1st Haddington Boys' Brigade Company

The Object
"The advancement of Christ's kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-respect and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness."

Mission statement
The Boys' Brigade will care for and challenge young people for life through a programme of informal education underpinned by the Christian faith.

This will be achieved by:

	Delivering Christian teaching in partnership with the church in which the company is based and encouraging the development of a personal Christian faith.
	Providing opportunities for leadership, decision making and skills training.
	Empowering boys and young people by involving them in decision making at all levels of the organisation and giving responsibility appropriate to their age and aptitude.
	Raising awareness of boys and young people to the needs of others (especially other young people) locally, nationally and globally and encouraging them to engage in activities and projects in which they can make a difference.
	Being sensitive to the needs and aspirations of boys and young people of varying backgrounds, differing abilities and stages of development and providing appropriate support, advice and guidance.
	Ensuring the safety of boys and young people through the implementation of suitable procedures for the selection, training and supervision of leaders.
	Equipping leaders through the provision of high quality training and resources.
	Providing a network of professional staff to support voluntary leaders.
	Creating opportunities to develop partnerships with other appropriate organisations and agencies.

Meeting Times
The company meets on Friday evenings in St Marys’ Church Hall, Newton Port, Haddington:

Anchor/Junior section at 6.30pm-8pm
Company section 7pm-9pm

Staff
Captain - Mr.Adam Young - Contact on 01620824933 or at Adam.w.young@virgin .net
Officer i/c Company Section - Andrew Robertson, Lieutenant, on 01875568569
Junior Section - David Wight, Lieutenant, on 01368862678
Anchor Boys - Wendy Whitecross, Lieutenant, 0131 6530425

Other officers:
Myra Lawrie Lieutenant
Niall Fairgrieve Warrant Officer

Anchor
The Anchor Boys’ Section Awards scheme incorporates activities from simple cooking to sewing on a button. Achievements in the Community section of the Award work revolves around craft work, quizzes in mind knowledge and current topics either in their own community, or looking at worldwide events in a manner which allows the individual boy to develop a sense community and be part of the group. In the Spiritual Section the boys cover lots of different bible stories events and have a lively, open fun time of worship.
The boys also enjoy sports and games as part of their award scheme.
Outings for this section have included trips to the megabowl, the local Police and Fire Stations to find out about people who help us in the Community, seeing the bells, hearing the bells and having a go with the bells at St Mary’s and a weekend camp at Craggan.

Junior Section
The Junior Section is a natural progression from the Anchor Boys and is run along similar lines.
The Awards are similar in content but any boy can follow what path he chooses. The first level gained at Anchor Boy will be built upon as the boy increasingly gains in knowledge, confidence and understanding. Again the field trips and outings will be joint, but there will always be time for the individual to develop in his own way.

Company Section
The Company Section young men will have progressed through the Junior and Anchor Sections but this is not a hindrance to joining us up to the age of 18.
The awards start to get a bit tougher and have different levels within each award. It should be the ultimate aim of each young man to become a Queens Man and achieve the highest award offered by the Boys’ Brigade and gain the Queens Badge. This Company has had a number of Queens Men in past years who have gone on to become Chemical Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Builders Agents and Agricultural Engineers. Most of these Queens Men have taken further training and are now Officers in their own right.
Our current young men are working towards their target award badges, cooking class badges and expedition badges this year. They have also visited with the other two Sections and have taken part in table tennis coaching sessions.
All the current male Officers were Company Section men (some of us were even Life Boys) and have gone on to put back into the BB some of what the BB gave to us.

Activities
The entire Company along with some parents had a very successful weekend at Craggan outdoor centre near Killin in October where actives included Canoeing, Archery, Rope Course, Football, Quiz times etc. Lively boys on the Friday returned home rather tired on the Sunday evening.
In January, the Company hosted its first Burns supper where the boys took part in delivering an evening of Robert Burns to parents.
As is normal with any Company, events are being planned all the time, so watch this space.
If you do think you might like to come along and join in or just come along for a look to see what goes on, please feel free as you will always get a warm welcome.
The Captain and all the Officers are always available to speak to at any time.

If you are interested in joining the Boys' Brigade, whether as a boy or as an officer, please get in touch with one of the officers above.

Link to the Boys' Brigade U.K. site here http://www.boys-brigade.org.uk/