Dinnington Colliery Band makes comeback

Dinnington Colliery Band, a traditional colliery band from Yorkshire, today releases an album on Decca Records, called A Band for Britain.

This is the second CD featuring colliery bands to be released this month. The Music Lives On: Now the Mines have Gone was released on Universal last week, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the end of the Miners’ Strike. It features well-known colliery bands like Grimethorpe Colliery.

These brass heavyweights are now being challenged by local band Dinnington Colliery, whose new CD looks set to make it into the UK Pop Charts.

Having survived two World Wars, a year-long Miners’ Strike and the subsequent demise of the colliery, Dinnington Colliery Band recently looked set for extinction. It was down to six members and had no conductor or financial support.

Then Dinnington had a sudden change in fortune when it was chosen for a new television series called Band For Britain, in which new members were recruited to restore the band to its former glory.

Universal Music/Decca have now signed Dinnington Colliery Band and promised them an advance to pay off their debts and build a rehearsal room. Head of A&R for Decca, Tom Lewis said: “You can immediately feel the warmth, passion and pride of the band. They’ve been keeping a great British tradition alive at grass roots level.” Traditionally colliery bands have been at the centre of community life.

Introducing the Dinnington Colliery Band from Decca Records on Vimeo.