A POSSILPARK man has been keeping the city’s spirits high throughout the coronavirus lockdown after he took The Quarter Gill in Partick’s karaoke nights virtual.

After the pub closed down several weeks ago, weekly DJ and presenter Jason Munro decided he wasn’t going to let this stop his weekly karaoke sessions.

With the help of his niece Bethany Baillie, Couch-aoke was born.

Jason explains:”We had watched others do live streaming and we thought well, this is maybe the ideal opportunity.

“The day the pub closed was my first stream. I started it that very night.”

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Participants join in via Facebook, where they send direct messages of themselves to the pub’s page singing along to the selected song.

Jason added: “Basically what I do is I set up from my living room and get the live stream on Facebook going. Then people log in at what time I say it starts and join in and it goes from there.

“What we get them to do is send in a wee video of them singing into a private message then we just treat it as a normal karaoke night.

“It’s a different way of bringing the local community back together again. There’ll be people that miss the company from the pub so this will be ideal for them.”

Since Couch-aoke was launched, Jason has been running events four times a week and has even included a virtual event just for children.

Jason added: “I do different events with bingo too.

“Wednesday afternoon is for kids’ karaoke and it’s just the nicest thing ever.

“In these scary times it’s nice to be able to put a smile on people’s faces again.”

In the past week, Jason has began raising money for local charities and foodbanks within the city through the bingo and Couch-aoke sessions..

On behalf of The Quarter Gill in Partick, Jason vows to continue his weekly sessions until the lockdown is over.

Those who wish to join in can find details on the pub’s Facebook page.

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