In the lead up to announcing their shows for the coming season, the Southern Knights from Brighton & Hove are pleased to be able to give details of the Directors heading their 4 Guards for 2009.

For the third year in a row Gavin Woodhead will be Open Class Guard Director. Gavin joined Southern Knights aged 8 and over the years has marched with Mayflower colour guard in the UK and Corona Colour Guard and Cadets D&BC in the USA as well as teaching in the UK with Black Knights Drum & Bugle Corps. Gavin returned to Southern Knights as a full time staff member for the 2005 WGUK Season and took over the reigns of the Open Class Guard in 2007

The A Class Guard will again be run under the direction of Emma Brown. Emma joined Southern Knights in 1996 and was Guard Captian of the Open Guard between 2001 and 2006. Emma started her teaching career in 2001 with the Rugrats and was Junior Guard Director between 2004 and 2006 including winning the Junior Class Championships in 2005 before moving onto the A Guard in 2007 where she won the A Class Championships in the same year.

For 2009 the Junior Guard have a new Director, Kelly Barham. Kelly joined Southern Knights in 1999 marching in the Junior Guard and she has progressed through the A Guard to join the Open Guard in 2004. In 2006 she joined the staff of the Rugrats and also worked with the A Guard in 2008 before being appointed Junior Guard Director at the end of that season.

Now with four consecutive Cadet Class Championships under her belt, Kristina Longford is remaining at the Rugrats Guard Director. Krissie is now the longest serving marching member of Southern Knights having joined in 1992 and will be Guard Captain of the Open Guard for her third season in 2009. She first joined the instruction staff of the Rugrats in 2002 and took over as Director in 2005 winning the first of her 4 titles in the same year.

Southern Knights Chairman, Alan Thompson, commented "I am extremely proud of the fact that all four of the Directors in 2009 have worked their way through the ranks of this organisation. One of our main strengths is our staff and we make a conscience effort to ensure we have a steady stream of home grown instructors coming through. This year the A Guard, Junior Guard and Rugrats all have instructors who are also marching in either the A Guard or Open Guard. These young people are our future and, together with our other talented staff members, help us provide a high a level of instruction to our 60+ members".

The Southern Knights will be announcing their 2009 shows in the next few days so check back for details.

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