A BRASS band has raised money for a local charity with its musical Advent Calendar initiative.

The Reg Vardy Band was delighted this week to hand over £1287 to PACT House Stanley to support its future work with the local community.

PACT House, under the management of Darren McMahon MBE, is a food bank and community hub in Stanley, County Durham.

It provides essential help to local people in need and has been especially vital in these difficult and challenging times.

The Reg Vardy Band, like all other brass bands in the UK, has been affected by Covid-19 in that no rehearsals or concerts have taken place since late March 2020.

The band members wanted to play “together” and had previously recorded remotely to produce pieces for the internet.

Jillian Dixon said: “The idea of a musical advent calendar came up during one of our weekly band Zoom chats.

Graeme Tindall, our principal cornet player, volunteered to put together the remote recordings, and we were under way.”

Graeme Tindall and his wife Janice, also a cornet player in the band, spent many hours making daily videos for Facebook, and a Just Giving page was set up.

A new carol was presented every day until December 25.

A very generous donation from the band’s sponsor, The Vardy Foundation, pushed the total towards £1000 and the total finally reached nearly £1300.

The band would like to thank everyone for their generosity: band members for giving their time, Karbon Homes for their generous direct donation in response to our socially distanced carol playing at their sheltered facilities, those who donated to the Just Giving page and finally our tech team for their hours of hard work and their expertise.