MALVERN Hills Brass Band is hoping to represent the town in style after being awarded a grant worth £500.

The grant from Malvern Town Council will enable the band to take part in the National Brass Band Championships at the Albert Hall, London, in October.

The prize-winning band has been playing in Priory Park for free during the summer, after falling victim to cuts in the the district council tourism budget.

At a meeting of Malvern Town Council's grants committee last week, members recommended that the band be given a maximum grant of £500 to pay for new instruments and cover the cost of coach hire.

Band secretary Adrian White said he was very pleased with the decision.

"We've been working really hard this year as a band and we were very aware that we've been making a noise within Malvern and possibly upsetting the council, so this money will really help us with a couple of things," he said.

"We desperately need to replace some instruments and cases and we would like some stand banners, which are just pretty bits of material that hang off the stand with the band logo on them."

We really need to thank the Malvern public for supporting the park concerts, they've been really super. We also appreciate the council allowing us to use the bandstand."

The Town Council received 18 applications totalling £10,115 for grants this year, out of a budget of £5,000.

Each organisation was assessed through a point-scoring scheme and 13 grants were awarded, including maximum payments of £500 to Malvern Hills Gym Club, MHHYAT Foyer and Siblings Link.

Five organisations were refused grants, including Malvern Sports Boys' Football Club and the Autumn in Malvern Festival committee, because they were given grants last year.