Summer Camp at Portrush [Photo Gallery]

July 2008

Now that our camp has safely returned I thought I would update those of you who were unable to attend. We had a good camp - but unfortunatley it rained every day although only a few activities had to be cancelled.

 

 

To date we have raised £240.00 toward Boys' Brigade Missionary work overseas - this was very generous giving by all campers, considering we were only there for 5 days. Our grant from the First and Deputy First minister of £850.00 paid for all the activities which were well organised and thoroughly enjoyed by all who took part.

 

We had a number of visitiors - our new chaplain Rev Agnew, his wife Alison and son Jonathan; our President Mr. Reid and his wife Barbara; our Vice President Mr. Logan and his wife Emily; an ex- adjutant of 1993 camp - Mrs Caroline Brooks and her son Christopher.

 

 

Some outsiders dropped in - Mr and Mrs Lowry (Mrs Lowry is a member of the Belfast Battalion Executive); also the Moderator of the East Belfast Presbytery Rev. J. Lamb ( who is a good friend of our company). Thanks to Gareth Wright and Chris Forsyth who came up for 2 days and helped the advance party erect the tents.

 

 

The devotional sessions which were taken by all members of staff were very well presented and we only hope and pray that the lads will have been challenged from what was said.

Another successful event for our company - don't forget full staff meeting on 26th August - enjoy the rest of the summer.

Captain

CAMP REPORT 2008 PORTRUSH by Bradley McIlvenny.

My name is Bradley McIlvenny. I am 14 years old. I go to a Boys Brigade, which has its night on a Friday. It is the 25th Belfast Company. It is a very popular company to many people of different ages. I myself have made many close friends in the Boys Brigade and also have been in the 25th from the beginning as an Anchor Boy.

Every year, my company section would have our annual camp, which is usually interested by all of my section, and also young junior section boys that are soon to join the older group.

The camp that my Boys Brigade held this year was in the very close to a popular town called Portrush. I was a member of the advance party and it was a wonderful experience because it was like myself building my own house for a few days. It was great fun but also hard work because if one small error occurred, it could have been a disaster for the camp. When the main party had arrived, things certainly got on their way because we had full house in the tents and lots of excitement was yet to come.

 

The camp this year was my fourth any it was quite special for me because it was my first year as tent commander, and I was quite honoured with the experience of being a tent commander.

Camp this year invited me into many things, which I never thought that I would get a chance to do. For example, the banana boating was probably the best thing that I done at camp, and without a doubt the funniest. But the experience of doing it was amazing because before I got there I didn’t even know what it was.

 

Also the abseiling and rock climbing right up against the ocean waves was a breath taking experience. I had never done anything like it in my life.

 

On the last day of camp, I was very busy but in a good way because it was time to take down the tents and get them packed in the truck and ready for the trip home. It was a brilliant sight seeing all the boys’ and girls giving out a hand in every way possible, and before you knew it, all tents were packed up and the timing was perfect because as we just finished with the tents the rain came on and we were lucky.

 

All the activities were tremendous things to do, and if it weren’t for my BB it would not have been possible to do back here in the East of Belfast.

I would like to thank the cooks for preparing the meals for us, as they were delicious, and if not for Mrs Taggart, and Mrs Harte, our camp would be a disaster. Also I would like to thank the young officers for taking their time out to come to camp for only our benefit and not their own. And big thanks to Mr Taggart and Mr Corbett for being the main leaders at camp and treating all the boys with freedom and respect. I hope all of them enjoyed camp as much as I did.

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