The Lydbrook Band has stolen a festive march on rivals this year after willingly starting their festive carol playing a little earlier than usual.

In fact it was in October that the West of England outfit started their Christmas countdown, after a small ensemble was invited to the London Film Studios to be part of the EuroMillions Lotto Christmas advert.

Secrecy

After around 10 hours of filming in front of a green screen, a 20ft Christmas tree and a crowd of extras in various costumes, the band was able to head back to Gloucestershire, sworn to secrecy until the advert's release.

That came last week as they returned to London to perform live at Waterloo Station to accompany the official launch.

Christmas Love Story

The first part of the 'Christmas Love Story' is directed by Oscar-winning Tom Hooper, and tells of a chance encounter between two people who meet on a train and exchange a phone number on the back of a lottery ticket.

The second part of the emerging story will feature the Lydbrook ensemble as the couple do their best to be reunited with their winning ticket, despite being thwarted by a whole host of interruptions — including the band marching through the middle of them!

We were incredibly excited to see the finished advert and are honoured to have been asked to recreate the scenes live at Waterloo for the launchLydbrook Band

Excited

A spokesperson told 4BR: "We were incredibly excited to see the finished advert and are honoured to have been asked to recreate the scenes live at Waterloo for the launch.

We have been fortunate over the years to obtain grants from Arts Council England, which is partly funded by the National Lottery, so it was great to give something back in this way in the 'Lotto Love Story'."

They added: "We hope it will help bring brass bands into the spotlight alongside raising awareness of the multiple good causes the National Lottery funds. It was a fantastic opportunity, and the band is grateful to have been chosen to play its part."