High-flying Wigan college students win prestigious competition

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Students from a renowned Wigan college have won big at a music contest.

Winstanley College band Mango won the Punch Tarmey’s Battle of the Bands competition in Liverpool winning the top prize of £2,000.

Mango is an all-girl rock band formed at the college last year by music performance students: Freya, Hannah, Izzy, Amber and Maria with this event being their first ever live gig outside of the educational setting.

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The girls picked their favourite songs to play from a variety of genres so there was something for everyone and also performed their first original song Amber Leaf.

When asked about how they felt about winning such a competitive competition the band said: “After winning Punch Tarmey’s Battle of the Bands competition, we are extremely overjoyed, proud and still in shock!

"When entering, we knew we would have to put a lot of effort into it as in comparison to other bands we had very little gig experience.

“It was our first ever live gig since being a band, so to win the competition was a massive deal for us.

"We were all over the moon, it gave us so much hope for our future as a band. Even if we hadn’t won, we all had an incredible time and just getting the experience was so exciting!”

You can follow the band on social media particularly Instagram and Facebook.

Mango’s next gig will be on Saturday July 9 when they perform at the Haydock Music Festival at Haydock Cricket Club.