Top of the pops: Could this Coledale crew be the next global hit?

A bloke in his early 50s clambers out of a car opposite Coledale RSL on a winter's afternoon. He's carrying a guitar in its case and he's late, but not as late as The Flame, who is right behind him.

Actually, the both of us are bang on time – it's just that the early birds inside are extremely keen to get started and already gathered in a small room behind a curtain off the main dancefloor/bowls area. They have tuned their axes, some with devices fired up to access lyrics and chords, and they are discussing not only what they'll rehearse today but what they will offer the punters at that night's open mic session.

Each man bears an acoustic guitar, except for one with a banjo and another with a mandolin to leaven the mix, and together they form Strum & Schooners, a men's shed of sorts for amateur musicians, with a semi-pro or two thrown in. They strum guitars, they sing, schooners of refreshment are spirited forth during an interval, they chat and, fittingly, form a community in a building that has housed a great community success story.

There are eight members in situ today, and The Flame has been invited to sit in. The mood is relaxed but focused.

As we take a seat, the crew are bolting Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes together with Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams – strange bedfellows that join seamlessly with a layering of harmonies over the three-chord progression.

Squeeze Box by The Who follows, based, like many Strum & Schooners songs, around G major – one of the first chords a guitarist learns – to the extent of becoming a point of humour. As lead singer Scott Lowe muses, in the group's constitution sits a clause that ''if you get lost in a song, go back to G major and we'll catch you up!''

The group's practice of Wilco's California Stars is delayed by a spontaneous suggestion to try out Riders On The Storm, and in no time, several are strumming the Doors' 1971 hit, others falling in to produce a fairly impressive first run-through. The Wilco song finally has its moment (yes, in G major) and sounds all the fonder for surprisingly polished harmonies.

And so it goes. A chap with a white moustache suggests Neil Young's Heart of Gold, which is dissected and fairly treated. A highly satisfying version of Bob Dylan's You Ain't Going Nowhere reminds The Flame of how cathartic and restorative communal singing can be.

Many of the suggestions are classic Baby Boomer fare, although newer pieces (such as a Pete Murray) are given a fair airing.

In time, the singing dries a few throats and some adjourn to the bar, re-appearing with evidence of the second part of the group's name. In the interval, a retired doctor in his early 80s picks out a restrained version of Everybody Hurts by REM. Several are initially inclined to join in but respect that his solo rendition is having its moment.

Scott, a strummer and occasional schooner drinker who has been playing music since the 1980s in various guises, joined Strum & Schooners last year and found his metier in guiding fellow players along with tall mandolin-playing Peter.

In the evening, Strum & Schooners hit the stage for the open mic, and the appreciative audience and volunteer staff are treated to the White Stripes/Eurythmics mash-up and a version of Crawfish in honour of the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. Cary Beucher, a former Woonona High School mate of Scott's who has enlivened many an Illawarra rock band over the decades with his incendiary guitar virtuosity, lays a few lead licks over the Elvis tune, and Scott's 1980s drummer mate Graeme Watchers is enlisted to keep time.

The books are full for Coledale's Strum & Schooners, but Scott expects the model to take off elsewhere if it hasn't already in some guise. He refers to the progress of Tough Guy Book Club, which began in Melbourne in 2012 and has since spread to five other countries.

In the meantime, there'll be sweet strumming coming from behind the blue curtains on Wednesday afternoons at Coledale RSL and a bit later perhaps on the main stage. It sure beats shouting at the pokies.