Friary Brass has warmed up for its appearance at the Brass in Concert Championship this weekend at Sage Gateshead with a brace of high profile television appearances on the ITV shows 'This Morning' and 'Loose Women'.

Christmas flavour

A small ensemble of the band played Christmas music as stylist Gok Wan launched ITV's 'Win Christmas' competition several times during the programmes.

Band Secretary Lauren Straker explained to 4BR: "We were approached by a television contact who had heard Friary some years ago, to see if we could help.

It was short notice — just over a week — but we managed to gather nine players at the launch venue in Shamley Green, Guildford. It's another first for Friary to appear on national daytime television, so it was great exposure.

Lauren added: "All that and we got to meet Gok and even managed to teach him to play a few notes on the cornet."