“The longest jam a jam has ever jammed.”
Southampton Ukulele Jam (SUJ), the hardest working ukulele jam in Southampton, are planning to set a UK record for the longest jam in the UK “The Uke-athon: Longest Marathon Ukulele Jam (UK)”
With a history of taking every chance to think up and deliver crazy ideas, including making its own documentary, recording in a professional studio and doing a TED Talk, SUJ are at it again.
Starting at 10:00 on Saturday the 9th of August 2025 in the historic and beautiful God’s House Tower ‘the jam’ plan to try to play for more than 24hrs, continuously.
In Common is teaming up with SUJ as Official Media Partner for the attempt.
The uke-athon has four main aims:
- To raise money for Southampton charities supporting young people, people made vulnerable by domestic abuse and homelessness, and people requiring palliative care.
- To shine a light on all that is fantastic about Southampton. Its people, its generosity, it’s fun, its communities, its local businesses.
- To reaffirm Southampton’s place at the centre of the Ukulele Universe.
- To continue SUJ’s mission to “make the world a tiny bit better by playing good songs, moderately well on tiny instruments (for a looooooooooooong time)”.
One of SUJ’s founder members, Colin McUke, said: “We first got the idea for this after we broke our own PB at this year’s Southampton Marathon, playing for 4hrs 13mins and 50secs. We wondered how long we could actually play for. Well………. We’re going to find out!”
After consulting with Guinness World Records and realising their rules didn’t match the ethos of the jam, SUJ decided to go their own way.
They hope to set a challenge, and benchmark, for other jams in the UK so have developed a set of transferable ‘rules’ that focus on working as a collective, allowing people to participate as much or as little as they want or can.
Fuelled only by an endless supply of enthusiasm, determination to raise as much money as possible for local charities, and maybe a little bit of coffee and cake … can they do it?
You can watch the event – or some of it – in person at God’s House Tower, where there will also be an exhibition about SUJ, or ‘livestream’ to see if the jam can stay awake and tuneful in the wee small hours of the night.
SUJ is keen to raise as much money for charity as possible so are asking local businesses to sponsor the event, either in kind, with money, or both, in return for a big plug on the live stream and social media.
Contact SUJ via sotonukejam@gmail.com or their ‘Contact Us Page’. southamptonukulelejam.co.uk/home/contact-us/
With opportunities to sponsor the jam, make a donation or even play, there will be loads of ways to support this ridiculous idea.
Follow SUJ on Facebook for updates and more on how you can get involved.
All proceeds will be shared between No Limits (Southampton), Yellow Door, The Society of St James and Mountbatten Hospice.
Meeting every fortnight at The 1865, Southampton Ukulele Jam is free and open to anyone. Additionally, the jam plays at events most weekends, raising money for charity and supporting community initiatives. They tend to steer away from traditional ukulele music, preferring instead tunes ranging from The Ramones to Lady Gaga delivered with a chaotic sense of fun that “emphasises enthusiasm over ability”.
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