HarmonicaUK
HarmonicaUK (formerly the National Harmonica League) is a UK-based organisation for harmonica players and enthusiasts of all styles of harmonica – chromatic, diatonic, tremolo, chord, bass – and music – traditional, blues, popular, jazz and classical. It has been active since 1935. HarmonicaUK is a registered Charity (England & Wales), and its current President is Paul Jones. Previous Presidents include Larry Adler and Ronald Chesney. The current Chair is Pete Hewitt. Previous Chairs include Ben Hewlett, Roger Trobridge, Colin Mort and John Walton. The Charity changed its name to HarmonicaUK at the AGM in Nov 2020. HarmonicaUK is based in Great Britain , but has members and contributors from around the world, and membership is open to anyone. It welcomes players of all levels, including beginners, and it can help with questions about getting started or improving your playing ability. It organises festivals, events and tuition meetings. The main annual National Harmonica League festival was held in October until October 2018, in The Bristol Folk House. The 2019 Festival was in Gloucester, 16-18 August. It includes workshops, concerts and a harmonica contest which has been won by many players who went on to play professionally, including Philip Achille. The Saturday Evening Festival  Concert features top artists from around the world – including Joe Filisko, Brendan Power, Willi Berger, Greg Zlap, Lee Oskar, Will Galison, and Donald Black. Other festivals are held throughout the year. All Festivals since 2020 have been held online because of social distancing requirements. The Virtual Chromatic Weekend was held in June 2020 and 2021. The AGM, competition and Annual Festival were held in Oct 2020 and 2021. The virtual festivals enabled us to bring top artists from around the world to perform for our members and the wider public on a voluntary donation basis where proceeds went to the  artists. As experience with conferencing software like Zoom spread to most of our members, other online events such as the weekly free "Lockdown" tuition sessions and weekly "Friday Coffee Morning" where members meet socially and chat. HarmonicaUK publishes a members' magazine, "Harmonica World", six times a year. The magazine is in A5 format, and contains articles covering tuition, harmonica history, artists, members' experiences and technical reviews and news of events, recordings and new products.