On Sunday (July 2) Hatherleigh Silver Band became the first local brass band to play on Dartmoor to raise money for the North Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team (NDSART).

Hatherleigh’s brass band members climbed up to the top of Sourton Tor at the weekend on a mission to raise money for the local search and rescue team, which relies solely on funding from th public.

Tim Williams, who helped organise the ‘madcap’ idea, said: ‘It was the madcap idea of one of our members and she can actually see the tor from from her house and she thought it would be a good idea if we played a concert up there. So she got in touch with me because I deal with all the madcap ideas and I said, “Yeah, sounds brilliant.”

Initially, said Tim, the band were a little nervous about traipsing uphill with their instruments, especially since the band master had insisted they wear their band uniform but after reaching the top and settling down, it proved to be an enjoyable event with at least 100 people turning up at any one time.

NDSART members provided the collection buckets but, at the time of writing, the total amount raised had not been calculated.

The next event at which Hatherleigh’s band will play is Bandemonium which will take place this month.