WHEN it comes to entertainment St Ronan’s Silver Band has proved it is the best.

The Innerleithen band won the coveted Borders Entertainment Contest in Langholm at the weekend.

Conducted by Chris Bradley, St Ronan's gave a superb performance which placed them ahead of the other 16 bands on the day.

The players were rewarded for their efforts with no less than three trophies - the overall prize of The Scottish Borders Trophy, the award for the best Second Section Band and the Bicentenary Cup for the highest placed Borders Band

The band’s programme opened with the innovative Home of Legends by Paul Lovatt-Copper.

This rousing opener saw the band lift the roof in the Buccleuch Centre following a classy opening from principal cornet player Ian Aitchison who opened the piece out in the auditorium as the band took to the stage.

Next the band featured flugelhorn soloist, Jill Keddie, in a beautiful rendition of When She Loved Me from Toy Story 2.

This was followed by Alan Fernie's arrangement of the 1960s hit MacArthur Park.

The last item was Nightingale Dances which showcased the band's versatility with the entire solo cornet section swapping their normal instruments for mellow flugelhorn in the opening, before the mood changed and the piece came to an exciting finale.

The adjudicators were Richard Evans and Charlie Farren.

Band Secretary Keith Belleville: "We are over the moon with the band's win on Saturday, which comes after several weeks of hard work by the members and both our conductors, Chris Bradley and Bandmaster David Robb.

"The band has won the Borders Contest twice in the past, in 2001 and 2003, and we are delighted to have been able to bring the trophies home to Innerleithen again this year.

"Our contest successes only make the Band stronger and this means we can continue to provide the public with the best possible performances throughout the year."

The event was organised by the Scottish Borders Brass Band Association and Langholm Town Band and the compére was Alasdair Hutton OBE.

St Ronan’s Band is now in the throes of preparing for its annual Christmas Concert on Saturday, December 12 in the Memorial Hall, Innerleithen at 7.30pm.

This will be held in conjunction with the Future Band and tickets are now on sale from Adam’s Bakery or the Thrift Shop (Innerleithen) and Robb’s Keystore (Peebles) at £6/£5.

Meanwhile the Future Band is preparing to take part in the Scottish Youth Championships in Perth on Saturday, November 21.