October 2004 - The Boys' Brigade

Brigade Council 2004The sun shonecontinuously inLeicester for theCouncil weekend. Itwas a smaller Councilthan in previousyears, but if lacking involume it certainlydid not lack in thewarmth of fellowshipand friendship thatexists when BBpeople meet…THE VENUE OF THE ALL NATIONSCENTRE served our purpose verywell. Because everything was heldunder one roof, the weekend proceededin a relaxed manner with plenty of timefor people to talk and finishconversations without having to rushoff somewhere else. The welcome waswarm and friendly and helpful stewardssaw to everyone’s needs and requests.Delegates were housed in nearby hotelsand guest houses and transport, whenrequired, was provided by mini-buses.On Friday evening we wereenthusiastically welcomed toLeicestershire by Major Bream, DeputyLieutenant and County Patron and healso attended the Sunday morningworship service. The catering staffprovided a splendid buffet and also ahot lunch on Saturday; coffee, tea andcold drinks seemed to appear wheneveryou felt it was time for a drink, whichwas often, during the very warmweekend. A good spirit was felt fromthe start which lasted until farewells onSunday morning.Council members stood in the warmevening air to listen to the band of the1st Loughborough Company whoentertained us outside the All NationsCentre which concluded with theplaying of Sunset.There was time to meet the new BrigadeSecretary and for what was envisaged tobe a small gathering, the whole ofCouncil stayed behind after thereception to hear what he had to sayand ask questions. This was aninformal time with plenty of humour,only cut short because we had to be outof the hall by 10.30pm.Around 230 assembled in the large,modern hall for the Annual Meeting onSaturday morning. The Lord Mayor ofLeicester gave Council members a warmwelcome and stayed for some of themeeting. The meeting was chaired bythe Brigade President, Mr John NeilOBE. The Annual Report waspresented by Mr John Young MBE andMr John Williams, Brigade Treasurer,presented the Annual Accounts. TheBrigade Secretary with help fromRichard Kyle (IT member), MartynWaters (Director for Programme) andKaren Jay (Director for Training)presented an update of progresspage 82 • VOLUME 112 No. 4 • October 2004