Open Writing

It was on 27th October, 1854, that William Alexander Smith, the founder of the Boys' Brigade, was born in Thurso in northern Scotland. To celebrate his birth, 1954 was earmarked Founder's Centenary Year. From the first Company that William Smith started in Glasgow in 1883, John Springdale (1983) points out a hundred years later, that "The BB now had a membership of over 400,000 leaders and members, in some sixty countries."

To celebrate the Founder's Centenary Year a mass of different events and activities were held throughout the country. While over 35,000 visitors attended the Festival of Boyhood at the Wembley Stadium on 19th June, the highlight of the year must have been the Founder's International Camp.

This was held on the playing fields of Eton School from 12th to 21st August and was attended by over 2,000 members of the BB from twenty different countries. It included representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Malaya, U.S.A., Canada, South Africa and the then Southern Rhodesia, as well as members from several European countries. Four members attended from the South Shields Battalion, one of them being Eddie Jermain, a colleague from the 18th St Andrew's Company.

Eddie and I went back a long way. It was during the Easter holidays in 1948 when the Rev arranged to take a number of lads to visit the site of the forth-coming summer camp near Hexham. About half a dozen were expected but only Eddie and I appeared on the platform of Tyne Dock station at the agreed time. We had a good day out with the Rev and it began a long friendship with Eddie.

Separate from the International Camp, it was arranged that I should go to a Staff Sergeants' Training course at the Brigade's National Training Centre at Feldon Lodge in Hertfordshire from 21st to 28th August. I soon realised that this started as the International Camp ended. This gave me the opportunity, if I travelled overnight, to visit the camp on the last day. I could then possibly hitch a lift to Feldon Lodge, as the programme indicated several staff sergeants from overseas would also be going there direct from the camp.

I travelled to London overnight on the Friday and then got the train to Eton the next morning, arriving just as 2,000 campers were preparing to leave. I was therefore truthfully able to say, "I was at the International Camp in 1954, even if it was only for the last half day!" The fellowship generated by that event could only be appreciated by those attending. Entering the fields of Eton was like entering an International open-air cathedral. It was a great privilege to share that experience, as I watched the final march past and took part in the closing service.

I was able to get a lift to Feldon Lodge, and the following week was a further development of the spirit experienced at the International Camp. About forty personnel from ten different countries contributed to a wonderful period of instruction and fellowship. Many of the visiting parties from overseas were in the U.K. for four to six weeks, and arrangements had been made in advance for them to visit different parts of the country. The eighteen-strong contingent from South Africa and Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, were accommodated at BB House at Westoe Village, South Shields, from 28th August to 4th September, 1954.

The South Shields Battalion ably led by John Chalmers, ensured that our visitors experienced some real 'Geordie hospitality'. While they visited many places throughout Durham and Northumberland, I believe they enjoyed best the hospitality of the families who invited them into their homes and the rival sporting activities with members of the Shields Battalion.

On the Sunday after we arrived back, Eddie and I took responsibility for two of our members for the day. How my mother managed to produce a traditional Sunday lunch for four growing lads at such short notice, I shall never know. In the afternoon, we showed our two visitors, from the wide open spaces of Rhodesia, our seafront and the town centre. We then went to Eddie's for tea and to church in the evening, where they were given a warm welcome by Rev Rodgers and the congregation.

During the following week, we played the visitors at football at Gypies Green and cricket on Marsden C.W, ground. We were however, no match for the fit, well-built and bronzed athletes from the southern continent who trounced us at both sports. They even beat us at table tennis when we went back to BB House.

Unfortunately their visit passed far too quickly and they departed from Tyneside leaving many memories that are still fresh fifty years later.