MEMBERS OF a historic Scottish brass band are looking to Hollywood actor Ewan McGregor to help them in their desperate bid for survival.
The Buckhaven and Methil Miners Brass Band in Fife-the last colliery band in existence in Scotland-has been forced to appeal for new members in a bid to "keep alive the tradition".
They say the band's situation is similar to the storyline of the film Brassed Off, in which Crieff-born McGregor plays a bandsman trying to save a colliery band in Yorkshire from closure.
Jim Hyslop, chairman of the Buckhaven band, said the star would be sympathetic to their plight as he attended nearby Kirkcaldy College on his road to stardom and knew the former Fife pit lands well.
"Brassed Off-we all know the film, we have all been there, we went through all that and most of it was true," said Mr Hyslop, who joined the band in 1962 when it was known as the Wellesley Colliery Band.
"Ewan McGregor went to college here and knows this area well. If he can give us any help, it would be appreciated, the more help we can get the better."
McGregor has been at the Cannes Film Festival recently and is known to "live the part" in his film roles, which include Brassed Off and Trainspot-ting, and Mr Hyslop said he was sure he would offer support to the band.
In Brassed Off, one of his first films, the Grimley Colliery band from York-shire survived despite the widespread closures of pits during the 1980s and the band at Grimethorpe, which inspired the film, is still alive and well, against all odds.
Mr Hyslop said the band at Buckhaven had been going since 1905 but that the increased costs of travel and musical instruments, as well as the death of the Scottish mining communities, had left them having to make a public appeal for new members.
"We have a senior band of about 30 people, mostly youngsters, and a junior section of about 20. We literally take them off the streets and teach them how to play music. When I was growing up the miners looked after us and we always hold this tradition."