The Company Section is for boys aged 11 to 15 years old.
We meet on Friday evenings between 7.30 and 9.30 pm at St Andrews' Methodist Church. With parents' permission members can stay until 10.15 pm and join in with sports and other fun activities.
See our Calendar page for full details of when the Company Section will be meeting.
The Company Section runs together with the Seniors, with the Seniors expected to take on Leadership roles within the Company Section.
We provide a programme of fun yet challenging activities including sports, games, arts and crafts, music, going on visits, outdoor adventures such as hiking, camping, orienteering, cycling, canoeing and much more.
Every young person can expect:
The Company Section is all about learning new skills, making your own decisions and having fun. BB provides a safe environment to explore new possibilities and achieve personal goals while making friends and having adventures.
Our experienced Leaders are CRB checked and will make every effort to ensure your childs' safety. See our Information for Parents/Guardians section for more details.
The Officer officially in charge of the Company Section is Barry Precey, although Friday nights are organised and run by Phil Lowles.
The Discover Award Scheme has been designed to give each young person an active role in choosing the activities which will make up the Company Section Programme. This allows our members to develop their interests, learn new skills and acquire a deeper knowledge of life, the world and other people.
Within certain practical limitations each young person can choose whatever it is they feel is most relevant for them, whether it's improving football skills, podcasting or recycling. As an example our current activities include cooking, fair trade and darts.
Leaders will ensure that everyone gets a say and that a fair and varied programme of activities is developed for the group which tries to cover all interests and abilities.
The Discover Award Scheme covers three programme zones and there is a badge available for each of them:
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| Community | Recreation | Skills |
There are four levels available for each Badge starting at 1 and progressing to Level 4. To attain the Badge a young person has to achieve a certain number of points with one point awarded for each activity. Mostly the only requirement is for participation and their best effort. Other activities will require each young person to set their own target or objective before starting and with the Leaders' help will work to achieve that.
It does not matter what age your child joins us at since they will join in with others their same age and participate in the same activities, the only difference is they would gain the badge at Level 1 where others who already have Level 1 would achieve Level 2.
A more in depth look at the Discover Award Scheme is available on our Discover page.
In addition to the above there are several higher awards within the Discover Award Scheme.
The Compass Badge is awarded during the first year in the Company Section and requires 6 points from the Discover programme, 2 points from each of the three zones. This provides an early opportunity to recognise what a young person has achieved.
The Discovery Badge is awarded from the second year in the Company Section and requires 30 points from the Discover programme with at least Level 1 achieved in each of the three zones. In addition a young person requires a good attendance record, taking an active role in a Company event and taking part in an Adventure activity.
The President's Badge is the highest achievement in the Company Section and can be awarded from year four. It requires a high level of points and badges from all three zones, however it is not necessary to fully complete the Discover programme and this means that late joiners are not prevented from being able to achieve the President's Badge. They will have to work harder but it is not impossible. In addition to this a young person requires a good attendance record, participation in a teamwork event and a Christian Faith development course, 10 hours of practical service for the Brigade or church, taking part in an Adventure activity and a recommendation from the Company Captain.
The Boys' Brigade has a strong association with The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme and Company Section members can choose to work towards earning the DEA Bronze Award. This can count as a large portion of the work required for the President's Badge and in fact the two awards can be worked for together.
In addition Company Section members will earn a service badge which shows how many years they have been a member for. A Company Section member who has been with The Boys' Brigade since 5 years old can earn up to 10 years service.
We are a uniformed organisation and do expect our members to wear their full clean uniform every week. Company Section members wear a dark blue pullover (right) and blue polo shirt (below) which is supplied to you by us. The uniform costs £25, however we will meet half that cost and only ask parents/guardians to pay £12.50. We ask for uniforms to please be returned to us when it has been outgrown or the member leaves and that way we are able to supply larger sizes (where possible) at no extra cost.
In addition members are required to wear dark trousers (school trousers are ideal), dark coloured socks and black shoes or trainers (no white socks or white trainers please). Their Badges are worn on a black armband which goes on the right arm. In addition higher achievement badges are worn on an armband which goes on the left arm. click this link to see how the Company Section Badges should be laid out on the armbands. Company Section members will need to bring a change of clothes for sports activities.
We charge a weekly subs fee of £1.50 which covers the cost of heating, lighting and resources, I assure you none of it goes to the Leaders - in fact the Leaders pay subs too! When a new member first joins that first week is FREE!
