TWO college bands have reached the finals of the National Festival of Music for Youth for the second year running.

About 70 musicians who play instruments in the concert band and jazz orchestra at Northallerton College, North Yorkshire, will be travelling to London for the event.

The bands will perform at different venues on the evening of July 11 - the 20-strong jazz orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the concert band at the Royal Festival Hall.

Head of music at the college Garry Firth said he was delighted with players' success so far.

"We lost quite a number of good musicians last year and had to do a lot of rebuilding, which means many students had to learn fast," he said.

"To their great credit, they have managed that, but there's still a lot of hard work to do. In London, we are competing against the best in the country."

The bands reached the final by impressing the judges at the regional festival at Stockton in March. It is the third time in four years that the concert band has qualified for the national finals.

Mr Firth, who founded the concert band six years ago, will conduct it in London and share direction of the jazz orchestra with Adrian Bramley, a music teacher at the Allertonshire School, in Northallerton.