A BAND based in Bude is preparing to celebrate ten years of ukulele unification with a very special donation.

Next year will mark ten years since six ‘senior’ ladies from Bude got together to form the Bude Ukulele Band, ALL@C.

Over the course of the last ten years, the band has grown exponentially and now comprises nearly forty members with a wide variety of abilities, from novices to near maestros, and with a repertoire of more than two hundred diverse songs ranging from the 1920’s to modern day hits.

The band’s anniversary will, however, also be an amazing landmark, if the hopes of one of its founder members and first band leader Lindsey Sandilands’s hopes are realised.

“Every penny that we raise from our performances is donated to the Air Ambulance,” said Lindsey, “and it has long been my dream that for our tenth anniversary we might succeed in raising the very ambitious sum of £10,000. I am delighted to announce that as we have now raised over £9,000, we are well on course to reach our goal!”

Keeping track of their total is Morwenna who visited rehearsal from the Cornwall Headquarters last week to thank the band for their support over so many years.

All@C are a cheerful and popular choice to play at many local venues. They charge no fee or expenses but, they say, they invite donations as generous as the organisations can afford for the charity which provides such a vital service in this remote area.

They can also be found busking on the Bude bandstand in the summer months. On this tenth anniversary the band hopes to perform for the staff at the Air Ambulance HQ at Newquay Airport and present the balance of their decade’s worth of contributions.