The Company
Ensembles from the United Kingdom took the top two spots at the Drum Corps Europe (DCE) Championships Saturday, Sept. 24 in Kerkrade, The Netherlands. Winning their first DCE title ever, The Company of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, took first place with a score of 87.45. 2011 marked just the second appearance by The Company at the DCE Championships. The corps' 2011 production "Cold" featured a number of holiday-themed tunes. Able to hold off The Company to win the Drum Corps United Kingdom Championship on Sept. 17, the 2010 DCE Champion Kidsgrove Scouts fell more than two points behind at Saturday's culminating event to take second place with a score of 85.20. Dutch corps Juliana, who recently announced its intent to tour the United States in 2012 as part of the Drum Corps International Tour, took third place with a score of 83.35. Because last week's Drum Corps Netherlands Championship had been rained out, Juliana was announced as the 2011 DCN Champion after earning the top score among Dutch corps during the DCE Prelims. Jubal scored 82.05, which was good for fourth place. North American drum corps fans may remember the corps from Dordrecht, The Netherlands from the 2011 DCI World Championships in August. In honor of its 100th anniversary this year, a large group of Jubal alumni representing a wide age range of 20 to 79, took the field at the end of the DCE Finals for a special finale performance. The group played a program of favorites from its long history while marching to create several notable drill formations including a "100" and the corps' founding year of "1911." Other corps advancing to DCE's Premier Class Finals included Beatrix (Netherlands), Black Knights (United Kingdom), Starriders (Germany), The 6th (United Kingdom), Millennium (Italy) and Besana (Italy). Johan Friso, a feeder corps to Juliana made up of members between seven and 15 years of age, took first place in DCE's Junior Class, edging Jong Jubal by just a half a tenth, 80.80 to 80.75. Other finishers in the Junior Class included Kadoudal (France), Jong Beatrix (Netherlands), Ravens (Ireland) and Confetti (Netherlands). View a complete recap of scores and more at DrumCorpsEurope.org Photo courtesy DrumCorpsEurope.org