A COMPANY of young musicians is back home following a successful third international tour.

Thirty-eight members of the Astley Youth Band did the borough proud on their tour of Germany, which followed visits to the South of France in 1998 and Holland in 2000.

The youngsters, aged nine to 17, who were accompanied by 20 parents, gave three well received concerts in the Moselle Valley before handing over a gift of a Wigan plaque, book and banner on behalf of the Mayor, Cllr Geoff Roberts

At the first concert in Lof the band played an arrangement of famous British marches with solo performances by Mark Harrison, 11, on soprano cornet, Ernest Collier, 14, on euphonium, Lauren Lilley, 12, on cornet and Steven Humphreys, 17, on tenor horn.

The following day they were off to Andernach to give a concert in the Marktplatz. Soloists on this occaion were Alastair Burrows (trombone) who was celebrating his 15th birthday, Kirsten Broadhurst 11 (flugel horn), Katy Cronnolley, 15 (tenor horn) and Hannah Whitfield, 17 (tuba).

The final event was a formal concert at the Spa Gardens at Bad Bertrich when the band wore their new red waistcoats for the first time.

Soloists were Louise Harrison 15 (flugel horn), Simon Minshall 11 (bass trombone), principal cornet player Scott Broadhurst, 15, and co-principal Georgina Clarke 16.

Musical director Helen Minshall was presented with a plaque of the Bad Bertrich Gardens dedicated to the band.