April 2010 - The Boys' Brigade

RECRUITMENT
A basis for growth
As a village Company 1st West
Kilbride has been at the centre
of the community since 1918.
Many Companies in the 1990’s saw a
dramatic decline in their fortunes to
the point that late in the decade there
was talk of the Company closing due
to the usual well documented problem
of a lack of boys and officers.
This shock generated stirrings of revival
within the village and focussed minds with
a vision for the Company and the church.
The key to the recruitment of boys is the
creation of an expectation that if you are a
boy in the village then the Company can
offer you a range of activities that cannot
be offered elsewhere. It creates a natural
home for the boys and young men of the
village if the BB is seen as main stream,
accepted, and indeed, expected.
Getting the programmes/activities/events
in place well in advance with constant
publicity through the local press and within
the village increases the profile of the
Company and indicates to parents that it
can offer a balanced, well organised safe
range of activities to their son/s. This can
be through simple tasks such as creating
a parental handbook relevant to each of
the sections, outlining the expectations
and activities on offer throughout the
year, good relationships and links with the
village primary school, having a column
in the local press outlining all the activities
in the week to come and collecting
the parents’ e-mail addresses so that
communication can be more effective.
The programme of activities needs to
be creative and engaging for the boys on
the parade evenings. This was created by
blocking the badge work into five week
groups. It is difficult for individuals to be
able to say that they cannot give up five
evenings, for an hour and a half, in a year!
Thus, the boys have been able to enjoy
Friday night activities such as bugles,
mountain bike maintenance, building
computers, samba drums as well as the
‘normal’ activities such as drill, Christian
faith, first aid, sports and the big draw
for many – gymnastics.
The Company needs to be able to offer
more than just the parade evening so there
are now activities every night of the week
for the boys to enjoy, such as bagpipes,
drumming, cross country, hiking, sports
clubs, and football and gardening clubs.
The church plays a key role in the growth
of the Company with the BB noted as
a standing item on the Kirk session
meetings. This allows the elders an
active role and indeed an expectation to
become involved in the work of bringing
boys and young men to Christ.
Constantly looking for new activities
for the boys keeps us all motivated
and the boys engaged so they always
have something to look forward to,
such as gymnastic competitions, the
Cleveland hike, summer camp or the
national competitions.
This full and engaging programme
linked with the support of parents,
the church and individuals across the
community, has enabled the Company
to go from strength to strength in the
last eight years, to a point where
nearly every boy in primary 2 and
3 in the village school joined the
Anchors Boys creating a section
in 2008/2009 of 47 boys. This
constant recruitment of boys
through the Anchors into the
Juniors has allowed the Company
to grow to around 130 boys in
2009. We still have much room to
grow with the Company Section, just
now beginning to see the benefits of
the work in place lower down and we
are all hopeful and prayerful that the
next 2-3 years will see the Company
Section double in size from its
present number in the mid 30’s.
This work ensures that The Boys’
Brigade remains relevant within the village
and the church, but more importantly,
within the hearts and minds of the boys
and young men of our community.
Alex Jack
1st
West
Kilbride
56 The Boys’ Brigade Gazette April 2010