful solo uke intro and outro, there was another welcome success with Human. Then, after Beautiful Sunday, there followed mainly a string of well – seasoned numbers which went down a treat, ending with the always successful Wagon Wheel – I just love the sound of all those places in America, even though, and perhaps partly because I’ve never been there, before the hit by Mike’s musical hero completed a swashbuckling session.

  Plaudits go to Mike for the daring line -up – if you like a challenge, sign up now for his next gig, to Joe for arriving early as usual to set up and dismantle the equipment, to Roy for seeing to the banners, to Jane and Joe for the videos and to Richard for continuing to update the best uke group website for miles around. 

  Unless things change, with the gig at the White Rose cancelled, there is a welcome break for us to just enjoy a variety of music until the next scheduled gig back at the Ridings on Saturday, 25th April at10:30 for 11a.m.

For those looking for some respite from the intensity of a performance, Mel is hosting a chilled evening with an interesting line- up of songs at Walton Club later on the same day, with a 7p.m. start