A ROCK band with two members from the Burnham area enjoyed national airtime after winning a BBC Radio 2 competition.

Men in Spex, which incudes Neil Richards, of East Brent, and Nick Grimsley, of Brean, won Patrick Kielty's Last Chance Saloon at the end of September after entering at the 11th hour.

They were invited to Patrick's studios at Great Portland Street in London and rubbed shoulders with Jason Donovan on the day.

Neil said: "We almost didn't enter. It was only after my wife was listening to Patrick's show and he appealed to bands asking whether their music was better, so we entered.

"It was great to hear that our song was chosen to be aired – but such a shock to win and to be asked to play live in the BBC studios."

Their song Say What You Want was on the last show of the series.

Neil said: "We had just five days to prepare and unfortunately our drummer could not play but Dan Reynolds, of Weston, stepped in and it all came together.

"We're delighted to win and Patrick enjoyed our performance, even running in to join in with us."

The band had four quick bookings within about a week of the broadcast and hope it will lead to bigger things.

Visit www.meninspex.com for more information.