2012 was a successful year for our Company with a large number of new boys and new enthusiastic officers joining our ranks, D of E Bronze and silver Awards and Presidents Badges being presented, but above all, it has been great to see the boys moving up through the sections, up through the ranks and maturing into well rounded and confident young men.
December and January tend to feel like busy months, even though we do take a long Christmas break.
Anchor boys and Officers made and decorated Christmas cakes, which were distributed at the Senior Citizens Christmas dinner; these cakes were greatly appreciated by all who received them. I would personally like to thank the Anchor boys and officers involved, especially Marjorie Vann, for their hard work and selfless thought.
Thursday 15th December was the last night before Christmas and as in previous years all sections had a fun night; Santa even took time out of his busy schedule to visit the Anchor Boys.
One of the many great things about being the Captain of 1st Maralin BB is to deliver 20 selection boxes to the Children’s ward at Craigavon Area Hospital on behalf of the Company. This was a privilege for me, especially when it was immediately obvious that these were greatly appreciated. It was also lovely to receive a thank you letter from the Children and staff on the ward.
The New Year started for our officers with a Prayer Breakfast in the hall with officers from other companies within the Lurgan Battalion.
During January we have all been busy with badge work, scripture and working out the different items for the BB display. Junior Section started practicing Figure marching, whilst Company section started practicing drill.
Officers involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme met on 23rd January with parents of the boys interested in taking part this year. This also included boys and parents from 1st Donaghcloney BB, who have joined us this year. The meeting outlined all aspects of the scheme, fund raising to cover the cost and to roll out our program for this year. In total, we have 11 boys doing Bronze and 8 doing Gold. Good luck to all the boys (and Officers) who participate in these challenging Awards. Thanks to Bertie and Winston for making it all possible.
On 18th and 25th January we hosted the Lurgan battalion Grade 3 Leadership course; it was great to see such a high turnout, 31 boys from different companies working together to complete an integral part of their Presidents badge.
The cash for clothes appeal is continuing with the company section boys designing new flyers to assist with raising funds for the company. One of these flyers will be included in next month’s magazine.
Over the next three months 9 Company section boys will be attending their Queens Badge residential; this will be their final part of the badge (The highest badge in the BB). These will be first boys within 1st Maralin to attain their Queens badge and we wish them well for the final assessment residential weekend.
FORTHCOMING BB EVENTS AND BREAKS IN FEBRUARY
FRIDAY 1ST FEBRUARY
Fund Raising Sequence Dance
THURSDAY 14TH FEBRUARY
Junior Section Scripture
THURSDAY 14TH FEBRUARY
Company Section – U14 Basketball Competition
THURSDAY 21ST FEBRUARY
Midterm Break
Yours in BB
Martin Wooster
(Company Captain)
THE BOY’S BRIGADE OBJECT:-
The Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom amongst boys
and the promotion of habits of
obedience, reverence, discipline, self respect
and all that tends towards a true Christian manliness.