1979

1978

1909+

All the scores since 1997

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A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR ORGANISATION

The history of this organisation dates back to the beginning of the 20th Century, 1909 to be precise, as this is when the 2nd Brighton Scout Band was formed.  How were they to know that over the years this unit would manifest itself to become one of the United Kingdom's most successful Youth Band / Drum Corps / Colour Guard organisations, and that since the late 1970's it would have won almost every major UK trophy available and that over 100 years later it would still be going strong.

In 1983 the 2nd Brighton Scout Band broke away from the Scout Association and became the Imperial Knights Drum & Bugle Corps and then in 1988 the Imperial Knights and another Brighton based Drum Corps, the Southwinds, merged to become The Southern Knights Drum & Bugle Corps. In the same year a Cadet Corps was formed to cater for the younger age group. In 1989 members of Southern Knights took part in, what was at the time, the largest free concert in Brighton - "The Heineken Lagoon Show" and provided the majority of brass players and a large number of the percussion.

The Main Corps were unable to field a marching unit in either 1991 or 1992 and therefore in 1993, following a trial year in the DCUK A Class, the Cadet Corps 'became' the Main Corps and a new Cadet Corps was formed.

At the end of 1998 it was decided to fold the marching band part of the organisation and to just concentrate on the Colour Guard and have gone on to win the most British Championships across all the competitive Winterguard United Kingdom classes with a membership of approximately 60 young people.  

Since then we have diversified into a performing arts group and in 2007 the organisation was renamed Southern Knights Performing Arts and over the years has performed at many varied events inc stage shows, sports and fitness events, music videos and much more.

Over the years this organisation has had a huge following and in 1996, in an attempt to cater for the growing number of past members / staff and supporters who not only wanted to remember the "good old marching band days" but also wanted to support the current organisation in it's endeavours, the Knights Alumni Association was formed and performed an indoor concert.  Check out our Merchandising page for Audios CD's and DVD's from the Drum Corps years.

Since the mid 1980's many members have travelled to the USA to compete within either the Drum Corps International or Winterguard International circuits - click here for a list of names - last updated 10 Oct 2002 and a number of past staff and members have, and in some cases still are, providing judging services to the activity - including Drum Corps United Kingdom, Drum Corps Europe, Winterguard United Kingdom and British Youth Band Association.