GRIMETHORPE UK Coal Band has won the coveted National Brass Band Championship for the first time since the pit shut.
It took the title by two points at the Royal Albert Hall beating off 20 other bands from all over the British Isles, including Yorkshire rivals Black Dyke.
The band last won it fourteen years ago, three days after the closure of Grimethorpe Colliery was announced.
Since then the band has made it to the finals a few times and last year finished fourth but this year managed to score 196 points out of 200.
Only three members of the original band are still in it and none of the musicians live in the village but their base and practice rooms are still there.
Band manager Terry Webster said it was an emotional victory for the three former Grimethorpe men Stephen Peacock, David Barraclough and Clifford Hopes.
Terry said: “They, like many other people, thought their time had gone. In 1992, they did not feel they had won it for themselves. It was more a victory for the people who had lost their jobs and the mining industry.
“I presume back then they were riding on emotions and adrenaline. This time it was a celebration and satisfaction.
“It is a famous village, everybody knows Grimethorpe because of the brass band. There is a lot of talent nurtured in Grimethorpe and it is down to a lot of people not allowing the heritage of the mining community to die.
