The Haslingden & Helmshore Band has announced that they have appointed Simon Cowen as their new Musical Director.

The principal trombone of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will take over from Huw Thomas who is moving to Denmark at the end of this month.

Missed

Band spokesman Phil Smith told 4BR: "Huw will be deeply missed. Not only was he a fantastic MD but also became a great friend to the band. He's done such a tremendous job in stabilising and rebuilding the solid foundations on which we are now able to carry things forward.

He will always be welcome in our band room and we would like to publicly thank Huw for all his hard work."

Simon has recently kindly taken a rehearsal or two and we knew immediately he was our man. Letting him get away was just not an option!Band spokesman Phil Smith

World class

Phil continued: "The band also realises how incredibly lucky we are in being able to persuade Simon to take on the role. He is a world class musician. We are now looking forward with great confidence to 2017 and the real possibility of us returning to the Area Championships.

Simon has recently kindly taken a rehearsal or two and we knew immediately he was our man. Letting him get away was just not an option!"