Founded in 1979, Drum Corps United Kingdom, or DCUK, is one of the oldest drum and bugle corps associations outside of America. It exists to provide membership to corps in the United Kingdom and runs an annual competitive season between May and October, with a break for summer in which members of DCUK corps may travel to America to compete with a DCI corps for the move-in and tour period. In the 80's and early 90's, some DCUK corps travelled to the United States to join the tour in August to compete at the DCI World Championships.
Classes[]
- Open Class
- A Class
- Junior Class
- Cadet Class
History[]
Origins[]
DCUK was founded in 1979. needs more content
One telling of the origins of American-style drum & bugle corps in Great Britain centers around John Johnson, who ran a youth band in Dagenham, east of London. He saw a video of the Santa Clara Vanguard and found the sound he'd been looking for...and DCUK was born.
His corps, the Dagenham Crusaders, was the major corps power in DCUK for years, wearing uniforms styled on those of the 1976 Blue Devils. Ironically, they won their last championship in 1986 (in a tie with Conquest Alliance...dispite winning brass and percussion) while playing "West Side Story"...a work usually identified with the Garfield Cadets (who beat Blue Devils with it in 1984).
Dagenham made two trips to the US to compete in DCI...1983 and 1988 (1983 as the British Crusaders)
Sadly, they folded in the late 80s.
British Drum Corps Federation[]
In 1987, the British Drum Corps Federation (BDCF) was formed, and ran a separate competitive circuit to DCUK. This parallel circuit ran again in 1988 before the BDCF reunited with DCUK.
25th Anniversary[]
In 2004, DCUK celebrated its 25th anniversary -- its first season having taken place in 1980 -- with a planned reunion of uniforms worn by all corps that were ever registered with DCUK at the 2004 DCUK Championships.
Present Day[]
The organisation continues to run a highly competitive annual season with many registered corps, though all of much smaller numbers than in previous decades. The current logo, as seen to the right, was first premiered in 1996 and is still used on all official DCUK publications.
Corps[]
As of 2005, corps registered with DCUK are as follows:
- Open Class
- 37th Kingswood
- Black Knights
- Cadence
- Forgemen
- Kidsgrove Scouts
- Northern Star
- Poynton Commodores
- Senators
- A Class
- Cheshire Cadets
- Concord
- East Coast Elite
- Phoenix Coventry
- Southern Aurora
- Squires
- Stafford Lancers
- The Cavaliers
- Junior Class
- Encore
- Pegasus
- Senators Cadets
- Staffordshire Knights
- Cadet Class
- 37th Kingswood Cadets
- Black Knights Cadets
- Commodore Cadets
- Guildford Phoenix
- Phoenix Coventry Cadets
- Statesmen Cadets
- Corps not competing
See Also[]
- Marching & Performing Arts United Kingdom
- DCE - Drum Corps Europe
- BYBA - British Youth Band Association
- DCI - Drum Corps International
- DCA - Drum Corps Associates
External Links[]
- DrumCorpsPhotos (UK)
- Drum and Bugle Corps (modern) at Wikipedia