THE Kingdom Brass Band have returned home to Kelty with the honour of being the best in the UK!

Playing under the baton of musical director Ian Porthouse, their performance merited a triumphant victory in the 1st Section, becoming British champions.

They became Scottish champions in March last year and have now added another title to their collection.

Judges favoured them over the other 13 entrants taking part in the competition held in Cheltenham on Saturday night, with the trophy coming back over the border and back to Scotland.

“Yes! British Champions! Nice ring to that,” the band posted on Facebook on the night of their win.

They made their way back north with a “few sore heads” after an evening of celebration and thanked their supporters for all the congratulatory messages.

The band said: “Thank you all for the hundreds of calls, messages, posts, tweets etc we’ve received since becoming national champions last night.

"It’s just starting to sink in now what we’ve achieved, 18 months after we qualified by winning the Scottish! On the coach now, returning to Kelty as British champions.”

The band’s secretary, John Todd, told the Scottish Brass Band Association: “The band is ecstatic on winning the nationals, especially so after everything that’s happened in the past year and a half.

“We’ve worked so hard over the past few months to bring everyone back together, first with outside distanced rehearsals then finally back in the band room.

“Huge credit goes to our conducting team of Paul Drury and Ian Porthouse for their leadership in front of the band. It’s great to be back!”

The band’s performance of Connotations by Edward Gregson was considered the best entrant by adjudicators Alan Morrison and Sheona Wade.