Southern Knights are the 2005 British Winterguard Open Class Champions. Their show to the theme of 'Up, Up and Away' scored 96.4, with caption awards in Ensemble and General Effect. Alliance won the A-Class title.

Ramon Opmeer and Myriad introduce realPercussive, a music score application with real life battery sounds. The application is based on the existing Myriad Harmony assistant. Opmeer, percussion caption head of Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps and InCorps tenor clinician, has made some changes to the application to increases the ease of use.

Color Guard Nederland and Drum Corps France are investigating possibilities of close cooperation in 2006. A first indoor contest in France is in the works for next year.

The British Youth Band Association (BYBA) is considering to run indoor events for ensembles, starting autumn 2005. According to a draft on BYBA's website, the association wants to test two or three competitive indoor events in October till December 2005.

Black Knights Drum & Bugle Corps from Gravesend - UK are proud to announce the reunion of members past and present. On Saturday 14th May 2005 everybody that has made Black Knights what it is today are getting together to celebrate the past, present and future of the corps.

Drum Corps United Kingdom keeps the age limit for the activity. An Extra Ordinary General meeting of the members of Drum Corps United Kingdom was held on Sunday 20th March 2005. The vast majority of corps and their representatives along with representatives of the DCUK Judges Association were in attendance at the meeting to discuss issues pertaining to the future of the activity in the UK. 

The Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps have posted detailed information on their European tour this summer. The corps will travel to Belgium, France, Italy and The Netherlands.

The very last all-girl corps, the Bandettes Drum & Bugle Corps is in danger of becoming inactive before the season starts. After a successful season in 2004, the Bandettes have run into problems with fundraising, and returning members.

Further to Speculation and ill-informed comment with regards to the upcoming Drum Corps United Kingdom ExtraOrdinary General meeting scheduled for Sunday 20th March 2005, the DCUK Discussion Group has reluctantly been suspended until further notice.

Color Guard Netherlands will feature some live updates from the Color Guard Netherlands Championships, which will be held in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, on March 19.

Drum Corps Associates (DCA) has announced the contest dates for the 2005 season. The list will no doubt be updated and expanded frequently prior to the start of the season. The DCA season will start at June 18 in Wildwood - New Jersey.

Drumcorps.org.uk is one of Europe's main drum corps portals, with news and information on the drum corps activity worldwide. We are looking for writers who can help us providing European drum corps fans with the latest news.

In response to requests from schools, business associations, and corporate entities, YEA! announces the formation of 'Winter Brass'. Created to be a traveling 'clinic band', at least for stage one, Winter Brass will consist of 25 brass players who travel to schools. The ensemble will be made up of current members of the Cadets and Crossmen, as well as college brass players and alumni of the two corps.

A new website about the Blue Devils European tour, that will take place this summer, opened its doors today. The website is called dcimeetseurope.com, and was founded by Rob Beeren.

The DCE 2005 Championships will be held at the Sparta Stadium in Rotterdam - The Netherlands. The DCE management team has come to an agreement with the Sparta board of directors about the use of the beautiful stadium on September 24, 2005.

After many happy and successful years, Cadence Drum & Bugle Corps will be withdrawing from the DCUK competition in 2005. Cadence have consistently reached the highest of standards in DCUK, winning the Open Class in 1999, High Brass in 2000, and High Guard in 2001 and 2004. The corps has also been DCUK runners-up on four occasions. 

Drum Corps Europe and Drum Corps Germany want to work together more closely in the future. In a meeting in the German town Rheine, late January, the boards of the drum corps organisations spoke about the common goals and challenges.

Within a few days Drum Corps Europe will announce the venue for the DCE 2005 European Championships. After talks with several stadium representatives, negociations are now in the final stage.

Drum Corps International has announced the chronological list of the corps performances selected by fans during a four week voting process on dci.org that will be shown on April 21 at Regal, United Artists and Edwards Cinemas accross the United States.

Originally launched in 1997, Drill Magic is back due to increased demand. Since its re-launch in mid February users from all over the UK, Europe and the USA have downloaded and registered for this completely free drill writing program written by Paul 'Bish' Bishop.

Many people have already shown interest in the open rehearsal of The Blue Devils in the French town La Gorgue, on Friday, June 24. Fans who would like to attend the rehearsal are requested to register for this day. Admission fee is only 2 euros per person.

Drum Corps Europe will hold a '2005 KICK OFF' Symposium on April 9, during the yearly Mega Clinic in Middelburg (southern part of The Netherlands, not far from the Belgian border). Everyone who is interested is invited to attend the symposium, it's free of charge.

As the Syracuse Brigadiers Drum and Bugle Corps practiced Saturday, the players displayed confidence in their abilities. But there was still an uneasiness regarding the future of the corps. That's because the group's bingo operation, its main source of revenue, is closed. "We need the money that's derived form the bingo operation to keep the drum & bugle corps on the field," said executive board member Gary Frost.

After a very strong winter program, Kidsgrove Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps from Stoke-on-Trent - Kidsgrove is now entering the spring with great anticipation. The 2005 show 'The Conquest' is already sounding very promising.

Senators Drum & Bugle Corps, defending Open Class champions of Drum Corps United Kingsom, have announced their 2005 repertoire. The title of the show will be 'Mission Incredible'.

Black Knights Drum & Bugle Corps from Gravesend have set up a unique charity event. The corps will sell a Queen LP from 1980 to the highest bidder. Bids are taken online.

Drum Corps France, the brand name of the 'Fédération des Drum Corps et Marching Bands de France', will hold its third clinic in Saint Quentin, department of Aisne, on Saturday, May 7.

The Poynton Commodores are looking for a truck sponsor. The corps is trying to raise £3,000 and have offered to paint the names and logos of local businesses on the side of the vehicle in exchange for help.

Distant Thunder are pleased to announce a deal with Kelly Mouthpieces which will mean that the complete brass section will be playing on the Lexon mouthpieces over the forthcoming season.

DCP, the biggest drum corps online community, has celebrates its third year of existence. DCP began on February 10, 2002, with the activation of Drum Corps Planet. Starting with a handful of members, led by George Dixon, the site quickly established itself as the most positive and safe place to discuss the activity.

The management and staff of the Northern Star Group are pleased to announce a change of direction for the corps in 2005. After many meetings and discussions the corps has decided to concentrate on the DCE circuit as well as exploring new avenues of performance.

The Jersey Surf has announced a 'professional collaboration' with San Francisco-based BDEntertainment, the corporate- and special-events affiliate  of The Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps.

The Drum Corps Europe webshop has an improved customer checkout. The payment processing system no longer requires buyers to sign up for a PayPal account before making a payment with a credit card.

A growing number of corps websites feature the Drum Corps Europe News Service. Corps and associations from The Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Belgium, France and even Italy have added the DCE headlines to their web pages.

As part of their 95th anniversary, the Kidsgrove Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps have announced that a celebration concert will take place on the 23rd April, featuring the Kidsgrove Scouts and the brass ensemble High Brass.

Drum Corps United Kingdom has published a list of DCUK member corps for 2005. More than 20 corps will compete in the British drum corps competition this summer.

The fourth edition of the Mega Clinic will be held in Middelburg - The Netherlands on Saturday, April 9. There will be clinics for percussion, front ensemble, brass, and color guard. For advanced members, the clinic will also feature masterclasses for snare and color guard.

The 'PHX Percussionists', organized by performers and staff of BDEntertainment (run by the Blue Devils), have been selected to perform at the NBA All Star Game in Denver on February 20. The 10-member drum ensemble was originally cast to perform for the opening game for the Phoenix Suns.

The Forgemen from Sheffield - UK have announced the official launch of their 2005 season. With the return of their 2004 staff, as well as some new additions, the 2005 program is expected to become the most exciting and challenging programs the corps has embarked on to date.

Showband Jong-Holland from Zwijndrecht has decided to enter the DCE contest in Middelburg on Saturday, May 28. The corps will appear in the Open Class. Jong-Holland is the 7th corps that will enter the contest.

This weekend the Senators travelled to the far north of the UK to take part in a clinic in Preston for local corps and schools on Saturday Night and a clinic and performance at the prestigious 'Day of Percussion' at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on Sunday.

The Kidsgrove Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, from Staffordshire, England are pleased to be celebrating their 95th anniversary during the upcoming 2005 season. To mark this historic achievement, the corps website has been reorganized and provides details of historical developments of the corps as well as information on the 2005 production, 'The Conquest'.

The Northern Star Group has announced the appointment of Craig Sherratt as visual designer and caption aead for 2005. Rebekka Evans has entered the color guard staff of Northern Star.

Drum Corps International has published the calendar for the 2005 season. The published events include tentative corps line ups. "We're confident that the summer of 2005 will be the best one yet", according to the DCI press release.

Drum Corps France has revealed a new website. With the website, DCF wants to promote the organisation and its activities and make its group members better known. Isabelle Eggermont and Jérôme Capoen created the new look.