Battalion Blog

The Boys’ Brigade has been privileged to have Her Majesty as our Patron throughout her reign and in celebration of Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee four young men, representing the four nations of the United Kingdom, have conveyed the loyal greetings of The Brigade to Her Majesty at Balmoral Castle. Her Majesty’s reply was sealed in a Baton and carried by BB members throughout the British Isles using a variety of means to reach London for the annual Council Meetings of the Brigade on 15th September. The Baton was first used in 1935 when the Brigade conveyed a message to Her Majesty’s grandfather King George V on the occasion of his Silver Jubilee and later in 1951 to King George VI in celebration of the “Festival of Britain”. The Baton has travelled through Scotland before being conveyed by Ferry to Northern Ireland and will then cross into the Republic of Ireland and then fly to Newcastle to begin its journey through England and Wal...

Coleraine District Boys Brigade U-14 team football team has won the Northern Ireland District Shield. The team consists of BB members from local companies in Coleraine, Garvagh, Kilrea, and Limavady and under the guidance of Norman Edgar they have won the Competition for the first time ever. In the earlier round the boys qualified for the Semi Finals by beating the Portadown Battalion 9-3. This was followed by a 3-2 win Semi-Final win over a tough East Antrim side. The final was played at the Antrim forum on Friday the 8th of June 2012 against a strong Lurgan Battalion team. In the early stages of the final Coleraine took control and were rewarded with a goal, Adam Rowe chased down a through ball and slotted in under the hesitant keeper. In the following period of play Coleraine hit the post and had a header cleared off the line. However Lurgan gradually started to get a hold of the midfield and stunned Coleraine with two goals in quick succession, both fine long range ...

BB CONNECT empowers, develops and connects young people throughout BBNI. We aim to retain, equip and support the young leaders of the Brigade and allow them to help make the decisions which shape the Brigade now and in the future. BB CONNECT has organised 3 roadshow events around Northern Ireland for senior boys and leaders (male and female) aged 16-30. The nights consist of information stations about KGVI, NVQs, BB Connect and the Northern Ireland team to India in summer 2011, as well as activities from “igym star”, Ireland’s first arcade style mobile gymnasium (visit the company website www.igymstar.com) The India team is in partnership with Habitat for Humanity NI, and follows the success of the 2007 and 2009 BB teams. The team involves working alongside homeowners building basic, affordable housing for their families. All that is required is a sense of humour and a desire to work! The first roadshow is taking place at First Antrim Presbyterian Church on Tuesday 5th Oct...

I would like to extend an invitation to Boys’ Brigade Companies throughout Northern Ireland to visit leading ferry company Stena Line’s terminal in Belfast to undertake a fundraising exercise. The Sea Cadets ran a very successful event at our terminal in West Bank Road over the Easter period where they collected money in the car lanes (this was tallied with them washing car/van windscreens) and the departure lounge for an hour prior to two of our daily HSS departures to Scotland (1220 and 1710). We would be happy to accommodate any BB Companies who would like to undertake a similar windscreen washing/collection exercise (the summer months are our busiest period of the year). Incidentally, the Sea Cadets raised approx £450 per day over three days. From our point of view our customers are provided with an extra service before boarding the ship, while the BB Companies get to raise lots of money. It’s a win-win for both of us.If any BB Company is interested in fundraising in this way co...

Queen's Badge Conference and Holiday Leadership Course to be held in June in Northern Ireland. A Queens Badge Conference will be held in Templepatrick for Queens Badge Advisors, Queens Badge Tutors, Battalion Secretaries, Brigade Training Officers, Battalion Training Officers, Captains and other interested Officers. More... A Holiday Leadership Course is being held in Castledawson those from other Battalions who wish to attend, will be made very welcome. More... For further information, including contact details, please see the Battalion Training page here .

The Coleraine & District Battalion will be hosting a non-residential Youth Leader Training (YLT) course. The programme will run over two Saturdays at Macosquin Presbyterian Church Hall . Saturday 14th March 2009 Saturday 21st March 2009 Courses will commence at 9.45 AM and end at 8.00 PM. To fulfil the course requirements, attendance at both sessions is required. To be eligible for Youth Leader Training an applicant must be at least 18 years of age. Registration forms can be downloaded from Northern Ireland District website. Click here .

The 2009 Northern Ireland District Camp will take place at Crawfordsburn Country Park on the southern shores of Belfast Lough. There is an excellent infrastructure for the size of camp we anticipate with a wide range of activities available on-site or near-by. DATES & TIMES We anticipate arrivals between 6.00pm and 8.00pm on Tuesday 30 June, with the first activity at 8.30pm. Camp will close at 2.30pm on Sunday 5 July. ACTIVITIES The programme will include: Watersports, canoeing and raft building; Adventure activities abseiling, orienteering and pioneering; Competitions go-kart racing, archery, and par 3 golf; Sports, football, softball, volleyball, etc... and a few visits to local places of interest. CAMP STRUCTURE In order that no one will be overwhelmed by the numbers we are expecting at camp, there will be a number of ‘villages’ with about 40 boys and 8-10 staff in each. Most of the activities will be on a village basis, but there will be times each day when the whole camp wil...

Are you a member of Boys’ Brigade, aged 16 or over (no upper age limit) and interested in being part of a team of volunteers, travelling to India in August 2009? After a successful Trip in 2007 there is an opportunity for The Boys’ Brigade to be part of a longer term relationship with Habitat for Humanity Northern Ireland, supporting their work in Madurai, India and seeing how the community can grow and develop with our encouragement and support.   In 2007, The Team built two homes alongside the families who now live in them and saw first-hand, the impact of their support. We now have the opportunity to build a further TEN homes; the special focus of this project is to help ten disadvantaged women and their families living in substandard housing in the Madurai District.   Partnering with Habitat means that the family will not only have a new home but new skills and confidence, research has also shown children do better at school and there are significant health benefits for all the fam...