A BAND who have been multiple winners of the Great British championship title and spent six weeks at number two in the charts with their recording of "The Floral Dance" in 1977, will be playing live at The Hafren in Newtown this Saturday, March 14.

One of this country's top brass bands, the Brighouse and Rastrick was formed as a Temperance band in the West Riding of Yorkshire i n 1881.

They dropped the Temperance part of the name in the 1920s when the world famous Fred Berry became their musical director.

It had an immediate impact with the band breaking into the highest level of brass banding.

They took both the July and September Brass Band Contest titles at Belle Vue Manchester in 1929, a feat only achieved once before and not equalled since.

Since then they have gone on to take the Great Britain title on multiple occasions together with many other accolades.

Over recent years the band has also worked on collaborations outside of the brass band tradition. Recordings with Simon Callow, The Unthanks, Liza Pullman and appearances at Chris Evans’ Car-Fest are among the ways the band is opening itself up to new audiences.

Tickets for the Newtown show cost £16 and are available by calling 01686 614555.