Brass Band in County Durham

At the Durham Miners’ Gala, Beamish and galas across the county.

County Durham

A Familiar Sound at the Big Meeting

For a colliery band, there is nowhere quite like the Durham Miners’ Gala. Backworth Colliery Band has marched and played at the Big Meeting through the years, including 2009, 2015, 2016, 2023 and 2026. It also plays at Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, three or four times a year.

County Durham is contest country too. The band won Section D of the Durham County Brass Band Association contest in 1999, 2006 and 2008, and has competed at the Stanley Entertainment Contest and the Festival of Brass in Peterlee.

Backworth Colliery Band at the Durham Miners' Gala, 2015

Book Us in County Durham

Weddings, galas and parades.

Weddings

Music for the ceremony and the celebrations, as at a Durham wedding in 2007.

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Galas & Festivals

Galas, carnivals and festivals, from Burnhope’s centenary gala to Beamish.

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Parades & Remembrance

A marching band for parades, Remembrance and civic occasions.

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Where we have played in County Durham

  • The Durham Miners’ Gala, including a road march around Hetton in 2009
  • Beamish, 2023 and 2026
  • The Burnhope Centenary Gala, May 2026
  • A Durham wedding, March 2007, with a 10 to 12 piece band
  • The Hartlepool Headland Carnival, 2009
  • The Festival of Brass, Peterlee

Read more in our story Backworth Colliery Band at the Durham Miners’ Gala.

Booking

Every booking is priced individually, depending on the event, the location, the music and the number of players. The band is amateur and self-funding, so every fee goes back into instruments, music and the Training Band. Tell us about your event through the enquiry form and we will come back to you with a quote.

More ways to book the band

Tell Us About Your Event

Send us the date, the venue and the occasion, wherever you are in County Durham.
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