An introduction to 2nd. Witham Boys Brigade

Witham is a small town of approaching 30,000 people set midway between Chelmsford and Colchester, in Essex. 2nd. Witham has members throughout a 20 mile radius of the town, from as far away as Braintree, Maldon, Hatfield Peverel and surrounding villages, Silver End, Terling and north Chelmsford.
From small beginnings in September 1972, the group has grown to it’s current 110 boys, 8 Officer staff and 40 volunteers. All meetings take place at Guithavon Valley Evangelical Church, Witham, plus people’s homes, the BB office, the new workshop unit, the local church gym and meeting rooms at Witham UR Church and Rickstones School gym.
The Company celebrates 35 years of BB in Witham on 18th.September 2007.
Run by a dedicated group of Officers, Parents’ Fund Raising Group, full time staff member John Boon, Sacha Pavitt, part - time Administrator, full time Project staff member Andrew Eaves, the group has it’s own offices and resource centre in the heart of Witham. Sam Crick also undertakes sessional work for us based at the office. We are a Christian youth group, although membership of a church is not a condition of membership. Activities and resources are shared with other groups in the locality too.

This website went live in early January 2007 and replaces our old one on The Boys’ Brigade server. As at August 2007, we have had almost 18,000 hits.

TO CHECK WHAT’S ON EACH WEEK - LOOK UNDER DIARY AND SELECT THE DATE YOU WANT INFORMATION ON !

LOOK OUT TOO IN THE DOWNLOADS FOR OUR NEW PUZZLE - TRY AND BEAT 13 MINUTES TO SOLVE THE JIGSAW ! IF YOU CAN - E MAIL US FOR A PRIZE !

 

What can we offer you ?

The work every week is divided as follows:

Anchor Boys

For boys aged 5 through to 7 years, meets on a Tuesday evening, for a play hour from 6.00 - 7.00pm. with craft, story time and games. Leader is Chris, John, Rob, Hanna, Ross, Joe, James and other young people. Visits have been made to Museums, local group competitions, Fun Days and various local indoor play areas !! There is currently a small waiting list for membership and we do have some 4 year olds waiting to join. We have places for 2 young people as at March 2008
Call the office for further information - 01376 520400 March 2008

Juniors

For boys aged 8 through to 11 years, meets on a Wednesday evening from 6.15 to 7.45pm. The Juniors is led by Andrew Eaves, Edwin Webber, Julian Jordan, Nikki Eaves, Rob Rudd, Mark Pavitt and John Boon, plus several young people from the Group. Enjoying their own five - sided new badgework programme, we also enjoy outings, visits and camps from time to time. Competitions with other Juniors’ groups features throughout the year.Specials include Water Safety, and Reptiles / Snakes evening
Weekly competitions include joke time and Spot the Difference, pool and chess.
Our War Hammer Club meets also during Juniors, for young people aged 8 upwards ! No cost for this Club.
There is currently a small waiting list in operation, as this Section is over 40 members - call the office for more information please - March 2008

Company Section

for boys aged 11 through to 14 years, and SENIORS for those aged 15 years and older, meet on Fridays, from 7.00pm., and finish with a sport hour and the Seniors’ own programme published regularly. Again all young people work to a badgework programme. Leaders: John Boon, Lorne Campbell, Steven Lees, Ian Elliott, Paul Briggs, Matt West, James Lawrence and Keith Meredith. We also have help from Sam, Robert, with Sally providing the refreshments ! The higher awards of President’s and Queen’s Badges, The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme and Millennium Volunteers Award, all feature in the programme, from time to time.
Once a month a Squad Challenge or other activity is held, plus outings and visits.

Senior Section

See Company Section information first - then—From 9pm on a Friday evening at Guithavon Valley Church halls anyone of fifteen years or over, can take part in the Seniors programme. In addition to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and the Queen’s Badge which is the highest award in Boys’ Brigade and a Junior Leadership Award worked towards for over a year after gaining the President’s Badge, are all features of the Seniors’ Programme. We do of course have a social programme as well and some of the following are activities thought up by both the staff and Seniors themselves: Duke of Edinburgh Award and Queen’s Badge Meetings, Unihoc Competition, Kodak Kapers, swimming and games and relaxation at Felsted School pool, physical recreation at the school gym followed by McDonalds, indikarting or go-karting or tobogganing, a meal out at pizza hut or a chines takeaway at Church, Lorne’s special, Crystal Maze Competition, outing to Aquasprings Leisure complex which is a sauna, jacuzzi and plunge pool, Italian 5-a-side soccer, ten-pin bowling, car maintenance, driving, banking, CV writing and interviewing skills, pancake contest, leadership meetings. Seniors finishes at 11pm and everybody is helped to get home safely.

Information for membership

Membership to 2nd. Witham costs the following in 2007 - 08 :

Anchor Boys annual fee is £43
Juniors is £50 - War Hammer Club membership and tuition included as is Basketball Club and tuition every other Monday afternoon
Company Section & Seniors is £60 - PR sport hour each Friday and Basketball tuition on every other Monday included

Uniform is a blue polo shirt for each group and a different coloured sweatshirt both costing around £25. Forms are available online or at any meeting.

We can give details for a bank standing order, payable over 10 months, or termly. We are unable to accept weekly payments, due to the cost of administering this. Cheques should be made payable to 2nd. Witham Boys’ Brigade.

Outings, visits and camps are extra, as are trips abroad and time on the powerboat, we ask for a donation if this possible.

If you require any further information, please ask. 

LOOK OUT FOR ALL THE NEWS

Don’t forget to look at the News section - for all current information.
At the moment we have on this area:

“Blue Whisper” powerboat project—Joint evenings with the Girls’ Brigade—Peter’s Vale our land project in north Essex— Friends Reunited information and everyclick.com a search engine that raises us money— Basketball and coaching—Sea Fishing—Denmark—Foreign visits to Iceland, USA and Canada—War Hammer Club—more volunteers needed—Raising more funds—Work experience opportunity—Wood turning—Boot Fair items needed—Parents’ Fund Raising Group and Car Restoration project.
As at last year we have opened the workshop on the industrial estate. This will enable us to undertake “dirty” work, servicing and activities for those older members, as well as storage. Thanks to Witham Town Council, for supporting us finacially on this venture. If you can help us with maintenance on our powerboat, work on bikes and quad bike, please let John know.
If you have questions - please call John at the office - mornings only !!

HAVE YOU LOOKED AT ALL THE NEWS LATELY ??? December 2007

There are lots of news items in that section. please take a good look in case you have missed anything !

Some thoughts :

In years to come how will you and I be remembered and for what, by our children and young people ?

I came across some ideas for youth work today :

1. Listen to the voices of young people - but help them evaluate what they say and want !
2. Work co-operatively with all other groups - to help inclusion and acceptance of those with special needs.
3. Demonstrate tough love - offering sound emotional and spiritual security in it’s broadest sense.
4. Organise activities that help young people feel valued and significant - are we doing this here and at everywhere else ?
5. Challenge the demonisation of young people at every opportunity, by giving opportunity to them all to shine !!
6. Help build commuity cohesion by youth work that educates young people to value our common humanity and shared citizenship!

We have launched a fund rasing effort to buy the workshop we now rent in Witham. It will cost £52,000 and we are confident of doing so. Please see below :

Dear All on the BB Website

Building Memories

Remember when…
…the Beano was 8p? …when you could buy a packet of crisps, a can of Coke and a Finger of Fudge for under 50p? …when you filled a coke can with change?

How about when you first started at 2nd. Witham BB?

I certainly have lots of memories of my time at BB, for example our first display at Parkside, and the first time I took a group out to America in 1979. I remember when we held the BB Centenary celebrations in Chelmsford, and over 800 people were present. Such a day!  Another of my memories takes place when one of the early members of 2nd Witham BB brought his son down to his first night at BB.

I’m hope you have many good and funny memories of your time at BB; if you get a chance drop me a note of what they are via our website : http://www.2withamboys-brigade.org.uk Also take a look at some old photos, you never know it might be you!

As you know I always like to look forward, and as we celebrate our 35th birthday I would ask you to consider joining with me to ensure that future generations can build memories in the same that we have had the chance to do through the work 2nd Witham BB. 

For over 30 years we have run programmes for 6 to18 plus year olds in Witham, with activites ranging from abseiling to snowboarding; weekends away to Kodak kapers; visits to places like Denmark, the USA and Canada; and a lot more besides.

To ensure the future of 2nd Witham BB we have invested in leasing two buildings, (with a view to buying the latter) and in appointing a staff development worker, but we need your help to sustain our memory making activites. Please see the reverse of this letter for further details.

How can you help? Are you are able to commit to the next two years of giving a monthly amount? If you are unable to do this can you send us a one off birthday present?  Simply complete the form enclosed and return to us in the envelope provided.

Thank you for taking time to read this and for being willing to consider joining with me as a supporter of 2nd Witham BB, heres to the next 35 years!

Yours sincerely,

John Boon, October 2007

Thanks for reading so far !

We have had offices in Witham for over 15 years and currently occupy a four – roomed building in the old Freebournes Farmhouse, nearby to the Library – right in the middle of town ! This is leased for all our programming and administrative work, and we teach guitar and drums, plus music mixing here. Boys come in write their CV’s, in addition to work experience from school too. Some parents use the internet from here.

During July 2007, we took on the lease of a industrial / storage and workshop facility in the town’s industrial estate, with a view to buying it after one year. Because of it’s unique up and over huge “garage – type “ door, our powerboat can be stored on it’s trailer during the winter, allowing us to undertake all the maintenance work we need to do. From here our car restoration project will be run, plus all the other “dirty” jobs we need to do to equipment from the land project, mountain bikes and the radio – controlled cars.
It is hoped to build a mezzanine floor for straoge too and thus create space in the lofts of the church, for church use !!!

The cost of both leases alone is £10,000 per year and to buy the unit and equip it with a first floor will cost about £65,000!! These figures do not include services and insurance etc.

As we are a registered charity in our own right, we can re – claim tax through Gift Aid. Last financial year, this came to nearly £2000 – we can do a lot with that kind of money.

If you are able to help, please Gift Aid it !

Please see the downloads for a donation form T H A N K S

As at March 2008 - still need the cash !!!

John Boon March 2008