GRANT funding from a new community pot was music to the ears of one of County Durham’s most famous brass bands.

The Reg Vardy Band, which is based at Stanley, was able to upgrade facilities at its base, thanks to an award of £2,000 from the Stanley Town Council Strategic Grant Fund.

Funding helped the band purchase new storage equipment, erect shelving, install a partition wall and even make repairs to the kitchen roof at its Old Salvation Hall rehearsal studio, in Stanley.

The new fund, worth £35,000, was launched earlier in the year and is geared towards supporting smaller community projects via a straightforward bidding process, that is overseen and administered by the council.

Ian Haigh, chairman of the Reg Vardy Band, said: “Our band is part of the fabric of County Durham, having been formed well over a century ago as Craghead Colliery Band in 1910, so it is fantastic that this award will help us remain in our rehearsal space at the Old Salvation Hall and allow us to continue to make music in the communities from which we have drawn some of our most talented musicians.”

The Reg Vardy Band has been nationally graded as a Championship Section since 1958 and has won the North of England Brass Band Championships 36 times since then.

Stanley Town Mayor, Cllr Carole Hampson, said: “The Reg Vardy Band has provided the emotive soundtrack of the Durham coalfields for over 100 years.”