BOLTON schoolgirl Mala Patel has been turned into an international "cover girl" overnight. The sunny smile of the Smithills School student features on the front cover of a magazine which reaches a circulation of thousands worldwide. Mala, aged 17, is featured as a 'brassy' brunette - pictured with the tenor horn she plays as a member of Smithills School Senior Brass Band.

The front cover belongs to Brass Band World, which sells as far afield as Australia, Pakistan and Japan.

And Mala, a soloist, is not the only one to be put in the frame. Her fellow band members also feature in a centre page picture spread.

The spread, which includes head of music and conductor, Chris Wormald, follows the band's success in winning the Boosey and Hawkes National Intermediate Champions of Great Britain 1996.

There is a full page article outlining the band's meteoric rise to success and highlighting its healthy mix of race, religion and cultural background.

Chris commented: "To make it into this publication is an achievement in itself, but to take the centre feature and front cover is brilliant news. "I got hold of an early copy and had the front cover framed before taking it around to Mala's home. She was stunned by the cover and her family was absolutely delighted."

The article also featured the band's fast approaching tour of Norway. Chris and the students fly out to Stavanger on Thursday, April 25, and their five concert tour begins that same night in Tjodhallen.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.