NAVAL SHIPS are very much a part of life for the members of the HMS Neptune Volunteer Band - but this weekend they will be performing on a very different sort of vessel.

The band will be providing a musical background for visitors to the Maid of the Loch paddle steamer at Balloch pier from 12 noon on Saturday, September 2.

And for one particular band member the concert will have special significance.

Regular visitors to the Maid might recognise Drum Major James Dalgleish, a sergeant in the MoD Police, who is also one of the Maid's volunteer guides.

The band, with their talented singer Phil Gambon, will perform two hour-long sets, one at 12 noon and the second at 1.30pm, with a short break in the middle.

They're hoping the weather will be kind and allow the band to play on deck, but if not they will play under cover inside the ship.

The concert is free but it is hoped that those listening - perhaps including some visitors to the first day of the Loch Lomond Food Festival, taking place at nearby Loch Lomond Shores throughout the weekend - will make a donation to the fund set up to restore the Maid to her former glory and get her back sailing on Loch Lomond once again.

A promise of £3.8 million has already been made to the restoration project by the Heritage Lottery Fund - but that still leaves the dedicated team of volunteers who make up the Loch Lomond Steamship Company the daunting task of raising the remaining £1.7m.

The band is based at HM Naval Base Clyde at Faslane and was originally formed as Clyde Submarine Base Brass Band but has since evolved into a military band.

The volunteer band also boasts a big band and a brass quintet, both of which are regularly utilised.

Interestingly, this is the only Royal Navy Volunteer Band in Scotland - and in fact the only one located to the north of London.

The band consists of around 15 per cent Royal Naval and 85 per cent civilian personnel, the latter made up of retired service personnel, MoD civil servants, Babcock employees and their families and friends.

The oldest member of the band is in their 80s and the youngest member is 15.

Although HMS Neptune Volunteer Band’s primary function is to provide musical support to HMNB Clyde, they also regularly provide music to the local area.

Over the last year the band has played at a variety of engagements within the naval base and at local charity and ceremonial events, including a special D-Day anniversary concert in June alongside the West of Scotland Military Wives Choir, and, earlier this month, Helensburgh's Summer Festival.

The band is currently under the direction of Bd Sgt Annabelinda Hardy - AJ - who is supported by volunteer band officer Lt Cdr Julian Rogers RN and Drum Major Dalgleish.

Built in Glasgow, at the same yard as the now world-famous paddle steamer Waverley, the Maid of the Loch - the last paddle steamer to be built in Britain - was launched in March 1953 and brought, in bits, to Balloch by train before being reassembled on site.

She sailed on Loch Lomond for 29 years before being taken out of service in 1981 as holidaying in Scotland declined in popularity in the face of cheap breaks to the Spanish sun.

After years of neglect, decay and vandalism, the ship was bought by Dumbarton District Council in 1992 and handed over to the Loch Lomond Steamship Company four years later.