Old Boys of the Brigade

221st company, Drumchapel. From Lifeboys through to Boys Brigade, officers were Tom Pickering, Sam Gray, Gordon Gallagher and Bert Campbell. Met at Cleddans Primary school every Friday, great memories, a great institution.
 
youngsy said:
221st company, Drumchapel. From Lifeboys through to Boys Brigade, officers were Tom Pickering, Sam Gray, Gordon Gallagher and Bert Campbell. Met at Cleddans Primary school every Friday, great memories, a great institution.
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And a great football team back in the dim and distant past.:)
 
Pollokprod said:
I had many a year in the 44th Glasgow. Biggest and best.

My boy goes there now and is about to head to camp at seahouses on Monday. Only 18 boys going. Nearly 50 when I went.

Still a great time in a boys life.
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Ahh the memories of seahouses :D

I remember one year the dry grass on the sand dunes got set on fire, must have been about a mile of flames.

We nearly got banned from the site that year...
 
269th in Knightswood based in the wee free church of Gt Western Rd.
Life Boys then the BB's.
Was telling my now grown up sons about the stuff we did and they both thought they would have loved it however they were brought up in Englandshire with no equivalent.
 
274 Balornock North Parish met in Knockburn School. From mid 60's through the 70's I was in

Shipmates run by Jimmy Stirling
Life Boys / Junior Section run by Andy White
Senior Section also run by Captain Andy White

Used to love BB Camps. Could write a book about them
 
Joined the 41st Glasgow (Kent Rd. St Vincent Church) as a 12-year-old, loved it - great camps at Meigle and Balmaha. Moved to Pollokshaws and joined the 9th, came through the ranks to become a Lieutenant and proud "Queensman". Oh, and loved the bugle band too!
 
Promoted to Glory.



In Remembrance of the life and times of Sir William Alexander Smith of the Boys' Brigade, born in Pennyland on 27 October 1854 and passed away to higher glory in London on 10 May 1914. Sure & Steadfast.
 
235th Glasgow

Now sadly defunct and the church is now some sort of Islamic community centre or something
 
youngsy said:
221st company, Drumchapel. From Lifeboys through to Boys Brigade, officers were Tom Pickering, Sam Gray, Gordon Gallagher and Bert Campbell. Met at Cleddans Primary school every Friday, great memories, a great institution.
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Sam gray was an officer up at the 2nd bearsden when I was there. Great guy
 
mdingwall said:
Wee mention here of a BB company.

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I recognise some of the faces in that pic. The 130th were often Partick Drill Champions and we took part in the Enterprise Partick shows at the Kelvin Hall. I was in the Colour Party there one year.

Off to the Annual Inspection this Friday night.
 
Joined the 41st BB (Kent Rd. St. Vincent) Anderston in 1972, captain was the late great Andy Montgomery, other officers were Donnie McKinnon and John Cooper who conducted the battalion band at the BB Centenary, at Ibrox Stadium. Camps were either Meigle or Balmaha. Great, great days.
 
The church is still there .The school mysteriously burn down on a Friday evening if i remember rightly . Such a shame it took the authorities so long to get there that another listed building couldn't be saved . But never mind a nice estate of privately owned houses sits on the site today .
 
jmac49 said:
I went to Colston 1975 /79 . The 200th Boy's Brigade was part of the Colston Wellpark Church that was across from the old A block on Springburn Rd .
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Same period as me,I remember it well, the church had a black ash pitch behind it.
Played their a few times for the school team, when the older kids were using the pavilion
 
The mystery of the Roll of Honour at St Margarets

As a child I attend Netherton St Matthews Church of Scotland, which is sadly no longer there having shut in the early 1980s and formed a union with St Margaret’s at Knightswood Cross.

In “the Wee White Church”, as it was known, there were two Rolls of Honour - one for the Great War and one for the Second World War. It never occurred to me until recently why a church opened in the 1940s would have a memorial to the dead of the Great War in it.

When I did started pondering why I assumed that perhaps there had a been an outreach mission to the farmers and miners who would have lived around the area before the Knightswood scheme was built in the 1920s.

In fact, as I found out today from Aileen Campbell who was/is a member of both St Matthews and St Margarets the plaque originally came from St Matthew's Highlanders' Memorial Church at 357-363 Bath Street - that church was burnt out in the 1950s and the congregation merged with what had originally been called Garscube-Netherton to form Netherton St Matthews.

When St Matthews closed the congregation at the Roll of Honour went up to St Margaret’s. There was also a wounded plaque for the dead of the Second World War which seems to have been lost or is in storage.

This morning during the Armistice service wreaths were laid on behalf of the congregation and the Sunday School to the plaques from St Matthews and the one which commemorates the dead of WWII from St Margarets. Each year a Boys Brigade wreath is laid despite there no longer being a company attached to the church.

You will notice that some of those commemorated served in the 16th Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry - famously composed mainly of former Boys Brigade members whose actions included the famous defence of the “Frankfurt trench” - at the Battle of the Somme 671 officers and men of the 16th went into action - at roll call three days later 403 were reported dead, wounded, captured or missing.



















 
These threads are always lovely but I worry that they give rise to the idea that the Boys' Brigade's best days are behind them, that no one attends anymore and that all we have left is nostalgia.

I'd encourage anyone on here who has fondly shared memories of their own time in the BB to encourage both any young person that they know to join and to volunteer themselves at their nearest church.

Declining church attendances or defunct BBs can only be reversed by people actively taking up positions within these institutions. You lose the right to moan about what you've lost if you're not doing anything about it.
 
From the Facebook page Partick People.


JOHN ROGERS B.E.M
Ex Captain 108 BB Partick
Very sad news today that John Rogers ( Jolly ) has passed away this morning, aged 90. He has succumbed to a worsening of his dementia and was not taken by the coronavirus. John served as an officer in the B.B. for several decades and had a positive influence on the lives of many hundreds of boys and their families, and a debt of gratitude is felt by all. This kind, selfless and dedicated man was a true Partick Legend. Due to the virus restrictions he will not receive the send off he deserves and it is hoped that some sort of memorial service/event can be arranged in the future to mark his passing and his life. RIP.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...nZ3PFuqHBEMrzDwXpTDQFHVK9WUMIJ2axlw96nL&ifg=1

 
mdingwall said:
From the Facebook page Partick People.


JOHN ROGERS B.E.M
Ex Captain 108 BB Partick
Very sad news today that John Rogers ( Jolly ) has passed away this morning, aged 90. He has succumbed to a worsening of his dementia and was not taken by the coronavirus. John served as an officer in the B.B. for several decades and had a positive influence on the lives of many hundreds of boys and their families, and a debt of gratitude is felt by all. This kind, selfless and dedicated man was a true Partick Legend. Due to the virus restrictions he will not receive the send off he deserves and it is hoped that some sort of memorial service/event can be arranged in the future to mark his passing and his life. RIP.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...nZ3PFuqHBEMrzDwXpTDQFHVK9WUMIJ2axlw96nL&ifg=1

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Sad news. An amazing man.
 
www.greatwarforum.org

Defenders of Munich/Franfurt Trench

Ladies & Gents, Pal's, prior to a 'site visit' later this month and to enhance my understanding of what occured I am doing some background research into the action involving the 16th HLI and 11th Border Regiment at Munich and Frankfurt Trench's on the Somme in November 1916. Do any of you kin...
www.greatwarforum.org www.greatwarforum.org

Jack Sheldon
  • Brigadier-General

  • Old Sweats

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Posted 8 September , 2005
This account is taken from the history of 'Das Koeniglich Preussische Reserve Infanterie Regiment Nr 15' pp386-387
'There remains one remarkable incident; one which really typified the end of this long battle. During these days a noticeably large number of men carrying rations disappeared, so the men up front, who who were suffering badly from the wet conditions, had to go without food. The whereabouts of these people was a mystery. Then a rumour started up that they had been grabbed by the Tommies during the pitch black night as they made their way forward. It was said that a thousand Tommies had broken through and that they were occupying a section of trench. Reconnaisance then showed that there was a nest of Tommies between the First and Second Positions - which also explained the endlessly circling British aircraft over one section of trench. The Tommies had to be ejected immediately by means of a night operation. One battalion received the corresponding orders but, under the direction of a guide who apparently knew the area, they stumbled around for eight hours during a rainy night, until eventually the unlucky Gefreiter broke down in tears, declaring that he had no idea where he was. As dawn broke it became clear that the whole group had gone round in circles and had arrived back at their starting point. Now the capture of the Tommies was carefully planned and prepared for the next night but one, when two complete battalions would be used.
Completely surrounded the enemy surrendered before even a hand grenade battle was necessary. There was a captain, three officers and 110 ORs. They had hung on for eight long days, eating only food they had taken from our ration carriers. At the end of their strngth, they wearily dragged themselves past us and into captivity. We watched them, not without high regard. Towards the end the iron willed captain had apparently only prevented them from deserting by threatening them with his revolver. The entire affair was marked by confusion on both sides. One prisoner stated that his colonel had said before the attack,' This is the final effort! Make sure that you capture some ground and that's it for this year!' In fact the battle was extinguished like a burnt out volcano which had spewed out the last of its lava. The expenditure of strength in the mud and the cold was too great. Sickness reached significant proportions and the troops lost their drive.'
It seems to me now that RIR15 and IR 185 were involved to some extent in this. If all the accounts are put together it seems as though IR 185 had a couple of preliminary goes at the HLI and that in the end, both they and RIR 15 were there for the final act.
Jack
 
jmac49 said:
The church is still there .The school mysteriously burn down on a Friday evening if i remember rightly . Such a shame it took the authorities so long to get there that another listed building couldn't be saved . But never mind a nice estate of privately owned houses sits on the site today .
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My Old Uncle lives in that Estate. An Ex BB Boy in his younger days
 
184th Centenary Night is booked for Knightswood Royal British Legion in June, I can't see that going ahead.
 
5th B Cumbernauld, got my Queens badge.

Lots of great memories attached to my time in the BB
 
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