A BRASS band is celebrating a double record after hitting the high notes at the regional championships.

The Reg Vardy Band, from Stanley, was crowned Northern Regional Champions for an unprecedented 35th time last weekend after a competition at the Gala Theatre in Durham.

In addition, baritone player Colin Dye became an individual record holder, with his 30th regional championships win.

The band will now go on to represent the region at the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall in October.

It will be the 47th time in 53 years that the band, previously known as Craghead Colliery Band and later the Ever Ready Band, will represent the North at the national finals.

The band also picked up the best bass section and best percussion section titles at the regional finals.

Among the individual winners were principal cornet Phillip Tait, who won the best cornet player trophy and Paul Robinson, who won the best euphonium trophy.

The band, sponsored by the Reg Vardy Foundation, rehearses twice weekly in the Old Salvation Army Hall, in Stanley.

Forthcoming engagements include performing at the InterOpera Concert in Durham Cathedral on April 18, to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

The band will also compete in the British Open Spring Festival in Blackpool on May 9 and a joint concert with local music groups in SpennymoorTown Hall on May 30.