Ukulele group attempt 30-hour charity gig in tower

The group, aged 19 to 79, will play in stints over 30 hours at God's House Tower in Southampton

A music group will play ukuleles for 30 hours in a city's former 13th Century gatehouse to raise money for four local charities.

Southampton Ukulele Jam hope to play continuously with a minimum of 10 musicians performing together throughout the feat in stints at Southampton's God's House Tower, near Town Quay.

The group, aged 19 to 79, are using a song book of around 160 songs arranged for the ukulele, from David Bowie to The Clash, The Beach Boys and Katy Perry to Jimmy Eat World.

The attempt, dubbed The Uke-athon, is due to start at 10:00 BST with music played until 16:00 on Sunday, with money raised going to Society of St James, Mountbatten Hampshire, No Limits and Yellow Door.

The group said its mission was "to make the world a tiny bit better by playing good songs, moderately well, on tiny instruments.. .for a very long time".

"It's going to take a lot of enthusiasm, determination and possibly a significant amount of coffee," it said.

The feat is free to attend in person or can be watched online via the group's livestream.

Mountbatten CEO, Nigel Hartley said: "Good luck to this amazing bunch of entertaining musicians on their attempt.

"We are so very grateful Southampton Ukulele Jam has chosen Mountbatten Hampshire among charities to support."

The group hope to raise £4,000 from the performance.

God's House Tower, an arts and heritage venue, is one of the oldest standing parts of Southampton's city walls.