A NEW brass band comprised of young people in Bolton with learning difficulties will perform in public for the first time on Saturday.

The Create Boltones band will play at Claremont Church in St George's Road alongside other brass bands including Foden's Band, the Black Dyke Band, Desford Colliery Brass Band Grimethorpe Colliery Band as well as a number of soloists.

The band, aged from 16 to 25, has been put together by arts based charity Create Bolton and meets every Wednesday at Claremont House led by musical directors Anna Hughes-Williams and Toby Hobson.

Andrew Kilpatrick, lead officer at Create Bolton, said: "The motivation for establishing the band came from a realisation that people with a learning difficulty or disability so often miss out on opportunities available to every other young person their age.

"The aims are primarily about building confidence, gaining skills and celebrating achievement. The young people will be exploring playing different brass instruments and getting a sense of what it means to be part of a band."