If you are a BB Officer today, you will be confronted with the problems of keeping the Company programme fresh and attractive as Boys go up through the Sections. How, we ask, can we retain the over-14 group? And you may think that you are the first generation for whom this is a major issue.

In 1963, BB Officers were presented with the Haynes Report, from a Committee which had looked at the issue of retaining the older Boy, among others. BB thinking at the time was that we had a well-planned Badge System, very good ideas on programmes, and that there was a smoothly progressive programme of activities from entry to The Life Boys at 9 years, through to the age limit at 18 years. Brigade literature of the time made a strong point of the progressive programme. There was in fact, some considerable pride in the BB on this question. We were never short of ideas for our meetings. We did retain quite a lot of older members, but many of us thought that we were still losing too many. Most rival movements were worried by the same problem.

Having looked very thoroughly at what was actually being done by Companies throughout the UK, Haynes members pronounced that they found “little evidence of such a progressive programme”. It did seem that while we could still engage the interest of those for whom the Company could provide an active role as NCOs, to give them new challenges, there was in fact little new in our programmes beyond age 15 for anyone not capable or willing for such a role. This revelation was a considerable shock to the Brigade as a movement. Perhaps the only glimmer of hope lay in BB engagement in the relatively new Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Perhaps not everyone knows that prior to Haynes, the Junior Section was “The Life Boys”, and in effect a separate movement from the BB Company even at local level.

The Haynes solution included the integration the Junior Sections. Much more radical was the proposal that we should devise new programmes to interest older members, and that it would be better, much better if these older members had a separate identity from the rest of BB. The idea of treating this group as Seniors, and of having Senior Sections was put forward at Brigade Council at Cambridge in 1963. There was bitter opposition from some quarters, although I could not at that time understand the arguments raised. After all, no-one wanted to compel others to implement Haynes. All we wanted was to try it out. At the vote, however, Haynes was accepted, and we were permitted to try out the idea. Following this, BBHQ devised an excellent new uniform for the Seniors which was welcomed by those who would be wearing it.

I was one of several BB Officers who were running a new BB Company in Cheshire in the early 1960s. We had given thought and effort to the problem. We had engaged our older members in converting an old Sunday School as our Company HQ. We had been building canoes and a sailing dinghy, and had started with DEA. So for us, the advent of the Senior Section fitted well with what we were already doing. Soon we were organising Senior camps and holidays just for our half-dozen Seniors, which featured both mountain and water sports. We looked for suitable personal adventure training, including in my case a splendid week at the Mountain Leadership Centre at Plas-y-Brenin. We found climbers who were generous with their time for the sake of our Seniors. With their help, we organised a fortnight at a Climbing Centre in Cornwall, walking the moors, canoeing in the surf, and climbing on the fantastic granite cliffs. The Seniors looked also in other directions. They undertook a major project, converting a private house into a Senior Citizens’ Centre. One role of our Senior Section was becoming that of a Service Corps for the Community. The DEA work continued, and our first candidates were approaching Gold Award. Generally, we were retaining older members, apart from those being poached from our football team!

While we recognised that we had found working solutions to our problems, the situation in other BB Companies was worrying. There were clearly many BB Companies and Battalions where no leaders existed who were ready for our radical approach. It became clear that the opposition we had felt at the Council in Cambridge, must have come mainly from Officers in Companies who perhaps felt they would be forced into activities which they did not favour, or were just unable to take on. It also became clear that there were others in the BB who were doing just what we were doing. Why not get these people together and help one another, and eventually help those who would not otherwise have access to adventure activities. So was born the idea of a National Club for BB members, meeting several times per year in the more accessible mountain areas of UK. The famous “Stedfast Magazine”, run with great dedication by E R Staniford and his staff, was invaluable. It published our invitation to BB Members to come to an Easter Camp in Wales in 1965, to which over forty Officers and Boys responded. The weather that weekend was not brilliant, but the fellowship was good, we did some good walking and climbing. And the BB Mountaineering Club was “up and running”. Membership expanded, and we were able to welcome members from both Scotland and Ireland to major Meets. We carefully monitored the skills and abilities of members, and suitable members were invited to join the Instructors’ List. In this way, we maintained good and safe techniques which were taught to all who joined. From the start, I and my family members spent many weekends in favourite camp Sites. We repeated the Cornwall Climbing Fortnight for the Club members, and ventured into Skiing Holidays, including using mountain huts in Scotland. We were occasionally visited by BBHQ staff. I think that they were well satisfied with what they saw, although the appearance of tents with heating and carpeted floors at Club meets was greeted with some scepticism by the Club! We in BBMC took every opportunity to feed our expertise into the BB, and those associated, for instance, with Cleveland Hike, will recall regular help and incidents provided by the Club Members and Instructors. There were several incidents where the Club provided the main manpower for Mountain Rescue operations, and dealing with a road accident. Ten years of operation were celebrated in 1975 with another Easter Camp jointly with Edinburgh BB Ski Club. We camped in a foot of snow, and spent our time skiing, struggling through deep snow on the hills, and we managed some snow-and-ice climbing.

During that first ten years, we had successfully brought together a great BB resource, and some great characters who shared the common aim of introducing BB Members to the mountains, and of teaching sound mountaineering skills to all who joined us. Fortunately, we found them to be people of sound Christian background as well, so that evening prayers in the Club Tent would be simple, but always moving. As Club Leaders met annually to plan each following years programme, we could feel that a group was established which was dedicated to the needs of the BB. Needless to say, we found great comradeship among ourselves, and found friendships which continue.

However, in 1977, I was invited by my employing Company to work in Germany, and the leadership passed to others. The immediate result was that the new leadership had ambitious plans for the Club, and they set about realising them. Alpine climbing now became available to members who had learned basic skills in the mountains of UK. But that story is for others to tell.

The challenge of starting and running the BBMC was a major sequence in my life. I pay tribute to my wife and family whose lives were affected (afflicted, if you will) by our activities, but I think that they also would agree that the experience enriched our family life, both through the activities they joined in, and the wonderful people they met in BB.

Ted Ward, BBMC Hon Organiser 1965 – 77