About Backworth Colliery Band

Established in 1886. Celebrating 140 years of music in 2026.
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Backworth Colliery Band in concert in a cathedral
A Backworth Colliery Band player in purple uniform performing in a church

Our Band Today

Heritage, Community & Performance

Backworth Colliery Band is a historic community brass band based in Backworth, North Tyneside. Established in 1886 and celebrating its 140th anniversary in 2026, the band combines a proud colliery heritage with an active programme of concerts, contests and community performances. Membership is open to all, and most of our public performances are free to attend.

  • Our Music

    Traditional brass band repertoire and original compositions, classical arrangements, marches, hymns, film music, musical theatre, popular music, swing and Christmas programmes.

  • Our Community

    Our roots are in Backworth’s mining community. Today, the band continues that tradition through music and participation across North Tyneside, Newcastle and the North East.

  • Our Rehearsals

    The senior band rehearses on Monday and Thursday, 7:30pm–9:30pm, at Backworth Club, Station Road, Backworth, NE27 0AG.

Interested in Joining?

What We Do

Perform. Teach. Compete. Preserve.

Four things have kept Backworth Colliery Band at the heart of local life for 140 years.
Hire the Band

Perform

Concerts, outdoor events, galas, parades and private engagements across the North East.

Band Hire

Teach

Our Training Band helps beginners and returning players build skills and confidence, with a pathway into the senior band.

Training Band

Compete

Graded contests set the standard we work to. Most recently, the band finished third in the Fourth Section of the North of England Regional Championships in 2024.

Contest Record

Preserve

We keep alive the colliery band tradition of the North East coalfield, from the Durham Miners’ Gala to Remembrance parades.

Our History

See Us in Action

Photographs from concerts, contests, galas and community events over the years.

Gallery

The Brass Band Sound

A Line-up That Has Barely Changed in a Century

The modern brass band was born in the 19th century. In the 1830s valves made brass instruments fully melodic, and in the mid-1800s Adolphe Sax’s family of saxhorns gave bands a matched, homogeneous sound. Many colliery and works bands, Backworth among them, began as wind bands before becoming all-brass.

A standard brass band has around 25 players: soprano cornet, cornets, flugel horn, tenor horns, baritones, euphoniums, trombones, E♭ and B♭ basses, plus percussion. Apart from the percussion section and the bass trombone, it is the same line-up the first brass bands used.

Our Story

Born in the Coalfields. Still Making Music.

Founded in 1886, Backworth Colliery Band began as a wind band, with woodwind instruments alongside brass. During the 1920s it became a wholly brass ensemble.

The decline of the local coal industry changed the community around the band, but the music continued. In 2026 we celebrate 140 years since our recognised foundation.

Explore our history or find out about our performances.