ARMED only with ukuleles, they went fishing for memories and came back with smiles and even some singing along.

Hendred Ukulele Group lived up to their name when they gave the visitors at Wantage's October Club for Alzheimer's sufferers a massive musical HUG.

The memory-jogging minstrels also donated £200 – raised at recent concerts – which the cash-strapped club can spend on whatever it wants.

Group member Dave Parry, also a Grove parish councillor, said: "It went very well.

"We already do a couple of concerts for Cancer Research UK every year so we wanted to concentrate the other money we had on local deserving charities – we're also giving £200 to the Wantage Day Centre.

"The October Club was having its funding withdrawn, and although they've just had some money (the club received a £2,500 donation from the Maximus Foundation this month for new furniture) it doesn't help with salaries.

"The money we give, albeit relatively small, they can do what they want with it."

The October Club, based in The Cloisters, Wantage, aims to provide a safe and comfortable day centre for people with Alzheimer's and Dementia.

Like many other day centre services in Oxfordshire it was recently threatened with funding cuts from the county council, and asked the public for donations.

Mr Parry said that when the group performed classics on Wednesday from some of the club members' childhoods like Pack All Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag, he was struck by the transformation in some of their faces.

He said: "It's weird that they can't tell you what happened yesterday but they'll know every single word to the songs we play.

"You see them all singing along and you can talk to them afterwards about the music.

"It makes them smile, and that's the most important thing for us – to look out at the audience and see them smiling at the music we're playing."

Hendred Ukulele Group was founded by East Hendred resident Derek Witts in Autumn 2014 to give him something to do in his retirement.

It now has 15 to 20 members, depending on how many turn up, and performs at town events, old folks' homes and day centres around Oxfordshire.

The repertoire ranges from classics like Leaning on a Lamppost and Delilah to songs by Eric Clapton for 'the younger audience'.

Just before Christmas, two years after founding the popular group, Mr Witts passed away.

Group members gave him a fitting send-off by performing at his funeral.