CHRISTMAS
FOREST
UKULELE RETREAT 2024

SPEECH HOUSE, THE ROYAL FOREST OF DEAN

9th - 11th December 2024

TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW!

TWO (AND A BIT!) DAYS OF FESTIVE IMMERSIVE LEARNING!

FDWV Thumbnail Landscape - Winter - Wildlife Wild Boar Forest of Dean.jpg

I've been thinking about a festive edition of the Retreat for some time and this year I thought why not?! Instead of the swallows and sunshine we'll have cosy log fires and crisp winter walks. Who knows - we may even get a visit from Father Christmas himself!

It gives those that missed out on places in the summer retreat a chance to take part and a whole heap new heap of learning and fun for those that want to do both!

We have invited some of the best ukulele teachers from around the world to come and teach you. Lessons will be in small groups so you'll get to soak up heaps of incredible tuition and ask plenty of questions. As well as small group lessons there will be a teacher's concert to inspire you, open mic and a student concert where you'll get to perform in a small group in a supportive and fun atmosphere. All with a magical festive flavour.

A BEAUTIFUL LOCATION IN THE HEART OF THE FOREST

This year we'll be located at Speech House, a beautiful 17th Century Hunting Lodge built for King Charles II. We're right in the heart in the Forest of Dean and will be taking advantage with ukulele walks. Keep an eye our for Rudolph! We might see some of his Roe and Muntjac Deer cousins! You can stay in the lovely rooms on site and you'll be supplied with great festive food right through the event.

TICKETS

CHRISTMAS 2024 TICKETS AVAILABLE SOON

You can purchase from our secure shop HERE.

TICKETS INCLUDE:

SMALL GROUP TUITION WITH ALL OF THE GUEST TUTORS

TEACHER'S CONCERT TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY EVENING

FOREST WALK

SMALL GROUP TUITION AND STUDENT'S CONCERT WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

OPEN MIC

CAROL SINGING

LUNCH AND EVENING 2 COURSE WARM BUFFET TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY

COFFEE & PASTRIES - MORNINGS

Book your rooms here:

Please book your rooms with Speech House if you would like to stay on site:

Tel: 01594 822607

Please see the links further down with recommendations to local B&B's, hotels and campsites.

If staying off site you will need to arrange your own transport to and from the venue. We recommend hiring a car or using the Uber App.

PLEASE NOTE THAT TICKETS
DO NOT INCLUDE ACCOMMODATION OR TRAVEL TO AND FROM THE VENUE

TUTORS

We have invited some of the best ukulele teachers from around the world to come and teach you. Lessons will be in small groups so you'll get to soak up heaps of incredible tuition and ask plenty of questions. As well as small group lessons there will be a teacher's concert to inspire you, and a student concert where you'll get to perform in a small group in a supportive and fun atmosphere.

VICTORIA VOX

Victoria is an award-winning, ukulele-toting, performing songwriter. With a passion for writing songs since she was 10 years old, she went on to graduate with a degree in Songwriting from the Berklee College of Music (Boston). In 2003, she traded in her guitar for the ukulele as her main accompaniment and took the stage name Victoria Vox (Latin for voice). Her acoustic music style shifted to chanson tinged with jazz, which over the years, has settled in nicely with her pop songwriting flair. Since the release of her first ukulele album in 2006 (Victoria Vox and her Jumping Flea), Vox has been one of the leading songwriters on the ukulele scene and three-time cover girl for Ukulele Magazine (USA) and UKE Mag (UK).

She has shared the bill with ukulele greats such as Jake Shimabukuro and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, as well as songwriters Jackson Browne and Jane Wiedlin. Over the years, she continued to evolve and reinvent her sound while incorporating the ukulele. Vox's latest album, Nirvana in REM, is an audio-visual experience of 10 original songs inspired by 20 works of art by visionary artist Fred Stonehouse. "These new songs have an atmospheric quality that is deeply emotional and psychological, as well as hauntingly poetic," says Stonehouse about Vox's music.

WILL GROVE-WHITE

Will is considered a bit of a legend in the uke scene and it is for good reason. He is a ukulele-maker, musician, composer and writer, and performed with the internationally-renowned Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain for 31 years. These days he makes hand-made ukuleles, write and performs his own music and composes tunes for film and TV. He has an eccentric singing style, which has variously been described as: "Worth traveling a thousand miles to hear" (The Independent), "Mind-bendingly brilliant" (BBC Radio 2) and
"Suitably insane-sounding" (New York Times). His production music, for music libraries such as Universal and Warner/Chappell, has been used on shows such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag, Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Netflix's Money Heist and Lan-y David's Curb Your Enthusiasm. Will started playing and singing in the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in 1989, when he was 16. Eighteen albums and five DVDs later he'd toured the world, notably playing sell-out concerts at the BBC Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall, New York City's Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall and the North Pole.

SAMANTHA MUIR

Sam is our resident tutor at The Forest Retreat and a wonderful teacher and performer she is. Sam is an Associate of the Royal College of Music, London and a recipient of the Madeline Walton Guitar Prize. She is the first person in the world to do a PhD on the ukulele (University of SmTey, Guildford, UK), the title of which is New Works for Classical Ukulele. A leading exponent of the classical ukulele style.

Sam has performed and presented workshops at
ukulele festivals in the UK, EU and Australia. She has given lectures and presentations on classical ukulele at the International Guitar Research Centre (University of SmTey), the Guitar Foundation of America, 21st Century Guitar conference, Dublin Guitar Symposium and the European Guitar Teachers Association. Her compositions and ainngements are published by Schott and Les Productions d'Oz.

As well as playing guitar and ukulele Sam also plays the machete de Braga and the rajao - the forerunners of the ukulele from the Portuguese island of Madeira. Her ground breaking research into the machete was published by Revista Portuguesa de Educa'<ao Artistica, Volume 11, No.2.2021, (pub. Dec. 2022). Sam is a member of the Cambridge Consortium for Guitar Research at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.