Bandsman Lester Murphy had such a great time travelling across frozen lakes in the Arctic with TV’s daring Ice Road Truckers that he wants to go back – and take his wife Lin with him.

The 50-year-old former lorry driver from Ramsbury has just returned from two weeks in Canada where he travelled on one of the huge rigs delivering supplies to oil drilling bases.

He was also allowed to have a go behind the wheel of one of the giant juggernauts.

Mr Murphy plays cornet with Phoenix Brass and, just as he promised before his departure, he persuaded truck driver Robert Pennick to pull up at the Arctic Circle to allow him to play the national anthem.

However as the temperature was minus 20C Mr Murphy, currently employed as a waste advisor, used a plastic mouthpiece to stop it freezing to his lips.

In some places temperatures were as low as minus 50C but the cold has not put him off considering an invitation from Ice Truckers haulage boss Harry McDonald to go back next year taking his wife Lin with him.

Mr Murphy stayed at Mr McDonald’s home and said: “I have never experienced such kindness from a total stranger.”

He added: “What you see on the television’s Ice Road Truckers is just as it really is, it does what it says on the tin.

“The drivers I was with had to go about 510 miles each way on frozen snow and ice. It’s bloody scary and dangerous but they just get on with the job.

“I was allowed to make three and a half trips with Robert Pennick and he let me have a go pulling a load of drilling pipes weighing about 25 tons.

“There were a few scary moments and I did find myself on the wrong side of the road a couple of times. The hardest part was using the gears because they have a different gearbox.”

He hopes he has raised about £800 in sponsorship for Phoenix Brass from his trip.