In our conversation with Alex Wright, we share about our journey with the Findhorn Ukulele Festival. It started almost accidentally about two years ago when a conversation with a house guest, who was a ukulele player, led to a little jam session with a few people from the Park.

Ken jokingly suggested starting a ukulele group at the Park, put the word out, and 12 people signed up! Eventually, 48 people came to our house to learn to play the ukulele. From that, the Findhorn Ukulele Group was born. We discovered a fantastic free online resource run by Jim Carey, which we use for new material. When Jim got in touch about the festival, we invited him as a honoured guest in appreciation of his generosity.

Initially, we only expected about 25 people for a one-day event but when we put out a request to people to see who would be interested, we received 30 responses within days. We realised we had to go bigger, so we booked the Universal Hall.

It was a great team effort: Ken used his social media skills, connecting with every ukulele group he could find, and Susie sent flyers to all 200 music shops in Scotland. We went from having no “street cred” to attracting performers like Sarah Faren (Ukulele Saz). The ukulele is captivating; it’s intergenerational, fun, and affordable. As Saz said, it’s a “community instrument” with the power to bring people together.

We learned that you need to be courageous and to think big. Our full weekend cost was just £130 per person, which was only possible because of the numbers we attracted. We made sure  everyone was paid well – musicians, sound engineers, photographers etc. The festival brought income to the local community as we used the Phoenix Café for catering and social events and employed community members. Events like this are crucial for our community economy and they attract new people, which is vital for the future of the Community.

Click here to watch the Findhorn Ukulele Festival Concert 2025. For more short snips from the concert and any other video from the 2025 festival please click here. This website also contains the full programme and list of artists for the next festival in June 2026.