FIVE bands will be hoping to hit all the right notes at this weekend’s Yorkshire Regional Brass Band Championships.

In the championship section, three bands from the district will be going head-to-head, including the famous Black Dyke and Brighouse & Rastrick brass bands.

Elsewhere in the district, Keighley’s Winter Steam Gala is returning, and steampunks will be stopping off at Bradford Industrial Museum.

This year’s Yorkshire championships are taking place at Huddersfield Town Hall, as the usual venue, St George’s Hall in Bradford, is closed for renovations.

Following victory in last year’s championships, Black Dyke Band, from Queensbury, will be hoping to defend their title and secure a place at the national championships again.

They face stiff competition from a number of rivals including the City of Bradford Brass Band and Brighouse & Rastrick, which will be hoping to improve on seventh and eighth-placed finishes in 2016.

In the first section, Drighlington will be competing against bands from across the county, gunning for promotion into the championship section for next year.

In the third section, BD1 Brass will be looking to rise up the table following a sixth-place finish in 2016 in its first year in the third section.

The winners will once again progress to the national finals, with sections one to four taking place in Cheltenham from September 16 to 17, and the championship final taking place at the Royal Albert Hall in London on October 14.

David Hirst, secretary of Black Dyke Band, said: “Preparations are going very well, the band have been busy and have had a lot of concerts.

“It will be different not playing at St George’s Hall, but Huddersfield has hosted the event back in the 1980s and is a great venue for the bands and the audience.

“We hope we can win, we will play our best as we always do and we do have quite a good record here, but there is strong competition in the section as always.”

The winter steam gala on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway begins today and will run until Sunday. The railway’s home engines will be joined by visiting steam locos on the tracks, and there will also be workshop tours in Haworth and museums at Ingrow Station.

Trains will be running throughout the day, and tickets start at £24 for adults, £21 for concessions, and £12 for children.

Also taking place this weekend is a steampunk market at Bradford Industrial Museum, in Moorside Road, Eccleshill, from 10am to 4pm tomorrow and Sunday. Entry to the market is free.