The History of our Organisation
Present
Day
The
Future of Kingswood
Members Successes
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“Hey, has your
scout group got a band, because I’ve got some drums for
sale”
This remark
was made to a parent of a 37th scout group member over
37 years ago, and it eventually led to the formation of
the 37th Bristol Scout Band in 1969, initially with a
membership of twelve drummers. This laid the foundations
for the present day 37th Kingswood Drum & Bugle Corps.
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The Band has changed beyond
recognition since then. A wind section was added; initially
using Bb brass, but changing to American ‘G’
pitched instrumentation in the mid 1980’s, returning
to modern version of the Bb’s in 2002. On the visual
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side, a colour guard
was added and scout dress was replaced with full show
uniform. Although original scout rules only permitted
a male membership, the Corps now contains a large number
of females.
Show routines are very different these days, with traditional
scout marches now replaced with music and drill with
a very strong American DCI influence. Our musical style
is now based very much around jazz, Spanish and Latin
American music.
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| There have been plenty of ups
and downs over the years, but the Corps continued to make
steady progress. By the early 1990s, they had firmly established
themselves in the Premier League of the BYBA (British
Youth Band Association). The ultimate goal was to win
their first Premier Class |
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title at the BYBA National
Championships. This contest brought together the top ten
units from the BYBA Premier League, who had battled it
out at contests around the UK during the season to qualify
for ‘Finals’.
The Corps came close in ’92 when they took runners
up spot and they followed that with a third place in ’93.
1994 was the 37th’s Silver Jubilee year and they
were determined to go all out for that elusive title.
Ten contests were entered on the circuit and ten were
won, with the long-standing BYBA maximum points record
being broken by the Corps three times in one two week
period. The National Championships arrived and the Corps
achieved their dream, when they blew away the opposition
to win the Premier Class title by a large margin. |
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1995 and 1996 also saw Kingswood
take Premier League and Premier Class champion’s
titles and only missed a record 4th consecutive champion’s
title in 1997 when a points scoring error by a finals
judge was only found out after the title had been awarded
to another band, relegating the 37th to second |
place. The Corps has shown
amazing consistency during the 1990s, with a single fourth
place being the only time they have finished outside the
top three since 1991.
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