The Brassed Off band make a comeback after avoiding closure again

The Grimethorpe Colliery Band's fight for survival when the coal mine closed in the early 1990s inspired the 1996 film Brassed Off. The band did survive - and now, enjoying a resurgence, are among the favourites for this weekend's brass band National Championships.

When Robert Childs joined the Grimethorpe Colliery Band to play euphonium in 1977, the National Coal Board employed musicians to be full-time band members.

"We all had weekly wages for playing in the band," he says. "Although from time to time the colliery could call on us to do simple tasks, like cleaning conveyor belts - but not very often."

Childs left Grimethorpe in 1984, the year of the miners' strike. Eight years later, the Grimethorpe pit in South Yorkshire was earmarked for closure.

The band played on - triumphing over adversity in 1992 by winning the National Championships at the Royal Albert Hall, one of the most prestigious contests in the peculiarly competitive brass band world.

Their story inspired the Bafta-nominated comedy-drama Brassed Off, which starred Ewan McGregor and Pete Postlethwaite.

Now, Childs is back in Grimethorpe, this time as its music director.

Since his return 18 months ago, they have gone to number one in Brass Band World magazine's rankings for the first time in six years and are current holders of the British Open and Brass In Concert titles.

On Saturday, they will be back at the Albert Hall for this year's National Championships.

But the days of subsidised wages are long gone. When he came back, Childs found a band on the brink of closure after years of financial struggle. "I don't think the players in the band realised how close it was [to closing]," he says.

After the mine shut, the band survived with sponsorship from the coal industry. But that soon dried up, and the band have since relied on small sponsorships and concert ticket sales.

Childs says the band are now keeping their heads above water - but it is still a precarious existence.

"We need uniforms, we need instruments," he says. "Those tubas, they cost £8,000. Even the cornets cost £3,000. So we are managing at the moment on a day-to-day basis, but we are not really putting any money away."

For the National Championships, a coach and hotel rooms - "which, incidentally, because of the rugby, is twice the price this year than normal" - for more than 30 musicians are costing about £8,000, Childs says.

The winning band will get £2,000, he adds. So why bother? "It's the fun of it," he says.

Grimethorpe play about 40 concerts a year. They performed at the 2012 London Olympic Games opening ceremony and have just come back from an Australian tour.

But despite the cost, the contests are the highlights of the brass band calendar.

"Brass bands is a small world, so everybody knows everybody and they are very competitive," Childs says. "But there is nothing nasty about it at all."

In Childs's case, there is also a family rivalry - his brother Nicholas conducts Black Dyke, last year's national champions and one of Grimethorpe's biggest rivals.

Is there a bit of needle between the brothers? "Oh yes, definitely," Robert Childs says, before adding diplomatically: "But they are a great band."

On Saturday morning, 20 bands will gather at the Albert Hall for the draw to determine the order in which they will perform. Getting an early slot is disastrous, Childs explains - very few bands have ever gone on to win after playing at the start of the day.

Each band will play the same piece of music - in this case a testing 16-minute composition called Spiriti by Thomas Doss. The judges are behind a screen, so do not know which band is performing.

"The band is full of confidence and confidence is a big thing," Childs says. "So we've got that edge. But you do need a little bit of luck as well to win a band contest."

Michael Dodd, who plays principal euphonium, is Grimethorpe born and bred. His father and grandfathers all worked down the mine. There was "a real community spirit", he says.

"Watching the film Brassed Off is quite raw for me because I went through the miners' strike with my father and I've lived through it," he says.

"But it's great to see the band still surviving, the area still surviving, its regeneration programme is amazing now. We've got some massive commercial industry in and around the area, which has given the locals the employment they need."

Has it been a change for the better? Dodd says: "Losing the mine ripped the heart out of this area. So many people worked for the mine in this area, and for that to disappear overnight was just heart-wrenching."

He repeats the question, hesitating as he considers his answer. "Has it made it for the better? Yeah, I suppose it has in some ways, because we've come out the other side of it now," he says.

"You can just walk around Grimethorpe and see that it's on the up."

And if you walk around Grimethorpe, you might hear the majestic sound of the brass band drifting on the air from their rehearsal room. They, too, are on the up.