A glockenspiel made from teaspoons?

Now, Marsden Silver Band probably had some idea of what they were getting into when they signed up to be The Yorkshire Tea Band for our new TV advert.

But we’re not sure if they expected to find themselves wearing mugs for hats, blowing teapots like cornets, lugging around a weighty drum made from a tea urn and playing a glockenspiel better suited to squeezing tea bags.

Helen Williams from the band said: “We had all been speculating on what our outfits would be after several phone calls from the production company asking for literally all our vital statistics!

“I’ll never forget the face of fellow band member Kathleen Coton as I stood in my full Yorkshire Tea Band regalia, complete with a huge mug on my head, as she walked in the room after me for her fitting!”

This would all have seemed rather unusual to the band’s original members, who formed it in 1889. That’s just three years after Yorkshire Tea’s maker, Taylors of Harrogate, started up.

Based in Huddersfield, it’s a championship section band with plenty of honours to its name (you can read about those here)

Naturally they also played the tune – a lively rendition of Everything Stops for Tea with an intentional dose of chaos and a tempo which keeps speeding up.

Helen said: "Taking part in at least four major brass band competitions annually and numerous concert performances means that the players in the band are used to the discipline involved.

“So when they were asked to make the recording of the ad music sound more chaotic and as if it were recorded outdoors it required them to let go of their usual high standards!”

You can read more about the experience from the band’s point of view on their website. And they won’t be hanging up their mug hats just yet.

As the Official Brew of England Cricket, we’ll be appearing at the Ashes tests this year to make sure the traditional tea break is a real celebration. And we couldn’t do that without The Yorkshire Tea Band!