Company History - p2
Foundation of the 3rd
In 1965 a youth group called 3rd Basingstoke Life Boys was founded at St Andrews' Methodist Church. At this time the church was just a single hall with a raised stage at one end. The hall is the same one our company still meets in today though the building has since extended to include a modern church and several other meeting rooms, including our very own BB room.
The Life Boys' were a Christian youth group for 9-12 year old boys and this is the age group the company first began working with. 3rd Basingstoke was officially enrolled 12th January 1965 with 29 year old Peter Waite as the company Captain. Peter had previous BB experience in 1st Finchley Company.
Rev. William Murphy was the company Chaplain. Other registered Staff members at the beginning were:
• Lt. Eric Burt who lived in St Peters Road and had previous BB experience in 45th London Company. Eric and his wife Hilda were dedicated members of St Andrews' for many years.
• Lt. Brian Hands of Branton Close was also a church member at St. Andrews. Brian was heavily involved with the company and took on the responsibility of Captain when Peter moved on. Brian also ran the Life Boys/Junior section until he got a job in the early Seventies which meant he could not always get to BB so he stepped down and his wife Joan Hands took the reigns of the Junior section for many more years. They were both involved with the company until retirement in the mid Eighties.
• Lt. John Jones who lived in Stag Hill and was a member of the Church.
• A very young 20 year old W/O David Phillips, who at the time was living in Mansfield Road, later moving to White House Close. Dave had previous BB experience in both 1st and 2nd Basingstoke companies prior to the 3rd. Dave later went on to be involved in setting up other BB Companies in Basingstoke, most recently 6th Basingstoke which is still going strong in Popley. Dave was actively involved in BB until moving to Lancashire a few years ago. Although he has officially retired, he still pops back and gets involved occasionally.
• Lt. Eric Fisher, 41, from Margaret Road and later Bennet Close. Eric had some previous youth experience in 126th London Company.
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