A CELEBRATION of Yorkshire brass band music and play about what cycling means to people are to be part of the cultural festival marking the Tour de France’s arrival in York.

The two have been commissioned by Welcome to Yorkshire for the Yorkshire Festival 2014, and will also be woven into a York festival to be staged in the city.

The Tour de Brass festival will take brass music to locations along the race route on Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22 and bring a Yorkshire Brass Prom with the Black Dyke Band to the Barbican on the Sunday.

Brassed On director Kate Lock said: “As the Grand Départ goes through the heartland of Yorkshire brass banding country and, as Yorkshire has the best brass bands in Britain, the phenomenal musical and artistic talent that resounds through this deep-rooted tradition will be heard loud and clear through the ‘Tour de Brass’.

"The festival will showcase Yorkshire’s bands and complement the Grand Départ, giving scope to demonstrate the resilient spirit and enduring qualities of brass music and for creative and original interpretation.”

Bike Story is a play that will feature cycling tales from ordinary people in Yorkshire. They piece, produced by 509 Arts, will premier in York and then tour the county from June 21 and July 5.

Director Alan Dicks said: “Most people use a bike at some point in their lives and almost everyone has a bike story. For some it is a passing affair, for others a lifelong passion.

"Bike Story is about people and their relationship to the bicycle: the ups and downs of cycling, the traumas as well as the triumphs. Playwrights Mike Kenny and Martin Riley will weave a selection of these stories into a very special outdoor production.”

The playwright want people to contribute their cycling tales, which can be submitted at www.bikestory.org.uk.

The Yorkshire Festival will bring 100 days of culture and arts to the county in the run up Le Tour. A play based on work by York novelist Andrew Martin will also feature, as will touring production Monday’s Child by York Theatre Royal and Tutti Frutti productions.