Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll Numbers 1 to 2

This is my account of my year long weekly stroll with a ukulele down Bottle Alley. It starts with an idea. Well, it starts before that. It starts with the shock of redundancy. I stop doing what I've done for 20 years and I begin to work in the Pier Shop,

I'm the Shop Manager and the sole employee of the Hastings and White Rock Pier Trust. All this summer and autumn I listen to young families asking me where to find seaside fun in Hastings and to older people telling me about when Bottle Alley and The Pier were fine and fun places to be.
Then there's the fire.
So one night I get this idea. I play the ukulele, I'm here every day. I should do what I know to bring a focus back to the seafront here.
I post a simple manifesto on my facebook site to see how it sounds:

Active Simplicity and Repetition; my expression of hope and regret. Every Sunday afternoon at 4 I hope to celebrate and reclaim Bottle Alley from apathy, neglect and piss for an hour. Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll is as repetitive and monotonous as broken glass set in half a mile of concrete. Sometimes it might shine. And if it means nothing else at least we can sing and play music, drink tea and eat cake.

Well, it seems like a good idea, so I make an appointment:

Sunday will be Number 1 in a series of 52 weekly Bottle Alley Ukulele Strolls.
Bottle Alley is half a mile long.
Over the year the Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll will cover 26 miles.
On Sunday those of you taking part will complete the first half mile in a year long Ukulele Marathon.

I shut the shop early. I'm quite nervous now. I have no idea how it will turn out. Lou lou comes to the shop. We have tea trolleys and people dressed up and loud hailers of paper mache. I walk through Bottle Alley wondering what I have done. There are about 30 people. We sing, we stroll, we play ukulele. It's quite chaotic, but, that's what I expected. It's done and it's there. All I need to do is 51 more.

This is my facebook post:


Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll Number 1: The First Half Mile.
Oh it was lovely. Thanks everyone for coming along and joining in and being so patient and singing and pushing tea trolleys.
We will have more fun, more songs and more kazoos and swanee whistles next week. And mulled wine, we need some mulled wine.




Now I just need to organise the next one:

The Second Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll will take place on Sunday 7th November at 4pm. This is the second half mile in a year long 26 mile Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll. This is where we begin to feel the burn!
The Bottle Alley Ukulele Stroll is a weekly event aimed at reclaiming and celebrating this concrete and glass monument to the Hastings and St Leonards Seafront.
Bring Ukuleles, kazoos, swanee whistles, spoons, and any instruments you want. Dress up fancy and I will provide biscuits, cakes and mulled wine.