By Helen Fay
The Man About Town Music Group is set to bring some classic tunes to two West Leeds festivals in September.
The group will be playing at New Wortley Festival this Saturday (6 September) and at Armley Festival on the following Saturday (13 September).
The New Wortley Festival will take place at Oak Road Recreational Ground in Armley – known locally as ‘Jailey Fields’. The festival runs from 12pm-3pm and the group will be playing from 2pm.
Photo by Jonny Grimes
The music group holds practice sessions every Wednesday morning at the James McKenna Community Hub in Redshaw Road, Armley. They have been meeting there since early July after approaching rugby stalwart Sam Horner and fellow trustees of West Leeds ARLFC, when the group had to leave their previous base.
Man About Town is a men’s mental health project and has been running for just over five years.
The project also runs a Sunday morning walking group.
During one of the Sunday walks that took place during Covid, one participant said he could teach other members to play ukulele. The challenge was duly accepted and a weekly ukulele group was born, meeting outside at an allotment in Woodhouse.
Photo by Jonny Grimes
Four years on and the group has grown and diversified with members playing guitars, ukuleles, percussion and keyboard. Some of the members started from scratch, having never picked a musical instrument up before to becoming increasingly proficient at playing music.
The group has grown in confidence and has played a number of gigs including Unity Day, the Cloth Cat open mic, the communication café at New Wortley Community Centre, Armley Helping Hands Beach Party, Armley Festival and a charity fundraiser at Holy Trinity Church in Ripon.
To find out further information about the music group and the walking group, contact Jonathan Parker by e-mail at info@creativeframe.org.uk. There is also a Facebook page that lists upcoming events.
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