Brigade
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Spring 2010
No 52
Magazine of The Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade
Are these St Martin’s spiders?
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ost old and large houses are home to a variety of spiders, of all shapes and sizes and their varied and intricate webs. St Martin’s House, Brigade Headquarters is no different in this respect. However, over the last year, St Martin’s House has seen periods of frenetic activity by what
appear to be our own variety of web weaving creatures, who have become known as St Martin’s spiders! They have been seen at various times of the year, most usually at weekends and in greater or lesser clusters, weaving their fascinating web; the like of which has previously been unknown to any of us at
Brigade NHQ. So fascinating in fact is their web that we want all Brigade members to have a look at it and have included a special feature on it inside. Could these magnificent creatures really be St Martin’s own special breed of spiders? Take a look and let us know what you think.
A Company Limited by Guarantee No 1395966 Registered Charity No 276821
Incorporating the LINK Magazine
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A pictorial overview of the Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade events, awards, presentations and communitybased activities
Brigade
Beverley Seniors making masks.
Young member explores new website.
THE MARTINS
5 - 7 YEARS THE Y TEAM
‘Penguins on Parade!’ at Christchurch Canon Burrows Company, Tameside.
7 - 10 YEARS THE JTC
10 - 13 YEARS THE SENIORS
13 - 21 YEARS
More young members exploring the new Brigade website on the launch date.
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HERE & THERE HRH The Prince of Wales, meeting members from Oldham Battalion.
Young Leaders from Leicester Regiment pooling ideas for the new Brigade website.
Ulster Young Leaders presenting their ideal leader.
Ulster Young Leaders in discussion.
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Governor's Message
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ust last December we held our meetings of Brigade Council, the Staff and Finance Committee and the Annual General Meeting of the Brigade. It is the time of year when terms of office for approximately one third of the Brigade Council’s membership comes to an end. When Brigade Council was established almost six years ago now, it was done in such
duly welcome John Kennedy from Ulster and Derick Jackson from the North East who have been duly elected to join Brigade Council. I also welcome John Smith to the ranks of the Staff and Finance Committee, replacing Don Nuttall as the coopted member.
his fellow Leader battled their individual health problems and Dave, as Church Warden, was guiding and supporting the Church through an extended interregnum but he was looking forward to being well enough to restart the Company and with a new Vicar in place.
Little did we know in December that, come March, we would be attending Dave
Dave’s funeral was a real testimony to how much Dave was loved and how many lives his
a way that its membership could only serve two terms at most. So we are now seeing longstanding members, indeed friends, coming to the end of their involvement with Brigade Council and I thank the retiring members on my own and your behalf for their dedicated and committed service to the Brigade, via its Council.
Greaves’ funeral. Whilst Dave had had to have regular platelet transfusions for some years, he was always bright and as energetic as his illness allowed him to be, never complaining and constantly positive and philosophical. Often to be seen wearing shorts, whatever the time of year, he liked nothing better than to be active, cycling, walking, boating and the like. When last seen, Dave was saying how well he was feeling and he certainly looked it. Just about a year ago, Dave’s Brigade Company was placed into temporary dormancy, as Dave and
own life and example had touched, indeed shaped. There was standing room only. The altar was draped with the St Mary’s Wombwell Brigade Company’s flag and Brigade uniforms were in abundance. Fitting hymns and tributes were included in the Service and from young and not so young alike. I had the honour, along with our Treasurer, current and former Brigade Secretaries, to represent the wider family of the Brigade. It was truly a Brigade emphasised Service and a joyful celebration of Dave’s life and work. We will strive to see that his Company
This last year we said farewell to Dave Greaves and Richard Hall from the NorthEast, Don Nuttall MBE from Manchester, Danny Robinson from Ulster, Stephen Robinson from the Midlands and we
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is restarted. It is great news that our Development Project has been funded for a further year. We are blessed by our small team of truly enthusiastic and dedicated Development Workers, Audrey, Tracey and Sister Anne and our two supporting volunteers, Maynard Scott and John Corbishley. When we set out to recruit the team, just over a year ago, we didn’t know who would apply for these very part-time roles, at least in employed (paid) terms, but we have been delighted with the outcome and their individual and collective application to the task. Their enthusiasm for the Brigade is infectious and that is just what we need. (I am advised that they too have been nurturing and encouraging St Martin’s spiders in their web weaving!) Best wishes to you all. Good luck and every success and enjoyment to you all for your spring and early summer Brigade activities. Pamela Corbishley, Governor.
The Brigade Secretary's Message And the sun is shining…….
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ot unusually, this item for the magazine was written in snatches, as time and location in my schedule permitted. As I start to write this article, I can see out of my office window at Brigade NHQ that the sun is shining and that the crocus and snowdrops around the garden are in flower. What a contrast to the dark days that have been the norm as of late. It reminds me of the ‘dark days of Lent’ as we approach the dramas of Holy Week and the brightness that is Easter Sunday. I have arrived at NHQ to find excited voices and a bit of a commotion. Our cleaner, Carol, has discovered activity behind one of our boarded in fire grates. A woodpigeon has, as often happens, made its way down one of our chimneys and is to be heard in our meeting room fireplace. Zoe, fully committed bird feeder, is ‘elected’ to free the bird! The woodpigeon is duly clasped and released outside. It seeks to fly away but, after its unknown period of ordeal, attempts to fly to the top of our boundary wall but fails to reach the top. Smack! Ouch! But it survives and will probably live at least another day and possibly longer. Another bright day at NHQ and I am contacted by the mother of a Brigade Leader, apologising for mithering me but asking if I would support the nomination of her son for a community award, for his Brigade work. I reply to the
effect that I am delighted and honoured that she has contacted me in this way. He is a bright, enthusiastic and energetic young man and greatly innovative in his Brigade work. I am all for our young leaders having real opportunities for responsibility and scope to develop our Brigade. Once again I am reminded of the fact that the average age of the pilots in the Battle of Britain was 22 years and average life expectancy in
to the secondary school where I recently became Chairman of the governing body. I arrived at 7.30am in order to be in place to meet with the Lead Inspector on a 48 hours’ notice monitoring visit. It is an Academy, placed in ‘Special Measures’ last summer after an Inspection. It is a bright new school and, as one representative of the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ (DCSF) said during his
their role was 3 weeks. So if our young leaders are to be our future, they must have their opportunity, sooner rather than later, lest we lose them through a lack of opportunities to lead and shoulder responsibility.
visit, “it doesn’t feel like a school in Special Measures”. People are smiling and there is a great sense of purpose around the place but we didn’t do too well on the last monitoring visit in December 2009. So with lots of determination, staff endeavour, some new staff members and additional governors, we hope that we have done enough to be moving the school forward on its journey out of Special Measures.
As Deputy Chairman of the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS), I have asked that Chief Officers of Voluntary Organisations and Trustees of NCVYS be permitted and encouraged, where appropriate, to bring with them a young Trustee to NCVYS meetings. I pointed out that CLCGB’s young Trustees (members of Brigade Council) are its future, I am not.
I left the Academy following a helpful and encouraging interview by the Lead HMI, who reported on a good first day of inspections and greater confidence and satisfaction, at that stage at least, in what was being witnessed by her and her
This morning started off darkly enough, as I drove
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colleagues but there was still the best part of the day to go. As I left the Academy (to return at the end of the school day, for the end of inspection feedback from the inspectors, followed by a meeting of the governors) the sun was shining and it was a good start to the day. My return to the Academy found feedback from the inspection team to be greatly encouraging for both staff and governors. The last twelve weeks had seen good progress since Christmas, so we were judged to be at the stage that we should be at, if we were making ‘Satisfactory’ progress towards coming out of Special Measures, and, guess what, the sun was still shining! Another bright and mild day as I continue this item at NHQ. It is 23rd March 2010 and we have just received confirmation from DCSF that we are to receive the second (final) year of funding for our Development Project. Subsequent years of funding are never guaranteed under DCSF funding rounds. They are subject to satisfactory activity in the previous year and the availability of funding, not a foregone conclusion. Given the recession and prospects of budget cuts, we are heaving a tremendous sigh of relief that our secondyear of funding is in place. (You will probably
appreciate the precarious nature of our situation with three Development Officer employees in post, entitled to adequate notice of noncontinuance of employment, when we only receive notice on 23rd March 2010 that funding of their project from 1st April 2010 is now confirmed. There is much goodwill to be found amongst employees in the voluntary and charity sectors!) I am also given the opportunity to look for the first-time at the spectacular results of web weaving by St Martin’s spiders. He should be and I am proud of their achievement. Those who know me, know that I am technically challenged and will not be surprised that I will treat it as a rather fragile spider’s web but I am assured that our Brigade members will find its silken filaments to be as strong as steel and as versatile as the atmosphere. I am in awe and ever grateful to our ‘spiders’. This is a vital
component in the reinvigoration of the Brigade and supporting the work of our Development Project, its Officers and volunteers’ work. I am now on the train from Manchester to London, for one of my regular visits for meetings. (Whilst Brigade NHQ and my office are in South Yorkshire, as I live in Lancashire, Manchester is my nearest station to commute from to London.) I am taken by an article in The Independent newspaper (24th March 2010 page 8). It reports on research from the Charity Commission that illustrates that one in four charities could find themselves at a “financial cliff edge” when public sector spending cuts begin to bite. Whilst it illustrates the impact on many charities, some of them quite large, often quite dependent on public sector contracts for the delivery of services, it shows that 59% of charities have been affected by the economic
downturn and that many are likely to ‘go bust’ because of their reliance on public funding. The Brigade continues to be financially challenged but, our Development Project apart, we are not in receipt of public funding to support us. We just continue to struggle financially anyway! But the sun is shining through as I write. (I am reminded that Monday evening in Barnsley saw heavy hail showers and yesterday morning saw a heavy frost!) Yesterday afternoon at NHQ, I was engaged in negotiations with our insurers and their loss adjusters to try to move progress on recompense to the Brigade for the fire damage to our outbuildings after the arson attack in October last. There was a general consensus that the insurers’ agents could have acted more speedily and engaged with us more since the fire.
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Unfortunately, I do not have any news to share with you at this stage about NHQ and our ability to let or sell it in order to improve the Brigade’s financial situation. However, and as St Martin’s spiders have brought to mind, Robert the Bruce is reported as having been galvanised to action when he witnessed a spider making attempt after attempt to weave its web and overcome adversity. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again”. And my keyboard is awash with the sun’s rays as I type these words. I hope you all had a good Easter and: May the Peace of the Risen Christ be with you now and always. Alan Millward.
Ps. Hon Archivist Rob Bolton and Historical Society member Johnny Conn have recently published new books featuring the Brigade.
New Website
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dozen Brigade members and officers have been working on an all singing, all dancing website to make communication online a more interactive and exciting experience than it has ever been before. The new look site will replace the current pages on Thursday, April 8th. The working party comprised a mixture of our best young whizz kids together with a handful of experienced Brigaders offering a few insights, but largely on a steep learning curve provided by their younger counterparts. The new site will be accessible on mobiles as well as computers and will contain many features which will enable officers and members to ‘own’ the website as never before. Amongst the features
under development are members’ pages for each of the sections, a forum for raising issues and discussions, an
team of administrators who will update the site on a daily basis, ensuring the latest news is posted asap and that
churches and communities, and sharing news and views across the whole Brigade family – or at
online Stores service, a chance to view CLCGB videos via You Tube as well as links to Facebook and many useful sites for resources.
comments and suggestions for further development are responded to immediately. The website will become a major tool in presenting the Brigade to the world, marketing what we have to offer to
least those who can navigate the internet! If you haven’t visited www.clcgb.org.uk recently – what are you waiting for?
The site will be managed by a small
A selection of St. Martin’s spiders.
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Martin Lambourne.
Scouting for Church Scouts has been written to mark the 100th Anniversary of the founding of three Scouting organisations in 1909, namely the Incorporated Church Scout Patrols, (organised by the Church Lads’ Brigade) the 1st Notts Battalion Boy Scouts, and the London Diocese Boy Scout Corps. isbn:- 1-90554656-4
Also, see page 6, Rob Bolton’s new book, Wilder than Panthers and as ignorant as the Heathens isbn: 095213814X
Investing in our Future
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re we offering our young leaders enough opportunity to flex their muscles and lead the Brigade into a brighter future? That’s the question I ask myself when I meet with many of the bright young adults attending our young leader training events around the country. It’s so encouraging to have a rich wealth of youthful potential in our Brigade family, but we need to be investing in that wealth far more than seems to be happening in reality. Training days in the Ulster and Leicester Regiments
by Martin Lambourne
have indicated that there are young adults amongst us who are willing to give time and talent to work in the Companies they belong to and even in the wider Brigade at Formation and national levels. It is also evident at camps such as the North East Camp and the Manchester Regimental camps, that there are young adults capable of taking on responsibility for activities and groups. One of the problems our Development Officers are experiencing is translating the desire of ‘new’ parishes to have a Brigade
Company into the reality of establishing one on the ground. The major stumbling block is the lack of local leadership – or at least any leadership with experience of the Brigade to head up a team of willing volunteers. One of the ways forward where there are existing Companies in the neighbourhood is to second Officers from those Companies to help bed in new leadership teams in ‘new’ parishes nearby – or to leave the younger leaders in charge at the existing Company while the senior Officer(s) helps
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out with the new Company. Leicester Regiment has provided that kind of support between Companies with excellent results. But whether it is supporting new Companies or leading existing ones, we all need to be thinking about spreading the responsibilities across our leadership teams and giving our younger Officers a chance to prove themselves. Our new website would not materialise if it were not for the skill and enthusiasm of our younger Officers. Onwards and upwards!
Keeping up with DofE
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his last two years has seen mammoth changes in the way the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is being run, especially relating to expedition training, supervision and assessment.
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he internet is changing the way many of us work and eDofE is one major example of how that affects our Companies working with the Award. Out have gone the old logbooks – except for those who use them at present. In comes an online way to compile your experience in the Award and your assessors’ comments and section completions. Each participant now receives
a User Name and Password from NHQ in order to log-in through the Award website and compile and update information as they progress through the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. Company DofE leaders, together with
Expeditions have seen the greatest number of changes. EX2 is a training programme which can be downloaded from the website for Expedition Supervisors to use in the training programme for participants. It contains PowerPoint and other resources to help with map reading etc. NHQ has licenses for Companies wishing to use this valuable resource.
DofE, there is now a brand new training programme for Supervisors which we are also offering to leaders this year which will enable us to establish a register of our own qualified Expedition Supervisors.
Last year we began the process of accrediting Expedition Assessors, mainly in the North of England. That process is continuing and we hope to offer the
The Award continues to be one of the most worthwhile programmes any young adult can engage in. It also provides Seniors in the Brigade with the opportunity to pursue our own Achievement Awards leading to the Archbishop’s Award in parallel with the DofE Award. Watch out for dates for leader training
Assessor training in the rest of the constituency in the next few months. Although Expedition Supervisors do not have to be accredited with
on our new website. Give Martin Lambourne a bell if you want someone to run something in your Formation.
sectional assessors can also contribute information to each participant as well as communicating online between meetings. Participants have control of their own records and the system is maintained in a secure environment. This new system will help the Award keep track of data as well as letting participants and leaders get on with the Award at their own pace in their own time.
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In Memoriam
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e have been saddened to hear of the following loss within our Brigade fellowship and send to Dave’s family our heartfelt condolences. “May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace and rise again in glory.”
Dave Greaves: George Horner writes “It was a great shock to hear on Monday, 22nd February that David had suddenly died. Only on Saturday, at the induction of the new Rector of Darfield, he had said he was feeling better than he had felt in a long time. I have known David for over 52 years from when he was a junior in the Brigade. There is a picture of him in his best suit on the Whit Monday Sunday School walk. I was in my uniform as C.S.M. but not in the band and we were walking along Blythe Street, Wombwell. It’s probably the time that I was taller than him! He was one of a group of teenagers who had grown up whilst I and others of my age group, had been doing National Service. Dave stood out as the tallest of them and has always been known as “Big Dave”. This name is not just about his height but also says much about the man - big hearted and always willing to take on another job. Throughout the 1960’s and 70’s, he was my right hand man in the Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade, at St. Mary’s, Wombwell. He later took over the Company when I was Sheffield Diocesan Commander. We have spent many hours together with lightweight camps and also the annual Regimental camps at the Isle of White. He played the bass drum in the Band, because at the time, he was the only one capable of carrying it and playing it at the same time!! Dave always had an “idea” such as “Can we climb Snowdon?” this we did during the new Spring Bank holiday in 1971; another was “What do you think about taking the JTC camping to Edale?” This was the very cold Easter of 1972, it felt like sleeping on a block of ice. My hip was welded to the ground. Consequently after that we always went when it was warmer. The one we never managed was “what about swimming the English Channel as a relay team” He became known to the wider Brigade as the Sheffield Sports Officer and later as a member of the Brigade Council and Trustee of the Organisation, a role he held up until December 2009. It is not just the Brigade work that he will be remembered for but his work as Church Warden, looking after the fabric of St. Mary’s Church and also using his experience as an electrician, as a former member used to say about him; “he’s got the papers for it”. He was also good at getting people involved or volunteering them to do things. His latest, only last week, was to say that he was reforming the ‘Hall Committee’ and that I was still on it. He and Joan have made a fantastic team working within the community in Wombwell; Joan has supported him in whatever he wished to do. They have also brought up two fine sons, Michael and Andrew, of whom any parent would be proud. We have known his health has not been good over the last few years and he has faced the uncertainty over his future stoically and without giving in and tried to carry out his duties without using his health as an excuse for not turning up or doing his best. We have all lost a good friend; ‘Big Dave’ cast a big shadow, but brought light into many people’s lives. The Brigade has lost a member of the ‘A’ Team who cannot be replaced; we haven’t even got a substitute.”
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Investment and Return There’s not much return on savings these days. Makes you wonder if it is worth saving money and what it is worth investing it in. Dave Greaves invested much more than money in the youngsters he nurtured through the Brigade at Wombwell for so many years. You cannot put a price on the hours, the effort, the care and concern, the total commitment to ensuring the members had a safe and secure environment in which to enjoy growing up together. And for what? Was it worth it? The only response to those questions is to listen to the heartfelt words spoken bravely at Dave’s funeral service by one of his young members – now a teenager. Some return! What more would you want? I heard the sadness and I sat and I thought, I thought about all the kindness you brought, Just look at the lives you managed to change, To know you're no longer here makes me feel strange, The Great Lord decided that now was your time, You've sadly finished life's incredible climb, And I know that you'll be sat on that cloud, Watching over us, feeling so proud, Because everything that everyone is here, Is probably due to your immaculate cheer, You saw no bad when you looked into a man's eyes, Obviously because you were an angel in disguise, But now you can wear your halo and your wings, And help the Lord look after all living things, Memories of you will never ever fade, I'll always remember the good times in the brigade, With you at the sidelines, cheering us on, When we won Cheltenham, your face shone, Shorts in all weather was your style, That managed to make everyone smile, Everyone loves you for the great person you are, You are a legend, a twinkling star, Everytime I look into the night's sky, I will think of you and know that this isn't goodbye, Because you will always be in my heart, Even if we are worlds apart, And I know that you will guide me through life, And make your presence known when I'm in strife, So I guess today is my time to say: Thankyou Dave Greaves, we'll meet again someday!
Sunset at Brightlingsea harbour. There is a CLCGB Company at Brightlingsea, St James’, and JLGB regularly hold camps on the shoreline at Mersea.
Charissa Leigh-Taylor
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Training Opportunities The Brigade Training Team comprises National, Formation and Development Team personnel who can provide training wherever it is needed. If your Formation needs input from the team, please contact Martin Lambourne at NHQ for help with: • Young Leader Training, • Expedition Supervisors and Assessors Training, • Training Officer Training, etc.
More Core Skills Training Event Core Skills is an ecumenically recognised basic leader training course for all people working with children in the churches in Britain and Ireland. At this special weekend, participants can take the whole six-module course, take the six-module extended course or explore subjects linked to the ‘Voice’ of children in the church. Booking forms are available from NHQ for anyone interested in this unique opportunity.
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