A SCHOOL band who have only been playing together for five months won a competition to perform in front of thousands of people at the county’s biggest music festival.

Mojo Pins, from St Birinus School, in Didcot, were picked from five acts to open a stage at Cornbury Festival, which takes place near Charlbury in July.

The band was victorious at a Battle of the Bands competition at Chipping Norton Theatre on Tuesday.

It was the first year the contest, previously only open to bands from Chipping Norton, was opened up to schools in the wider area.

The winners will star alongside the likes of David Gray, Jackson Browne, Dr John, The Noisettes, Squeeze, Seth Lakeman and The Feeling.

Mojo Pins’s frontman Will Lawson, 18, from East Hagbourne, bass player William Jones, 17, from Burcot, near Abingdon, and guitarist Callum Parker, 18, and drummer Tom Whitehead, 18, both from Didcot, admitted they were surprised to win.

Singer/guitarist Will, who studies at Cokethorpe School, near Witney, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic. We’ve never been to Cornbury before, and now we’re going to be playing there.

“The festival has a great line-up and it’s a great honour to be part of it. We’ve only been playing as a band since December and our bass player has only just learned how to play. But we love what we are doing.”

Tom said: “When I saw how good the other bands were, I didn’t expect to win, but this is great.”

Cornbury Festival director Hugh Phillimore was a member of the judging panel, supported by the Oxford Mail. He said: “It was really hard to pick a winner, and it was a close-run thing. But Mojo Pins are a great and unusual band and we were really impressed by them.”

The band could do worse than take some advice from Jamie Biles of Chipping Norton group Relay – the winners of the 2009 Battle of the Bands, who played at last summer’s festival.

“It was the biggest buzz I’ve ever experienced from a live performance,” he said. “Having to perform to a crowd as big as that was incredibly daunting, but the things I have learnt have been invaluable to my musical development. When you get up there, that stage is 10 times bigger than it looks when you’re watching from the pit.”

The close runners up were Player 2, from Wood Green School in Witney.

Simon Duffy, headteacher at Chipping Norton School, was joined by a large group of pupils supporting accomplished school band Curfew.

He said: “This was a wonderful chance for our talented young musicians to show what they are capable of.”

Cornbury Festival takes place from July 3-4. Tickets cost £95 for a weekend or £115 with camping.