Sunderland band The Cornshed Sisters perform at site of new Wear Crossing

The all-female fourpiece visited the site of the new Wear Crossing today to perform as part of the BBC’s Take it to the Bridge event to mark BBC Music Day.

The south bank of the River Wear, overlooking the new cofferdam in the middle of the river - was the setting for the performance.

Work stopped for around ten minutes on site to listen while the performance was broadcast live on BBC Newcastle.

Marie Nixon, from the band, said the idea had come about while she was talking to BBC Newcastle's Doug Morris.

"We were talking about Sunderland, about how exciting things are here at the moment, about the potential of the 2021 City of Culture bid and the amazing things that could and will happen as part of that," she said.

"He said he was looking for people to take part in today's event in Sunderland and we jumped at the chance because the bridge is so exciting and we wanted to see it for ourselves."

The band performed a traditional song dating back to 1819, called The Rigs of Sunderland Fair, which they will also be singing as part of the Asunder event to commemorate the First World War.

"It is all about girls from all the different bits of Sunderland coming together at the fair to have something to drink, have a good time, meet lads and enjoy themselves," said Marie.

The four are still on a high after the recent announcement they will be performing at the Glastonbury Festival this summer.

"We have been recording and we've nearly finished our second album, so we've been starting to look for the next thing to do," said Marie.

"We have been chatting to a local promoter Sue Collier, who has been sharing our music around and it came to the attention of the guy who is scheduling Glastonbury and he asked us if we'd like to play.

"It's really exciting."

BBC presenter Gary Philipson said the reaction from the public to BBC Music Day had been 'fantastic.'

"We started all the way up in the Borders first thing this morning, but we had 40 or 50 people there," he said.

"It was an amazing turn-out considering the time."