Brass – the Durham International Festival 2008, began on Saturday and runs for two weeks, and the Durham Miners' Gala takes place on Saturday.

Among the many banners on display at the gala will be the New Herrington banner, courtesy of the New Herrington Miners' Banner Partnership.

The partnership, formed in 1999 by volunteers anxious to preserve the community's mining past, has invited two senior trade unionists from America to lead its banner into this year's gala.

The partnership will be welcoming Bob Burchell and Ed Yankovitch, from the United Mine Workers of America, to the 125th gala.

Partnership volunteer and former Herrington miner Bob Melvin said: "These invitations cement the very close relationship the partnership has with the ex-mining communities in Cape Breton, Canada.

"Members of the partnership have travelled to Cape Breton and these invitations have been made to reciprocate the wonderful hospitality shown to our members when we visit."

The partnership recently opened a permanent coal mining exhibition at Herrington Burn YMCA, which will open a window on the past industry of Sunderland to generations of schoolchildren.

The Silksworth Banner Group will also be on show at the gala after being paraded around Silksworth.

The banner will set off from the Comrades Club at 8.30 on the morning of the gala and, led by the Shepherds Band, will finish its tour of Silksworth at the Aged Miners' Homes.

Then the former miners and their families will set off for Durham to be part of the procession of banners through the city.

On the return to Silksworth later that day, the banner will again parade through local streets – this time starting at the Aged Miners' Homes and finishing at the Comrades Club.

This is the second appearance of the newly-restored Silksworth banner at the gala after a successful fund-raising appeal by former local miners.

In tandem with the Durham Miners' Gala will be the Durham International Festival 2008, the city's biggest ever music festival.

The festival, which runs to July 20, brings together the best of current and emerging brass-inspired music from around the world, including bands from Colombia, India, Macedonia, Australia and the United States, playing jazz, funk, folk, ska, traditional and classic brass styles.

Now in its second year, it features two UK premieres, a host of free events and Streets of Brass, an outdoor musical experience that brings a New Orleans carnival atmosphere to Durham's historic streets and venues.

Events are scheduled every day at free and paid-for venues across Durham City, with selected performers appearing in Darlington, and at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum in Shildon, and Bowes Museum in Teesdale.