AROUND 75 musicians entertained crowds at Tavistock's St Eustachius' Church for the Stannary Brass Band's Christmas charity concert recently after being joined by another Tavistock based band — Blowzone.

The Stannary Brass Band opened the concert with 'Christmas Joy', followed by 'Doyen', 'A Special Place', 'Gershwin for Brass' and 'I Wanna Be Like You'.

The audience was then surprised to see and hear two drummers in full regalia march down the aisle of the church to join the band in 'Highland Cathedral' and 'Christmas Bolero'.

The second half was opened by the band's guests, Blowzone, who played 'Liberty Bell', 'Where No Man Has Gone Before', 'Blue Tango' and 'The Muppet Show'.

This followed with a lot of chair shuffling so both bands were sat at the front of the church, numbering approximately 75 musicians.

They wowed the audience with a finale of 'Christmas Festival' followed by the ever popular 'War of the Celts' which received a standing ovation.

The band expressed thanks to Blowzone for joining them at the concert and to the Lions Club of Tavistock for providing refreshments.

The band is pleased to announce that a donation of £620.50 will be made to their chosen charity for the concert, Children's Hospice South West.

Steve Gray, on behalf of everyone, said: 'Yet another successful concert has taken place in St Eustachius', with thanks to the Rev Michael Brierley, who hosted the evening. We were again overwhelmed by the generosity of the audience which enabled us to make such a healthy donation to Children's Hospice South West. I hope that the evening was also an advertisement for just how much fun can be had from playing music — this could be seen from the age range of players in both bands.

'Anyone interested in coming along to one of the bands should contact 07789814796 and speak to Peter Jones who conducts both bands.'