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I was interviewed on the local radio station, BBC Radio Stoke, about my latest YouTube video “(Is This The Way To) Abbey Hulton)” and about busking around Stafford town centre.

The presenter, Lee Blakeman, asked me about the reason for doing the busking and I mentioned that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer five years ago, underwent radiotherapy treatment at Royal Stoke University Hospital which was successful and I have recently been discharged. My busking venture is to raise funds for the cancer centres at Royal Stoke University Hospital and County Hospital Stafford. I explained to the listeners that together with some fellow ukulele players we are performing at various ventures in Stafford during December and asked people for they saw us to make a donation to this worthwhile cause.

With regard to my latest video “(Is This The Way To) Abbey Hulton” I let the listeners know that it was available top view on YouTube and that it featured scenes of many landmarks in the Stoke-on-Trent area. At end of the interview Lee played an audio clip of the song.

If you would like to listen to the interview, please click on the link below: –

I’ve just uploaded my latest video on to YouTube. It’s entitled “(Is This The Way To) Abbey Hulton” in which I’m searching Stoke-on-Trent to find the way to Abbey Hulton. I visit each of the six towns in the city. and go past several of the local landmarks. The lyrics of the song include many Stokie references.

In the weekends before Christmas, I’m going to be busking around Stafford town centre in order to raise money for the Cancer Centres at University Hospitals of the North Midlands (UHNM) Royal Stoke Hospital and County Hospital Stafford.

At the moment I’m in the process of contacting local supermarkets and the local hotel to ask their permission to perform at a variety of venues. Hopefully I’ll be able to arrange some two hours sessions on the Fridays and Saturdays in late November and into December. When I’ve made the arrangements I’ll be inviting fellow members of the ukulele group to join me on this venture.

Whilst we are performing Christmas songs I’ll have a collection bucket from the UHNM Charity department so that people can make a donation if they so wish. In addition to this being a fun activity, we’ll also be raising money for a very worthwhile cause

All About Uke performed a gig at The Tuesday Mixer Club in Stafford yesterday. Here’s a short video of the song “Da Doo Ron Ron”. There’s a view of myself on the stage playing the bass ukulele and also a view of the audience.

Whilst filming my next music video in Stoke-on-Trent, I visited Burslem to see the statue to Lemmy.

Ian Fraser Kilmister, who is better known as Lemmy, was the founder, lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the metal band Motorhead. He was born on 24th December 1945 in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

A 2.25m bronze-cast statue of Lemmy is on a plinth in Market Place, Burslem. It commemorates 10 years since the rocker’s death and 50 years since the band was formed. I noticed that many fans had left their tributes at the door of the statue especially many now empty bottles of Jack Daniels.

Here’s an amusing tale that happened to me earlier this month: –

We were in London where we had just enjoyed having a meal at a very nice restaurant in Islington. As we were leaving, the man at the next table leaned across and said, “Excuse me, but aren’t you somebody famous?”.

I explained how my nickname is Plinky Plonky Pete and as a hobby I write parody songs about my hometown of Stoke-on-Trent. A lady at the table said that she followed me on YouTube and enjoyed seeing my videos. The man took out his mobile phone on which he found one of videos. We all had a laugh and chatted for a few minutes before we left the restaurant.

This encounter absolutely made my day – it’s one thing to be spotted in your hometown but to be recognised whilst in London was incredible.

Last night I joined the “All About Uke” ukulele group to play a gig at a wedding as the evening entertainment. The venue was Shallowford House which is set in the countryside near Stafford.

It was a most enjoyable evening with an interesting set list of a wide variety of songs. For example, there was a number of songs on the theme of love and romance, however the wedding party had specifically requested some songs which contained audience participation. So our set list ended with “The Birdie Song”, “Agadoo”, the “Hokey Cokey” and “YMCA”. The dance floor was full of wedding guests dancing away and joining in with the actions enthusiastically, so much so that we had to do a couple of encores on “The Birdie Song”. It was great fun and certainly a night to remember.

I joined Tony, Malcolm and Kate today for a gig at Stafford Rugby Club. It was a luncheon organised by the Stafford Knot Rotary Club for local pensioners. We performed a selection of songs for about an hour to about seventy local pensioners.

Uke Aid raised £373.54p for the Cancer Centres at the Royal Stoke Hospital (Stoke-on-Trent) and the County Hospital (Stafford). 

I organised a Ukulele Jam & Social Evening which was held on Thursday 27^th March in Stafford. People from various parts of Staffordshire and Derbyshire were able to attend. It was a most enjoyable evening of playing and singing a variety of songs together. The event was also live streamed on my YouTube channel.

Donations can still be made online at www.justgiving.com/page/ukulelejam 

With two friends, Tony and Malcolm from the ukulele group, we performed a gig one afternoon last week at The Swan Hotel, Stafford. We sang a variety of songs for about 35 to 40 minutes to raise money for mind, the mental health charity. Many thanks to all those who generously contributed to this worthwhile cause.

After we’d finished our gig we got a request to go and sing some Beatles’ songs in the bar. So off we went with our ukuleles and the collecting bucket.

It was an enjoyable time and one which we might well do again.