They were once a bright and colourful musical symbol, a means of escape for the communities that made up Scotland's coal-mining heritage. Every pit village in Fife, Ayrshire and the central belt boasted its own brass band. They marched proudly to the left-wing anthems Sons Of The Brave and Old Comrades . But when Scotland's coal-mining industry died, so too did the bands that had graced countless village galas and competed in national championships.

Now the last remaining miners' band in Scotland is fighting not only for its existence but to keep alive a tradition that thousands of families cherish. It mirrors the story of the classic British film Brassed Off, which views the survival of a north of England pit town through the survival of its band.

'Brassed Off -- we all know the film, we have all been there, ' said Jim Hyslop, chairman of the Buckhaven and Methil Miners' Brass Band, which is appealing for new members and funds to keep it going.

The sadness in the former Scottish pit lands is exemplified by the fact that, on June 9, the Buckhaven band is travelling the 60 miles to play at the miners' gala in Fauldhouse, West Lothian. For most of the past century the Fauldhouse band has graced the occasion, but a few months ago it folded.

The Buckhaven and Methil band has been in existence since 1905 and was formerly known as the Wellesley Colliery Band. Documents show that in 1908 members travelled in a charabanc to Edinburgh for 2/6d and paid £217 to buy their first 25 instruments -- cornets, euphoniums, horns, trombones and bassoons.

Hyslop said the same instruments today would cost about £75,000 and the bus journey to Edinburgh would cost £270.

'We are the only miners' colliery band left in Scotland. We are in a very big deprived area and we have to rely on raising the money ourselves. We still like to keep the old tradition alive, and we still go to all the band competitions and miners' gala days. We have a senior band of about 30, 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 uphold this tradition. We donated all our prize money to the miners' strike.'

Bob White, 75, joined the original Wellesley Colliery Band when he was 20. He now plays a role in training new band members. He remains optimistic about the band's future and said: 'I think we will always manage to keep going because the committee are real go-ahead people. I think we will survive, although it is a struggle at times.'

Hyslop, who joined in 1962 and whose father played in the band, remembers the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s when it became the only Scottish band to win the British Brass Band Championship. Only one other has achieved the feat since.

'We used to have bands in every village, in places like Bowhill, Kelty, Cowdenbeath, Cardenden. There is a big sadness in the area that the mining tradition is past. Fife is a desert nowadays.

'The band was out for every parade and gala in the area. The miners all paid 3d towards the band off their wages and used the money to buy instruments and travel to concerts. We have been third in the Scottish championship and third in the British Mineworkers' Championship in Blackpool.'

Brass band historian Hugh Johnstone said the coal companies encouraged the formation of the bands as a form of leisure and entertainment. 'On a Saturday afternoon during the good weather, the band would play on the village green and people would dance. It was the punters' music of the day. Often people would find selections of popular light opera and that brought opera to the working class. I remember people thinking their own band was the best, and the spontaneous open-air performances. People came along and danced waltzes, quadrilles, that sort of thing.'

Jimmy Bogie and his daughter Ellen are both band members and also teach the junior band. Ellen, who plays the tenor horn, said: 'I have been in the band since I was nine. It has always been there.'

According to Jimmy, 51, it is the young musicians who are vital to continue the legacy. 'The amount of youngsters that still want to play is amazing. The problem is there are not enough older players prepared to take the time to help the youngsters. I think people have too busy a lifestyle nowadays.'