BB-West: 1st Tewkesbury Company 60th Anniversary Year

1^st Tewkesbury Company 60^th Anniversary Year

In 1956 Colin Durrant, who many in the District will know, re-started Boys’ Brigade in Tewkesbury at Holy Trinity Church. There was originally a BB Company based at the Congregational Church in town from 1905 but it closed around 1907 and a Church Lads Brigade Company started at Tewkesbury Abbey.

Over the last 60 years the 1^st Tewkesbury Company has achieved many things so we have lots to look back on and celebrate, and with over 70 boys in membership today, lots to look forward to.

The first anniversary event was a re-union day, held at our HQ, that attracted members from every decade of the last 60 years, including our founder Captain, 4 of our 5 other Captains and some of the founding ‘boys’ present at the first meeting of the Company. Badges, uniform, booklets and 100’s of photographs made a great display of our history. Many conversations were held by former members over cups of tea, talking about past camps, band competitions, practical jokes and friendships made during their time in the 1^st Tewkesbury. The special anniversary badge was available to purchase and afterwards the display moved to Tewkesbury Museum for 2 months for a wider audience to enjoy.

This year our Junior Holiday was held at the Kingswood Centre, Colomendy in North Wales, where there were some fantastic facilities for our group of 20 to enjoy. During the week the boys (and staff) enjoyed archery, low ropes, laser tag, raft building, abseiling, caving, leap of faith, water rockets, fencing, camp fires and lots more.

Our annual Display & Awards Night was held in Tewkesbury Abbey in June and attended by many local dignitaries; our chief guest was the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (the first time she had been to a Boys’ Brigade event). The evening was a great night of entertainment and recognition for the achievements of our member, with 2 Presidents Badges, 5 Silver DofE awards and 4 Queen’s Badges, amongst many other badges, it was a great advert for Boys’ Brigade and young people.

At the end of each session we have a parents & boys BBQ and fun night, for our anniversary year we used a local outdoor leisure park and hired their climbing wall, giant inflatable slide, sumo suits and the gladiators duel. It was a busy night with over 150 people attending and a great way to finish the first half of our anniversary year.

Since then we have been on a fantastic Company Section camp to Jersey where we had a packed week of activities that included Segway, coast steering, sea kayaking, blo karting (land yachting on the beach), and a trip to the Mansell Collection of racing memorabilia and cars – the highlight of which was a private meeting with Nigel Mansell. A great week based at the former Battalion HQ at St John, but sad that it is now closed and being sold.

The new session has started well and whilst some members have gone off to university, all sections have seen new boys join in the first month back. Our final celebration event for the 60^th year is a special parade to the church where the Company was founded and the re-dedication of our BB gates – following a complete refurbishment.

Andrew Baldwin

Captain

Re-union Day & Display of Memorabilia