Easington Colliery carried on its good run of recent contesting form by taking first prize at the Wansbeck Entertainment Contest held in Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the weekend.

Award

Under the baton of MD Chris Bentham they delighted the audience as well as adjudicators, Alan Hope and Jim Thompson with their varied programme, which opened with Paul Lovatt-Cooper's 'Walking with Heroes' followed by 'Autumn Leaves', which gave solo trombonist Steve Jones the deserved 'Best Soloist' prize.

The classic march, 'Praise' was followed by Tom Brevik's trombone quartet arrangement of 'It's Alright With Me', which also included a stunning trumpet solo by principal cornet, Danny Robson. The programme concluded with Peter Graham's 'Shine as the Light'.

Close

The adjudicators commented on how close the overall competition was, but in the end it was Easington that beat nearest rivals Fishburn to claim a well-merited victory.

This is a fantastic achievement. We've been working hard over the last couple of years and that is now starting to pay offBand Manager, Peter Lawson,

Deserved

Band Manager, Peter Lawson, told 4BR: "This is a fantastic achievement. We've been working hard over the last couple of years and that is now starting to pay off. I'm absolutely delighted for Chris Bentham, the players and particularly Steve Jones, who is a superb trombone player and fully deserved his prize"

The result follows on from the band's involvement on the stage of the Victoria Palace Theatre in London's West End for the final two scenes of the final performance of 'Billy Elliot — The Musical' (above) The band also appeared with Sir Elton John at the curtain call at the end of the show.