Pan in a Pandemic… UFO Surviving and Thriving During Lockdown

We were all aware of the growing pandemic but because one of our players was from Hong Kong, we were getting realistic updates… Hong Kong was already in lockdown, everyone was wearing masks… there were even robberies for toilet rolls!   It was soon the same story in London…   UFO realised that if we […]

UFO’s 2019 project – onwards and upwards on the road!

            UFO had a fab summer to spring season taking us from July 2019 to April 2020. Thanks to Arts Council of England we were able to create new arrangements, rehearse a new set ready to perform, include new people and new ideas, try out new methodology, support our mixed ability […]

READ OUR ANNUAL REPORT 2018!

 FOX CARNIVAL / UFO STEELBAND        2018 REPORT   It wasn’t until we were well into 2018 that we realised the lasting benefits of our 2017 funding from the Arts Council of England: In the resulting project we had mixed music with art and collaborated with another steelband… as a result we were now better players, […]

Fiona and Mike speak at the 7th International Biennial Steelpan Conference

       In October 2018, Fiona and Mike were invited to speak at The 7th International Biennial Steelpan Conference, held at the Tabernacle London W11.   Their  talk was entitled: “The Blind Leading The Blind – Making ‘Difference’ Work in UFO Steelband”          Below you can read the “Abstract” they wrote for […]

UFO preparing for and taking part in Notting Hill Carnival 2018!

This blog is bout UFO Steelband taking our summer project to Notting Hill Carnival 2018.   Thanks to Westway Trust we ran a mini Festival in North Kensington, London, and worked with children and families. The aim was to bring art and music out into the community… we ran steel pan music workshops, and community art […]

VIP 2018 Update… UFO becomes a fully inclusive steelband!

               If you read our other blog on this link it tells the story of how UFO developed a visually impaired section. We initially named the section the ‘UFO Pilots’… but that name fell away when another naturally took over and stuck. Michael wears a ‘Visually Impaired Person’ badge out in […]