History

History

The Corps was new for the 2001 season. Formed in March of that year only a few of the members were new to marching, as the rest of the Corps and the staff were former members of the extremely successful 1^st Crowborough Scout & Guide Band.

The instrumentation was marching percussion, static mallets and various other pit accessories along with Bb brass and woodwind. The Corps entered competition in the Novice class of the British Youth Band Association and succeeded in reaching the National Championships in its first year of existence! The following year Downsmen were promoted to Championship Class for the 2002 season. This year also saw the Downsmen record their 2002 production of Grease in a London recording studio…Very Rock & Roll!

In 2003 the corps took the bold step of no longer competing with woodwind instruments, but solely relying on the more powerful, forward facing brass line. The 2003 season was always going to represent a period of transition for the corps and unfortunately the corps failed to qualify for National Championships. However, the corps learnt a lot and would be back, bigger and stronger the next year!

In 2004 the Corps competed in the British Youth Band Association competition circuit and had their most successful season to date. The Downsmen were defeated only once in the competitive season and managed to clinch just about every trophy going. Consequently Downsmen finished the season as League Division IV Champions. Things didn’t stop there though! At only the Corp’s second only National Championships they clinched the championship trophy and there first ever ‘Red Patch!’

2005 saw the Downsmen field its largest corps to date and compete in Division 3 of the BYBA competition circuit. In 3 contests the Downsmen managed 2 first places as well as a runner-up spot. Spirits were high as the corps once again made it to National Finals and the corps managed a very respectable fourth place. An incredible achievement for a young corps who had just moved up a division! The 2005 season also saw the corps take delivery of a new uniform, giving them the look you see today.

As well as competition the Corps are very active with other engagements in their hometown and more widely in the South East. Some of these have been extremely high profile, with nationwide and even global press coverage. These include Lewes carnival and for the last 4 years, The New Years Day Parade in London (to crowds of over 500,000 people!).

So far the 2006 season has started of very well, with the Corps once again attending the New Years Celebrations in London. 2006 has also seen Robin Killick stand down as the Corps Director, with Paul Hayes and Robin Carmichael taking up the reigns between them. Three of our members are also competing in WGUK competitions for the first time, with A-Class guard, Reflexions Academy.

It has been decided that 2006 will not see the Downsmen field a competitive unit. Instead the Downsmen will be focusing on recruiting more members to the corps and raising our profile in the community. All staff and existing members remain committed to this new direction and the current plan is to bring the corps back to the competitive circuit in 2007. This will allow us to train our young musicians to a much higher standard and hopefully mean we can field a larger corps in the future. In the mean time the corps will remain extremely active, participating in events across the country. So look out for the new and improved Downsmen Corps in the near future!

Many of the achievements outlined in this history can be seen in photo form by just clicking on the ‘Media’ link above. Thank you for taking an interest in the Downsmen and feel free to have a look around the rest of the site.