Leicester band 'The Mercians' plead for the safe return of stolen van filled with £27k equipment

190923 - MERCIANS VAN - ITV News Central - The Mercians/X - Ellen Knight
The band are hoping for Eileen's safe return Credit: The Mercians/X

A band from Leicester is appealing for information after their tour van, named 'Eileen', was stolen with £27,000 worth of musical equipment inside.

The Mercians were touring across the UK, when their van was stolen overnight in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

The band posted on social media: "The van has our entire lives in it, everything we own. Please, share the absolute hell out of this post to make it too hot to handle for the scum that have taken it."

'Eileen' is a white Ford Transit with the registration WF62 OUC - and the band is offering a reward of £1,000 for its safe return.

  • ITV News Central spoke to The Mercians. They said the loss of 'Eileen' won't hold them back.

The five-piece band, named after the Anglo-Saxon kingdom Mercia now called the Midlands, has been performing across the UK for the past few weeks as part of a 'school tour' where the group performs to school groups, as well as speaking to the students about mental health.

Their planned 11-month tour of schools only kicked off last week - and just a few weeks ago The Mercians quit their jobs to be full-time musicians.

The Mercians have been performing across the UK for the past few weeks as part of a 'school tour'. Credit: Nathan Cole/The Mercians

The unsigned band is made up of Matt Cominotto, Joe Syborn, Owen Trott, Ben Pearce, and Harry Walford.

Speaking to ITV News Central, the group said that the van had contained all of their musical equipment - amounting to a financial loss of around £27,000.

Matt, the band's lead vocalist said: "It's a big loss for us. It's everything, right [...] it's everything we have, all of our guitars, drums [...] there's not a whole lot of money in music at the minute so we're really scraping the barrel."

Bassist Harry Walford added: "It's the sentimental value as well, one of the guitars I've had since I was 14, it's played almost every big show like when we did that tour with Tom Meighan - it's played all those stages - I wanted it in a frame, I didn't want to put it in a coffin!"

"In a dark moment we've met such beautiful people" Credit: Nathan Cole/The Mercians

Despite this setback, the band insists on looking on the bright side.

"We're doing okay, we're staying strong," Matt said. "We're hoping that the police and insurance companies will help us out, but, if it doesn't, we've made peace with it.

"It won't stop us, there's no doubt about that ... and to be honest, in such a dark moment we have met such beautiful people - the cafe that we're staying above have given us free breakfast yesterday, the Indian [restaurant] next door is giving us free food tonight.

"It's been one of those where it's easy to get upset with what's happened but we've met some really beautiful people through it.

"It makes for a good story, right? We're hoping in a year we'll be laughing about it."

So how did Eileen the van get her name?

"It's pretty cliche really! We knew that she was going to have some troubles, mechanically, and she has, bless her! The idea was that if she's struggling we can all unleash [the song] 'Come On Eileen.'"

Dexys Midnight Runners released the song in 1982 - it's since become a classic.

"It's a bit cliche but now it really rings true! We might start walking the streets of Bishop Auckland singing 'Come On Eileen' hoping that she turns up."

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