Beamish Museum are launching a fundraising appeal to raise funds to rebuild this 100 year old brick band hall in The Pit Village at Beamish in its centenary year.

Any financial assistance you can offer, be it large or small will make a significant contribution. Every penny will help to support us so that we can start to rebuild the Band Hall. For example, just £5 will pay for a roof slate or £10 wil restore a brick.

When rebuilt, the Band Hall will help to illustrate what everyday life was like in a typical North East colliery community and will provide a space for displaying miners’ banners, playing music and much-needed facilities for the 40,000 school children visiting each year.

The local community has already raised thousands of pounds in support of the cause – including a sponsored walk by Hetton Lyons School carrying one of the bricks from Hetton to Beamish. Pupils from Hetton Lyons School wrote and performed the Hetton Band Hall Rap, you can watch the video by clicking here.

The Hetton Silver Band was founded on 1st April 1887.  A piece of land in South Market Street, Hetton-le-Hole was purchased from Hetton Coal Company for just £25.00 and a tin practice hut for the band was built.  This was later superseded by a brick building on the same site around 1912.