THE forgotten works of a renowned North-East composer have been collected together and recorded for the first time.

Shildon-born George Allan is regarded as one of the greatest composers of marches for brass bands.

His marches, many of which were composed around the turn of the century, are complex and technical pieces which are regularly played by the country's top bands to showcase their talent.

Several of his well-known works have been recorded before - the famous Black Dyke Mills Band included five George Allan tracks on its 1994 Great British Marches CD.

But when Ferryhill Town Band conductor Steve Robson started researching the composer's life, he realised there must be many more compositions.

He said: "It has been known for some time that there were a lot more and I started looking for them."

His efforts turned up nothing at first, but then he discovered that the composer's granddaughter, Dorothy Allan, still lives in Shildon.

She had donated some of her grandfather's music to the now defunct Shildon band. Mr Robson tracked down one of the band's former officials.

He said: "I went down to meet him and went up into the loft in the old band room and turned up a lot of copies of marches which I'd seen in research documents, but never heard.

"These copies are absolutely fantastic. They are the original copies he published and some are more than 100 years old."

The marches have now been collected and recorded for the first time on a tribute CD.

The job was too big for one band alone, so Mr Robson recruited Barnard Castle, Langbaugh and Stanley's Ever Ready bands to join Ferryhill.

He said: "I am making sure George Allen's name is permanently enshrined and his music recorded."

Ferryhill Town Band will feature the music of George Allan at a concert in St John's Church, Shildon, on Saturday, from 7.30pm.

Tickets for the concert, which also features guest trombone virtuoso Brett Baker, are £5 and £4 for concessions and are available from Steve King on (01740) 655704.