Thank-you Neil - shaper and builder of communities

It's crazy. The last time I posted in this virtual place was for a sort of obituary - three years ago. I don't want it to be that way, but much time and a pandemic has passed since I first established ukestras in the Hunter Valley in late 2009, and there has been much much baton passing, generational change and, as one should reasonably expect, passings on/away/over. A spade is a spade. Except when we talk about death.

Of course one never wants the circumstance nor the obligation to write a vale / obituary (for want of better words). But it is important to mark significant mileposts, and to reflect on the privilege of having known these folk, a shared history, and the significant place such people have had in one's life. Not that I want to diminish the importance of our current community, but thankfully ukestrans keep renewing, and dare I say, seem to be getting younger. (Although perhaps it is now I that am older).

Neil - one of the first

Neil Weaver was a stalwart of the foundational history of our ukestras.  Many ukestrans now would not know of Neil. The exception is, of course, current ukestran, Tonia - his daughter. Her continued presence in our lives is testament to the quite literally inter-generational nature of our music-making, and (presumably) of the fine role-modelling of her parents. 

The people who were my first students were also the people who shaped this peculiarly Novocastrian culture and community into what it is today - a community whose key attributes are welcoming and inclusive. At least we like to think so.

Neil was key amongst those folk who discovered the joys of creating community through the ukulele, and then were keen to proseltyse for it, and nurture newcomers. He was the biggest, gentlest crooner and ukulele player, an ox of the determined community-minded variety. He was invincible, until he was not. 

Neil came along to ukestra with his life love Margaret in early 2010. But he also came to uke with prior musical skills, having been a long time drumming leader for his local bagpipe band. We were privileged that this inseparable pair, pillars of their community, came to lend their strength and welcomingness to a new musical community.

Innately they ‘got it’. They saw through the facade of music, mayhem and fun (of which they became a part), and knew that they were also a part of something bigger. They knew that, for it to work well, someone had to do the work. That someone was them as they were among the first to step up. From Tuesday nights, to Tuesday afternoons, to Wednesday mornings with Danielle, Neil and Margaret were reliable friendly fixtures at a variety of ukestras for many years.

In 2011 they were a part of a small mob that were the first Australian community group to perform at the Hawai'i Ukulele Festival. In 2012, their willingness to help, and their love of community music meant that Neil and Margaret were there at the inception of the Newkulele Festival, and then in the hard work necessary to get such an event off the ground. Neil’s SES and electrician experience saw him fill an important planning, logistical and ladder climbing role as a key volunteer. Together we built one of Australia's premier ukulele festivals.

Neil, big and reliable in the back row. Margaret, short and smiley in the front row.
The Ukastle Ukestra at the 2011 Hawai'i Ukulele Festival.

Side by Siders

Neil and Margaret's diverse skills, and a commitment to working for the community after their ‘retirement’, meant much to the evolution of the broader Novocastrian ukulele community. Whilst honing their collective community music skills, Neil and Margaret gathered together a bunch of ukestrans to head out and play in nursing homes and retiree/service clubs (Probus and the like). And so the Side by Siders were born, the first offshoot of our ukestras. 

Sadly the Side by Siders never survived much past Margaret’s passing, although offshoots of offshoots have continued to evolve. Neil and Margaret’s commitment to the happy marriage of ‘music’ in the service of ‘community’ was testament to their broader sense of obligation to community service. 

In a way this musical hobby seemed a natural extension of their commitment to the local State Emergency Service, the volunteers who are always there in dangerous times. One can easily imagine that Neil, the electrician, would have provided essential skills and knowledge to the chaotic environments wrought by natural disasters. 

Finely honed skills are all very well and good in the fabric of community, but without the intent of good, there is no such thing as the fabric of society. The way that Neil weaved his life, and the way that he did whatever it took to get things done, that is what makes a community.

Of course he is missed, but his legacy and good work endure.