BB

Founded in 1883 by Glasgow Sunday School teacher William Alexander Smith, later to be knighted for his pioneering work, the Boys Brigade was the first Christian uniformed organization for boys in the world. Originally viewed almost as an experiment to bring the gospel to one group of teenagers through a programme of discipline, physical activities and team work as well as Christian Faith development, its popularity grew rapidly from the start, being described by some churches as ‘Just what we have been praying for, when trying to reach out to often disruptive boys.

Due to the success of the BB, other organizations would follow, most notably Scouts, in fact Smith and Baden Powell were great friends, and later based on the BB programme another development would take place, that of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme .

From these humble beginnings the BB is now a world wide organization reaching out to boys from the age of 5 to 18 and continues to see itself in the forefront of Christian youth work.

The BB at Queen’s Road

Individual church groups are called Companies, and our own, the 10th Coventry can trace its roots back to the 1930’s and so is well established in the history of Queen’s Road youth work.

Uniform and smartness have played a central role from the earliest days as a means of developing  discipline and respect for both self and the Brigade with achievements being recognized in a tangible way by an award structure.

Activities for all age groups can be categorized as falling into topics covering Interests, Community, Physical, Skills and Spiritual with an emphasis in Anchor and Junior on fun and friendship.

Later in Seniors Leadership skills are introduced, themes which are continued in our Duke of Edinburgh group for 14—24yrs, seen as the logical progression from both BB and GB with most of our seniors taking part in BB and D of E.

Friday night is our normal weekly meeting during school term , time for all sections being 6.15pm to 7.45pm (Dof E starting their programme at 8 pm).

Anchor            5 - 8 yrs

Junior              8—11 yrs

Company       11—14 yrs

Senior            14—18 yrs

Church attendance on Sunday morning for our Family Worship is encouraged and on a number of occasions throughout the year both BB and GB meet formally in uniform for the morning service, attendance here being an integral part of the programme.

All leaders are approved by the Church, registered with BB Headquarters and have been checked with the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly CRB), and with ample car parking youngsters can be dropped off and collected in complete safety.

(To assist finances and allow us to provide uniforms we have a weekly subscription of £1.50 per member.)