A Hamilton Boys’ Brigade company is setting out on a year of special to mark its centenary – and is hoping to make contact with former members to join the celebrations.
Young members and volunteers at the 5th Hamilton company, based at Cadzow parish church, are marking its 100th anniversary with a range of events including a 24-hour challenge and a centenary dinner for ex-members to share their memories of their BB days.
The latter event takes place at Carrigans in Hamilton on Saturday, March 29, and organisers are inviting former members to get in touch to join them for the landmark occasion.
With 5th Hamilton’s first meeting taking place on January 25 1925, members launched their year of commemorations with a special service at the church on Woodside Walk where their weekly meetings take place.
The group’s Anchor boys, aged from Primary One to Three, junior section members from P4-6 and company members aged from P7 to S6 joined the congregation to celebrate the special occasion, complete with sharing a 100th birthday cake.
Posting on Facebook, they said: “We are so lucky to have spent 100 years in Cadzow so it was important to mark this properly and say thank you to the members of the church who have always been such a strong support to us.”
This weekend sees members across all three sections taking on 100 different challenges over the course of 24 hours, which will raise funds for a group trip later in the year.
Members will tackle a wide range of challenges from across the Boys’ Brigade programme, ranging from scoring 100 basket to joining forces to prepare Saturday evening dinner – with a number of surprise challenges in store across the day.
It will be followed in their busy 2025 calendar by next month’s anniversary dinner, where special guests will include ex-battalion president John Maddock – and former 5th Hamilton captains Jim Reid, who led the company from 1990-2000, and Mark Richardson who then held the role for the following 23 years.
Around 60 people ranging in age from 15 to 86 have already registered to attend – and the group’s volunteer officers and helpers are both reaching out to those they are able to contact with invitations, and would love to hear from any other former members who are interested in sharing in the celebration.
Company captain Stewart Tweedlie told Lanarkshire Live: “We’ve reached out to 150 former members but there are likely hundreds more we don’t have details for; if any former member would like to come along, I’d be delighted to hear from them on [email protected].”
Stewart first joined 5th Hamilton as a youngster in the Anchor Boys section, progressing through its age groups to become an officer in 2002 and then taking the helm of the group two years ago, and added: “We all have lots of memories from through the years; it’s been great bringing together all the centenary events and we’re looking forward to a really good year.”
5th Hamilton currently has seven officers and two group helpers running its three sections and their busy activity programme; which last term included raising £480 for the National Autistic Society through their annual carol concert.
They also hope to have an extra-special reason to celebrate later this year with four company members currently working to complete their prestigious King’s Badge, the brigade’s highest award – with the current group set to be the first to complete it since its name changed last year from the previous Queen’s Badge.
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