Girls' Brigade.
Captain: Anne Goodlet (956 1715)
Section Leaders:
Explorers (P1-P3) Thursdays 6.30pm
Carol Wallace 954 9777
Vivienne Watson 956 7124
Juniors(P4- P7) Thursdays 6.30pm
Sarah Gibson 563 9781
Brigaders (S1-S2)Thursdays 7.00pm
Janet Cockburn 956 4393
Brigaders (S3 +)Thursdays 7.00pm
Sarah Graham
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
Anne Goodlet 956 1715
The Brigade is very active in St Paul's and the Captain writes a regular "Brigade Blethers" article for Life magazine which will be reproduced on this page, giving a flavour of what the company is involved in.
Brigade Blethers
May 2012
Incredibly, this will be the last wee Blether for this session. Folks ask why Brigade finishes off in April, and the answer is that the all important exams begin in May.
So this update is all abut our awards.
As all of our Explorers are stars it is appropriate that their badges are Bronze, Silver and Gold stars We always single out the squad which has worked just that little bit harder than the others and this year the girls are Meira Jardine, Alex Parlane, Sophie Perrett and Beth Rushforth.
Juniors work for Circles and Diamonds and their best squad is Jennifer Cockburn, Sarah Dougall, Esther Fletcher and Eden Wilson. Another Junior, Sophie Wallis won the Chaplain's Cup for Best Sunday Attendance; Isla MacKinnon took the shield for Junior Drill; Nicola Berry came first in the spiritual competition for the Anne Faith Memorial Trophy and the Best Junior Over-all this year is Eden Wilson. Few words but lots of hard work! Well done girls!
That brings us to the oldest girls - the Brigaders. These girls really do have "stickability". I have just added up their combined years' of service in the Company and it comes to 95 years. Brigaders dont work in squads but we keep an eye open for the girls who "go the extra mile". This year we commend Alison Cockburn, Kayleigh Galloway, Alanna McArdle, Nicolle McArdle; Isla Robinson and Megan Reilly. Kayleigh Galloway was the best at Keep-fit in the S1/3 group; Alison Cockburn was best Keep-fit in the S4 + group; Alison Biggart was awarded the Shield for Brigader Drill and the Jennifer MacIntyre Memorial Cup went to Alanna McArdle.
Nicolle McArdle was chosen as the Best Over-all S1/3 Brigader and our Best S4+ Brigader was Alanna McArdle. Alison Cockburn, Alanna McArdle and Alice Robinson all gained their Brigader Brooches this year. This is the highest award a girl can gain within the Company so it is quite an achievement. Last, but not least, Alison Biggart was presented with an award for 13 years' continuous service. Alison gained her Brigader Brooch last year and we are delighted that she has already started her Basic Officer Training along with Sarah Graham and Sandra Kay, two of our auxilliaries. Do I see retirement on the horizon ?
This has been a particularly happy year in Brigade and this has been due to the enthusiasm of the girls, the hours of hard work put in by the leaders and the support and prayers we receive from parents and our Church family. Have a wonderful summer.
April 2012
On Friday 16 March thirty girls and leaders headed for Auchengillan for our annual Company weekend. We arrived in pouring rain and in spite of Andy Wilson the camp warden assuring me that he had ordered good weather for the Saturday I really did think he was being over optimistic. However by 7.00am the next morning the sun was shining and the whole campsite looked glorious. No matter where you go at Auchengillan the view is dominated by Dumgoyne and my feet were itching to climb to the top. The girls, meantime, were itching to make a start on the camp activities. They had a go at pedal karts; air rifles; crate climbing,team building, grass sledging,archery, water walkers, and the Equaliser with one or two other items thrown in. The reason we could afford all these activities without breaking the bank was because of a generous grant from the Allander Charities Trust and we are very grateful to them.
Gill Wallis and Louise Wilson came up to prepare our meals which meant that the leaders could concentrate on attending to the girls. Talking of meals I've been asked to make sure that Barbara Sinclair gets a mention for providing a great spaghetti bolognese.
We had a party on the Saturday evening and now that I have reached my dotage it was great to sit back and let the younger leaders run the whole thing. The girls all really enjoyed it but after all the running around they had done during the day I dont know where they got the energy! I think everyone had a good sleep that night.
The sun stayed with us on the Sunday and Alex McEwan came up to take our short morning service. He came armed with maltesers for everyone and informed the girls that maltesers were produced for the first time the same year that I was born. Thanks Alex, every second advert on TV tells us that maltesers are 75 years old. I had that big birthday on the Saturday and I felt as if the whole weekend was just one great big birthday party. There was a huge cake, flowers, a massive box of chocolates and loads of love and prayers. Thank you parents for the privilege of looking after your brilliant daughters and thanks to Carol, Gayle, Janet, Katy, Sarah and Vivienne for making it all happen.
Now it is back to earth with a bang because it is not long till the Display and we still have quite a bit of work to do before the items are ready for a public appearance. But we'll get there!
March 2012
No blethering this month! Just a great big thank you to everyone who helped us to raise the amazing sum of £1021.00 at our Coffee Morning.
Since then we have had several donations from friends in St Paul's who could not come along on the Saturday, so our grand total has now risen to £1071.00. This means that we can stop worrying about meeting the cost of awards and prizes for our Company Display in April. It also means we can give the girls a real action packed weekend when we go up to Auchengillan in the middle of March.
This is a good chance to thank all of the girls who worked so hard at the Coffee Morning. The bizz started at ten and just kept going. We even ran out of seats at one point. Serving teas and coffee, clearing tables, making sure the plates of goodies were always full was a daunting task to girls who had never done it before but they all knuckled down and got on with it. They managed to keep smiling and joking too - so well done girls. Our workers in the kitchen should have been issued with roller skates because theirs was a mammoth task - but everything was always ready and waiting when it was required.
One girl remarked that she "had gone off scones". I wonder how many she had stood and buttered.
I am not forgetting the folks who manned the stalls. They came under fire right from the start and we had been given so many really good things to sell that the customers just kept buying. Thank you ladies and gentlemen - you were all wonderful!
Just one last story before I finish. When we opened the hall door at 10 o'clock I remarked to the girls that the first couple of dozen through the door would be dealers. One of the Brigaders looked at me in horror and said "Drug dealers ?" I'll remember to call them Traders from now on !
February 2012
As always, our first night back was a visit to the pantomime at the Kings and again, as always, it was great.
The only complaint from the girls was that "the man didn't throw the sweeties high enough." In other words they didn't manage to catch any. Better luck next year.
By the time that you read this our Coffee Morning cum Jumble sale will be upon us so we hope that you will manage to come along on Saturday 11 February from 10.00am. We'll be grateful for any donations of jumble or home baking to sell on our stalls but we don’t "do" clothes or electrical things any more. The Big hall will be open on the Friday from about 6.30pm to 8.00pm if you do have any treasures you want to part with.
Thursdays are now spent working out what we will get up to for the Display at the end of April. The badgework goes on as usual of course and I am glad that the Brigaders are tackling cooking projects because I get to be one of the official tasters.
January 2012
Just a wee short blether this month because, like so many otherorganisations, Brigadewas cancelled because of the weather.
We will just have to hold our Christmas party in January.
We had a very busy and very successful quiz at theend of November.Congratulations to thebadminton clubwho topped the bill again this year.I have now sent a cheque for £300 to St Margaret's Hospice andthe Companyhope to be able to donate a further cheque next Spring.
Our next ploy was to take part in the Tree Festival and it was lovely to see all the different ideas for decorating the trees.
Obviously lots of love and thought goes intoeach tree andthere was a lovely warm Christmassy atmosphere in the Church.
Becauseour meetings had been cancelled we worried that we would not get so many gift bagsto send to Chananfor the families they support but lots of red bags stuffed with goodies have appeared and we would like to say a big thank you to the families who helped Brigade to send out ourgifts as usual.
By the time you read this we will be into a new year and our prayer is that 2011 will be a happy and peaceful year for everyone.
December 2011
TheCompany came to Church for our enrolment service on 6 November andthe girls got quite excited when they saw that Mr Buchanan had broughtalong the big screen again. They were ready for an update on the adventures of the McMingin'swhen up came a slide of someone called Beckham.(Does he not have something to do with football?) In spite of their ignorance the girls enjoyed the service and we heard quite a bit about their hopes and dreams on the Thursday. We keep praying that more of them would come along every Sunday.
Sunday 13th was Remembrance Sunday and it was very moving to see so many young people out on parade to pay their respects.
Back on Company night the girls have beenplanning thedecorations forour Christmas treefor the Tree festival. A member of the congregation kindly knitted 36 white squares andwe are busy turning them into snowmen.
First, however, we have our Fundraising Quizwhich this year isto help Canine Partners and theteam entries are coming in fast and furious. Looks like it will be another good night.
Then, believe it or not, our Christmas party is on 15th December and I hope the weather behaves so that Santa can get here safely. That will be our last meeting of 2011 but we have already booked a visit to the pantomime in January and a Company weekend to Auchengillan in March so we have plenty to look forward to.
All of us here in Brigade thank everyone for their prayers and support and we hope you have a very happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
November 2011
Even with two Thursdays off for the September weekend and October school holiday we seem to have packed quite a lot into the first half of this session.The girls really enjoyed making the harvest posies and they were pleased to hear how much these were appreciated by the folk who received them. Encouraged by this theBrigaders are now making Christmasgift bags tobe filled withpresents for Channan. The Juniors and Explorers always make the Christmas cards to go in the bags. I can't believe I am talking about Christmas in October but we need to keep ahead. We are also planning howwe shoulddecorate our tree for the Christmas Tree Festival.The Brigaders arebusy producing baking and other goodies as part of their badgework and the leaders are busy sampling the produce. Well we have to make sure they are doing a good job!Letters are ready to go out to various other Churches and organisations inviting them to entera teamfor our quiz night.It is on Thursday 24 November and anyone can enter - (the more themerrier). The proceeds this year will go to the CaninePartnership. This is a charity which trains dogs to work with disabled people in wheelchairs. It is a very worthy cause so if you feel like a challenge and a bit of fun why not get some of your friends together and come along on the night to support our fundraiser.Entrance fee is £ per head and we will even give you a cup of tea and a biscuit Hope to see you there Anne Goodlet
