MEET THE WGUK BOARD
MARK NICHOLSON – Chair
Mark started his association with the marching arts as a member of the 56th Sheffield Boys Brigade becoming a brass player with the Sheffield & District BB & GB Battalion Band (Marching Cutlers) before moving onto other marching Bands and Drum Corps based in Sheffield.
The mid 80’s saw a move to Barnsley becoming Drum Major, Colour Guard Instructor and Caption Head of Littleworth Crusaders as well as working with several marching bands, drum corps and winter guards becoming the Director of both Northern Crusaders and Midnight Review Winter Guard in 1989 until both organisations ended in 1993.
Throughout the 90’s, designing and working with several marching bands, drum corps and winter guards before the formation of Magic D & B Corps in 1998 in which he was joint Director as being the Director of Storm Winter Guard until 2003.
For over fifteen years, he was an active judge for British Youth Band Association (BYBA) as well as holding several roles such as Deputy Chair and Association Secretary being inducted into the BYBA Fellowship in 2010, combined with being a former judge for Color Guard Netherlands (CGN), Drum Corps United Kingdom (DCUK), Drum Corps Europe (DCE) & WGUK.
A staff member of Northern Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) from 2005 until 2012, returning in 2017.
2009 saw the formation of The Company Performance Ensemble which Mark has the pleasure of being Executive Director, over the years, CO were crowned DCE European Drum Corps Champions in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016 & 2017 and DCUK British Drum Corps Champions 2013, 2015, 2016 & 2017. The corps toured the USA in 2017 competing at the Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships in International Open Class, having the pleasure of performing in World Class Prelims, Drumline Battle and SoundSport.
A member of the DCUK, WGUK and MPAUK Boards since 2010, undertaking the role of WGUK Judges Co-ordinator from 2013 – 2016 and being elected as the WGUK Board Chair in 2019 to present being inducted into the WGUK Hall of Fame in 2022.
BARRY DAVIS – Deputy Chair
Barry first joined Mayflower Winterguard in 2006, following many years in the drum corps activity, which began in 1985 as a marching member of Mayflower Drum Corps.
Over the years, he performed within the competitive circuits of Drum Corps United Kingdom (DCUK), British Drum Corps Federation (BDCF) and British Youth Band Association (BYBA) with both Mayflower and the Blue Eagles. This experience naturally progressed into instructional positions, beginning in 1997 with Encore. From 1999 to 2001, he was appointed as Visual Designer and Caption Head, during which time the ensemble advanced from the ‘A’ Class to Open Class. In 2002, he joined the staff team at the Senators Drum Corps, where he enjoyed six highly successful seasons.
Barry returned to Mayflower Winterguard in 2006 and, in 2008, was honoured to be appointed Director of Mayflower Open Guard. Under this ongoing tenure, Mayflower has represented both the UK and Europe at the highest levels of our activity, competing at the Winter Guard International (WGI) World Championships and performing across the Netherlands, Ireland and France.
Alongside his Mayflower responsibilities, Barry is a WGUK and Color Guard Netherlands (CGN) accredited judge, which has afforded him the privilege of adjudicating across Europe and gaining valuable insight into the continued development of the activity in France, the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland. He was nominated to join the WGUK Board at the 2012 Finals, becoming Deputy in 2013, and returning to the Board in 2017. Barry remains committed to his Board duties, which he regards with the utmost seriousness.
During the pandemic, he was part of the WGUK Education Team, supporting member engagement, developing educational resources and delivering live webinars. Barry is now WGUK Deputy Chair, a position of responsibility to the WGUK membership, and one he embraces wholeheartedly to help guide and strengthen the future development of our creative and inspiring youth activity.
IAN BUTT
Ian Butt is an experienced Guard Director currently co-leading Oracle Winterguard, where he also serves as the Designated Safeguarding Officer. His safeguarding role within the organisation aligns directly with his professional career as an Educational Safeguarding Lead, giving him a strong foundation in welfare, protection, and duty of care for young people in the activity.
Over the course of his career, Ian has directed and developed numerous Winterguard programmes, including Guardsmen, NSG Independent, and Pride of Bristol. Beyond Winterguard, he has built an extensive record within the Drum Corps community as a visual and colour guard designer, caption manager, instructor, and former performer across the Drum Corps International (DCI), Drum Corps United Kingdom (DCUK) and Drum Corps Europe (DCE) circuits.
Ian has spent the past three years serving on the WGUK Board, contributing skills, insight, and experience from both his professional safeguarding background and his long-standing involvement in the marching arts. He confirms that he holds no commercial interests or affiliations that would conflict with or influence his participation in WGUK.
SHARON CORNES
History with organisations: Mayflower All Girls Marching band 1979-1985, Mayflower Drum Corps 1986-1993, Mayflower Open Winterguard 1991 -1995, Mayflower Juniors Winterguard 1997, Senators Drum Corps 1994-1996, Spartans Drum Corps 1997-1999, The Dagenham Crusaders 2009, Mayflower Performing Arts A Winterguard 2016-2020, Mayflower Performing Arts board 2017-2025
In addition to performing, designing and teaching, Sharon has judged for WGUK and British Youth Band Association (BYBA).
She was elected to the WGUK Board in 2022 and is keen to support the development of the organisation, promote its growth, whilst ensuring excellence is maintained in a safe environment for all.
LAUREN NEAL
Lauren first started marching when she was 4 years old with Moonlight. After 8 years, she then moved over to Southern Knights (SK) where she has been for the past 13 years! During this time she was a performer before moving onto the staff line when at University.
Lauren has been given the opportunity to be staff for each class at SK during her time there. Most recently she was part of the staff team for SK Open 2023, before moving to the Juniors in the 2024 and now A Guard for the 2025 season.
In her personal life, Lauren is a Physician Associate working in a GP surgery in Crawley. With this comes a lot of experience with different communication styles, diversity and safeguarding, which has provided her with a better depth of knowledge. Without her experience of colourguard, she wouldn’t have had the confidence to even think about applying for her degrees, let alone complete the training.
KELEIGH MOORE – Judges Co-ordinator
Keleigh began her colourguard journey as a cadet with Southern Knights in the early 1990s. She went on to perform with the organisation throughout both the Summer and Winter seasons, taking on roles as a guard member and drum major. Her passion for teaching emerged while assisting the Southern Knights Cadets staff team, a passion that later led her to pursue a degree in Primary Education. Throughout her teaching career, she has continued to share her love of performance by creating and directing numerous school productions. She is now an Assistant Principal in a Primary School.
Based in Northampton, Keleigh joined Liberty Guard during their formative seasons, inspiring performers to challenge themselves and progress into competitive Winter programmes both within Liberty and across the activity. Reigniting her personal love for performing, she returned to the field in 2014 with Kidsgrove Scouts Summer after becoming a Winterguard judge in 2013 within the GE caption. She performed with Kidsgrove Scouts through to 2019, including two Drum Corps Associates (DCA) tours, and supported their Cadet Winter programme for two seasons. In addition, she contributed to the Beeches Junior Winter staff team for a season—where her daughter marched her first Winter—and assisted Beeches Summer staff for their final two outdoor seasons.
Keleigh is a proud member of UK Pride Colourguard and has performed with the group for the past three years.
In 2025, she began her first season as Judges’ Coordinator and has played an active role in the training and development of judges and staff, particularly in the area of child development—a personal passion. She is excited for the season ahead and looks forward to working alongside both new and experienced judges, always considering herself a dedicated and enthusiastic Winterguard supporter.
BRENNAGH MCGUINNESS – Co-Opted
Brennagh started in the Tallaght Festival Band in 2008 in Dublin Ireland and marched 6 seasons before moving to the Vikings Drum and Bugle corps in 2016 and marched 4 seasons while aiding in the amalgamation of the Tallaght Festival Band and the Tallaght Youth Band finally rebranding to the Tallaght Marching Band in 2018.
She was one of the founding marching members of Winterfestival in 2010 and dancing 10 seasons in both the UK and Ireland before becoming the Director in 2022 and relaunching the Junior Class program.
In 2019 Brennagh was elected on the Irish Marching Band Association (IMBA) Council and from there has been co-opted on to the WGUK board as a Liaison Officer between the two organisations. As of 2024 she was elected as the IMBA Secretary and has been working closely with World Association of Marching Show Bands (WAMSB) and the IMBA’s main sponsor Celtic Horizon Tours regarding the hosting of the WAMSB World Championships in Galway, Ireland in Aug 2027.
