This page was last updated on 10-Jun-2011 .

CAPTAIN’S REPORT 2011

It’s with very mixed emotions that I write this, my final report as Captain of our Girls’ Brigade Company.

Thirty five years ago when the Minister of St. Giles Parish urch in Elgin asked if I would like to start up a Girls’ Brigade Company there I said “yes”, without really knowing what I was letting myself in for (if I’m really telling the truth I hadn’t even heard of Girls’ Brigade!!).          So, after almost three years of training I was commissioned as the Captain of 1st  Elgin Girls’ Brigade.    Then thirty one years ago I moved to Ellon and, well, the rest is history, as they say!!  I joined the Ellon company as a  Lieutenant  and  then  almost  15  years  ago  I  took  over  as Captain from Sheila Robertson.

Well, enough of the history lesson, let’s get back to this past year, and what a year it has been.             Back in September we had our enrolment night with quite a number of new girls.        We had used the new publicity material from G.B. headquarters and distributed to the local schools, including, for the first time, Slains Primary and Tipperty Primary, and we were absolutely delighted when we had girls from these schools come along to join us.

On Friday 24th  September we held our annual “Let’s Celebrate” evening with our Boys’ Brigade company.   This year we moved across to the church to give us more room, and it’s just as well we did because well over 300 people came along to join in the celebration.The  next  event  was  the  Girls’  Brigade  Scotland  National

Competitions for Juniors and Brigaders.  We entered 3 Junior

teams and 1 Brigader team.   The girls all had a fantastic day and came away delighted when the Brigader team took third place.

November saw the Juniors, Brigaders and Officers taking part in the annual Remembrance Day Parade and Service where again we had an excellent turnout of girls.

Then ...... came the snow.   For the first time in the history of Ellon Girls’ Brigade we had to cancel G.B. three times, one of them being the Christmas Party. However, not to be outdone we came back to G.B. in January and held our fancy dress party and Santa had even managed to leave some presents behind for us to distribute!

January and February saw us trying to catch up on all the badge work, plan our coffee morning and a Church Service!!!! Wow, there’s not enough week’s in the Brigade year, is there.

Our Coffee Morning at the end of February was a fantastic success with us raising almost £1000 in two hours. A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported us in this event, and a special thank you to the pancake makers, the dishwashers and everyone who served and cleared tables.

On Sunday 20th March, Eilidh Hislop, Rebecca Hewlitt and Ashleigh Grant took part in the Buchan Division competitions, where they won the Centenary Trophy for composing an Easter song to the tune of “Twinkle, twinkle, little star”.

We helped to lead morning worship on the 27th  March with all sections of the company taking part in some way or another. We were also delighted when Louise Grant, Sarah Reid and Aisha Walker were commissioned as Officers into our Company. All three girls have been in the company since they were little so it was an emotional time for us all.

During the year our Brigader section have attended a Brigader Knowledge Day, Leadership 1 and Leadership 2 Trainings and new Officer training.

Now, you might be thinking, how can we top all that, but we can. At the beginning of April, Aisha Walker was chosen as one of only eight girls from Girls’ Brigade Scotland to go to London to the  Royal  Wedding. As  Aisha  will  tell  you,  this  was  a  very memorable, once in a lifetime occasion, that she will never ever forget.   If you have a look in the St. Ternan’s Hall you will see a display that has been put together.

You can see that we have had an extremely busy and successful year  in  Ellon  Girls’  Brigade  and  I  would  just  like  to  say  a personal thank you to everyone who has helped to make it the year it has been – to all my officers: Calaidh, Gill, Nayomi, Sarah  D,  Louise,  Sarah  R  and  Aisha;  Auxiliaries:  Fiona  and Libby; Warrant Officer: Amanda.              I would also like to say a huge  thank  you  to  all  the  Brigaders  for  their  loyalty  and service to G.B. and for always being there to help out when they are needed.

And, of course, I can’t finish without saying thank you to all the parents, carers, friends and members of Ellon Parish Church for their support and kindness to me over many years.

Thank you, one and all. Morag Doak

Captain

Representing Girls’ Brigade Scotland by Aisha Walker 1st Ellon Company

I was contacted by email in March asking if I would be interested in being part of the Youth Group at the Youth Viewing Area at Marble Arch for the Royal Wedding. I jumped at the chance but had to wait to hear if I had been lucky enough to be picked. GB England gave GB Scotland 8 tickets which were first offered to girls in GB who were eligible in being presented with their Queens’ Award this year; I fell into the category and emailed GB Headquarters to show my interest.

On the 7th of April I heard that I was successful and that I would be representing GB Scotland at the Royal Wedding, an honour and privilege not just for myself but for 1st Ellon GB and Ellon Parish Church of Scotland.

I travelled to Glasgow on Wednesday 27th April and stayed overnight before meeting up with the other lucky girls. We left in a minibus at 10am on the Thursday and travelled to London where we were given accommodation at Wesley’s Chapel by GB England. On the Friday morning the atmosphere in London was amazing and everyone was in the party mood. We arrived at the Youth viewing area and got a good view of all travelling to the Abbey and I got heaps of photos andvideos. When the happy couple’s procession came back from the Abbey we got to walk behind the procession, up the Mall to Buckingham Palace in time for the Wedding Party to appear on the balcony.

After all the festivities of the Balcony Scene we went back to our accommodation and got changed, then it was time to get back onto the Minibus for the long trip back to Glasgow. We finally arrived back in Glasgow, after a wrong turning in London, at 2.30am on the Saturday morning – I had again booked to stay in Glasgow before travelling back to Ellon on the Saturday, exhausted but still on a high.

On Friday 6th May I took my computer down to Brigade with my photos and videos for all the girls to see. I would like to thank them all, for the support and help I have received over the years and on Sunday 22nd May I travelled down to Edinburgh, along with Morag Doak who retired as Captain from 1st Ellon Company on the 20th May, to receive my Queens’ Award. I was Morag’s 3rd Girl to achieve the highest award in GB in her time as Captain.

 Catherine and her Dad

1st ELLON GIRLS’ BRIGADE

It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly at the end of 2010 and half way through our Girls’ Brigade year.   G.B. has got off to a great start this year with quite a few new girls coming along to join us.   Before the session started we targeted the P1-3 age group with new flyers from G.B. Scotland which proved to be a very worthwhile exercise. We sent some to Slains and Tipperty Primary Schools this time and we are delighted to welcome quite a few girls from each of these schools.

Our programme is again, I hope, a very varied one with the Explorer section looking at “Celebrations” – so far they’ve been looking at Halloween, Guy Fawkes and St. Andrew’s Day, with their next celebration being Christmas.   The Junior Section are being “Drama Queens”;  looking at what they eat;  playing street games and looking at Christian Festivals. The Brigaders syllabus includes “Financial Advisor”;  “One Scotland, many Faiths”;  making things to sell and also learning a keep fit routine. As well as all these things we have drill, marching, games and crafts. Quite a lot to fit into our sessions!!

At the end of October we took 6 Juniors and 3 Brigaders to the Girls’ Brigade Scotland competitions, which this year were held in Aberdeen.   The Juniors took part in the Sommerville Award where they had tocompete in various things including a craft session, a games session and a mental agility session.   The Brigaders took part in the National Brigader Competition which was learning and performing a dance routine. They were taught the first part of the dance and had to make up the rest themselves. I am absolutely delighted to report that our Brigaders (Eilidh Cruickshank, Phoebe Ripley and Bebhionn Paterson) took 3rd place in the competition, which they were over the moon about.   Unfortunately the Juniors weren’t placed but I was assured that they had come very, very close to winning a prize.   All in all it was a great day and all the girls seemed to have a super time.

We are planning a big fund-raising event on Saturday 26th February (put the date in your diary now!).   After the huge success of our Coffee Morning and sales tables last year, we have decided to repeat this again, so we will be looking for donations of home baking, jams, chutneys, toffee etc. etc. etc.   Keep watching the newsletter and intimation sheet for more information.

As most of you will probably have heard by now, I am retiring as Captain of Ellon Girls’ Brigade at our Annual Display in May. This hasn’t been an easy decision to make, but after a lot of soul-searching and prayer I have decided that it is time to have a wee bit more me-time and family time. I will have been in G.B. for 35 years in May, 30 of them with the Ellon company and 15 of those as Captain, so I feel it is an appropriate time to hand over the reigns to the younger (and fitter!) generation.   I know I’ll be leaving the company in good hands and I’m sure it will continue to grow from strength to strength. I won’t be completely deserting them, though – I’ll still be in the background in an advisory capacity if they need me!!

If you, or anyone you know, would like more information about Girls’ Brigade please don’t hesitate to contact me.

MORAG DOAK
CAPTAIN
(Email: Alanbdoak@aol.com)

MY QUEEN’S AWARD

The Queens Award is the highest award in  Girls’ Brigade.  The aim of the award is to encourage girls and young women to a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, while respecting other faiths, inspiring them to greater endeavour in service within the general community and to make a contribution to the worldwide concept of The Girls' Brigade.  Prior to starting the award, candidates are required to have a minimum of 75% attendance at company meetings in the       previous year and continuous Christian Growth commitments throughout the duration of the Award.  There are 7 sections to the award which include 2 years girls’ brigade service, a general study paper, national residential weekend, Christian growth, 2 initiative tasks, voluntary service and a project.

For my Queens Award I spent a year at the Aberdeenshire  Music Centre for my voluntary service helping out with the Concert Band.  For my project I designed and stitched a lily in cross stitch, and wrote a report on what I did to complete the cross stitch.  The initiative tasks involved teaching part of the badge work to another section of the company.  I chose to teach a pom pom routine to the Junior section which was     performed in the church.  For the 2nd initiative task, I raised money for a charity.  I raised £62.50 by guessing the number sweeties in the jar.  This money was then donated to the Church Refurbishment Fund.

The general study paper focuses on the history of the Girls Brigade, the Monarchy, UK government, Scottish Parliament, Local Government, the European Union and the United National Organisation and Human Rights.

The National Residential weekend brings together other    members of Girls Brigade who are currently working towards achieving their Queen’s Award.  There was a small part of     assessment throughout the weekend for personal presentation on an International GB company, GB knowledge and Christian commitment.

Louise Grant