Newtonhill & District Village Association

Boys' Brigade

History
The 1st Newtonhill Company of the Boys' Brigade was reformed in 1988 and in the first year had a total of 14 boys attending. We meet in Newtonhill Church and The Company is divided into Company, Junior and Anchor Boys sections, catering for boys between the ages of 5 and 18.

The Company has grown considerably over the years and currently, in 2008/9, has nearly 60 boys in the 3 sections.

Since 2000, the Company has been successful in having 22 young men achieve the award of the Queens Badge - the highest award in the BB organisation, and this is a record that will be the envy of many bigger Companies throughout Scotland.

To enable the Brigade to organise and finance activities, the boys take part in a number of fund raising events, the most successful being our ASDA bag packing weekend.

Company Section
This section meets on Friday evenings between 7.30 p.m. and 10.00 p.m. for boys in school years P7 to S6. The evening is split into two main periods, starting with activities required to achieve the compulsory badge
work
covering activities including first aid, cooking, map reading, computing and local history.
The rest of the evening is spent in more leisure activities, playing football, unihoc, snooker, table tennis, etc. A number of activities are held outwith the village when we travel to Ten Pin Bowling, Battalion Swimming, Football, Cross Country and Basketball.

Some years we have a camp, when we visit an outdoor centre for a long weekend. Canoeing, abseiling, gorge walking, quad biking & orienteering are just some of the activities the boys have enjoyed at past camps.

Junior Section
The Junior Section meets on Tuesday evenings, between 7.00 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. with boys in P4 to P6. In this group, the boys start to work towards specific credits and awards, with activities including games, 5-a-side football, swimming, marching, arts & crafts, music, drama, & cookery.
Boys also take part in competitions such as football and athletics organised within the Battalion.

Anchor Boys
This section is for the youngest boys, starting at age 5 through to P3 and meets on Tuesday evenings between 6.00 a.m. and 7.15 a.m.
The boys in this section take part in varied activities, including games, arts and crafts and music.

New members are always welcome and if you are interested in joining, please contact any of the Officers, Leaders or Helpers or come along to the Church on a Tuesday or Friday evening.

Girls' Brigade

Girls' Brigade is a worldwide Christian organisation for girls and women, with the aim: to help girls become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and through self-control, reverence and a sense of responsibility to find true enrichment of life.

Girls' Brigade was started in Newtonhill in 1995, meeting on a Monday evening in the Church. Girls are split into 3 sections:

• Explorers - Primary 1 - 3
• Juniors - Primary 4 - 7
• Brigaders - S1+

Girls' Brigade provides constructive programmes to cater for girls from Primary 1 to Secondary 6. All the programme work undertaken is designed to help girls gain physical, mental and spiritual maturity which is expressed through service at home, Church and in the community.

Girls from S3 upwards are encouraged to take part in leadership training, when they reach S5 a residential weekend can be attended designed to give the girls training to then become warrant officers in the company. We have now had 4 girls undergo warrant officer training, unfortunately we then lose them off to university, but hopefully they will return to us at some point in the future.

Brigaders are also encouraged to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award - we have had four girls who have gained bronze awards and one silver, and now have girls working for Bronze, Silver and Gold.

The highest award in Girls Brigade is the Queen's Award - the aim of which is to inspire girls to greater endeavour in service and personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. On Friday 11 May 2008 we had the first two girls ever in the Company presented with their Queen’s Award. Rachael Crockett and Rachel Conkey both completed two years of hard work involving six months voluntary service, a written exam paper, initiative tasks before final interviews. We are extremely proud of both girls, this is a fantastic achievement for both them and the Company, with only 30 awards made throughout Scotland this year.

As well as doing badgework each year the girls train throughout the session to compete with other companies in the division for the various Aberdeen Divisional trophies. Our successes in the past have been excellent with firsts in Basic Choir, Advance Choir, Basic Drill, Explorer Craft, Brigader Spiritual Dance, Brigader Craft and this year a first in Explorer Physical.

Leaders in Girls' Brigade are volunteers from the Church who are trained by Girls' Brigade and
appointed by the Church. We are delighted to welcome Elizabeth Platt who has recently been commissioned as an officer in the company and will now work alongside Julie Miller and Zoe Ashby.

If you would like any further information on Girls' Brigade please contact Mrs Fiona Leslie on 731418.