Peterhead Methodist Church
Boys' Brigade
This is a Christian organisation which takes boys and turns them into men of God.
The Object, known world wide, sums this up as -
- the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys
- and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect
- and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness
I hope we have given here a small insight into our Boys' Brigade. Why not contact our Boys' Brigade Captain and check it out for yourself?For further information visit the Boys' Brigade UK web site.
Boys Brigade at Costa del Cullen 11th May 2001
At 7pm, believe it or not the day of my 40th birthday, Captain Alan (Michael Aspel) Macdonald, his culinary wife Susan, my better half Roselyn and myself set out with fourteen 'victims' - I means boys, for our weekend away at the home of the world famous "skink" Cullen. It was an unforgettable weekend to say the least (well, would you forget having your 40th at Cullen? I won't!), with a few surprises thrown in along the way. (I will talk about them later).
When we arrived we proceeded to unpack everything, you would have thought we were there for a month. Food, food,and more food - that was the diet out of the window that weekend, I thought to myself! After that, we proceeded to take the boys for a walk down the beach in the hope (some hope!) that it would tire them out ready for bed. Before we left the beach, Michael Aspel, I mean Capt Alan Macdonald, had the boys doing somersaults on the sand dunes, after he had given a demonstration himself!!
After we arrived back at the Centre we proceeded to give the boys sleeping pills - just joking (before the safeguarding committee calls a special meeting) - we gave them cocoa and biscuits. To my surprise a birthday cake also appeared and the company also surprised and delighted me by presenting me with a practice putting green for my front room. (The first time I tried it I nearly broke the wife's Doultons!!) After that it was off to bed to sleep; well that's what we hoped, and in the end, at nearly one in morning, were praying for. Seriously, throughout the weekend the boys behaved very well; some took longer to sleep than others, but that was to be expected when you consider there were fourteen boys sleeping in a ward, I mean dorm, together.
In the morning we woke the boys at about 8am; Alan had previously stated that the boys would be wakened at 6am and taken for a walk to the beach but, for some reason, that never happened! That's where Susan's culinary skills came into their own - you name it, the boys (and the officers) had it - cornflakes, Weetabix, bacon, eggs, sausages, beans, fruit juice, it was all there. In case you're wondering who did the dishes, I can tell you - (especially the mums and dads who read this) - the boys are dab hands at doing the dishes, and all took their turn. After breakfast we proceeded to have a 20 minute God-spot, as the Capt called it. As it was my responsibility, it was a good chance to explain to the boys about how I got saved and what it means for to me to have a personal Saviour.
Even though it was great to be away with the boys for the weekend and have a lot of fun, we have never to forget that, as Boys' Brigade Officers, we have a responsibility to share the Christian message with the boys. 'The advancement of Christ's kingdom', is, after all, the first few words of our motto. Over the weekend I would like to think that all the Officers did that in a way that will hopefully leave a lasting impression on the boys.
After the God-spot was finished, we split the boys into two groups. Alan and Susan took one half in the mini-bus to the Macduff Aquarium, while Roselyn and myself took the remainder for a walk down to the shops, and then to the beach. To say the weather was beautiful would be an understatement, Costa Del Sol hasn't a look in. We spent about an hour there and, even at that time, families were starting to gather, such was the weather - for the middle of May we could not believe it. When we all arrived back at the Centre, it was time for food again - soup and Cullen ice cream (not together). What a treat!
The Cullen ice cream is so good I would recommend it to anyone, even better than Johnny Biccochi's in the Broch. Before Roselyn and myself took the other half of the boys to the Macduff Aquarium, we managed to play a few rounds of the different competitions we had organised. We had competitions in table tennis, badminton, pool and fitba, so there was plenty to keep the boys amused. After this we took the other half of the boys to the aquarium. It's the first time I'd been there and thoroughly enjoyed myself, as did Roselyn and the rest of the boys. It was feeding time when we were there and it was something else to see a diver feeding scraps to a catfish by hand. As an ex-fisherman I know how vicious they can be. I would recommend anyone who has not been there to go, it is well worth a visit.
When we arrived back at the Centre we decided, as it was such a lovely day, to take the boys outside for a game of rounders, I could not help but contemplate - here I was, playing rounders in a park in Cullen while my twin brother Peter was celebrating his 40th in New York by going to a 'baseball' match to see the New York Yankees. Just a more professional form of rounders! Aye, it's a tough life being a Boys' Brigade Officer! Never mind, he never had the chance to go to the Cullen fish and chip shop, for a chipper supper, which we did after we finished the rounders. Everyone enjoyed their supper, apart from the Captain, he was not best pleased because he got only six bits of squid rings - serves him right for taking something so exotic as squid in Cullen, he must have got the idea from the aquarium in the morning. After we finished our chip shop suppers, it was the Captain's turn to take the God-spot. He spoke to them for about 30 minutes and it was great to see the boys giving him their fullest attention. After that we organised a fitba competition in the main hall. Each team, drawn at random, contained three players, and to correspond with what had been seen in the aquarium in the afternoon, the teams were called the sharks, the whales, the dolphins and the sting rays.
After the fitba was finished, I was quickly 'ushered' to my dormitory where I was kept for approximately 20 minutes (felt like an hour mind you!!) in solitary confinement! Well, the door was securely locked by my wife. I knew that Alan and the boys had been scheming ever since they knew it was going to be my 40th birthday, but I had no idea what was in store for me; if I had I would have probably gone to see the Yankees as well!!!!
After the 20 minutes were up I was ushered by the back door into the main hall. By now you have probably been saying to yourself Michael Aspel, why Michael Aspel? Well, the reason I have been calling our Captain 'Michael Aspel' is not that he proceeded to play Crackerjack on me but was because he proceeded to play a 'This Your Life' on me. All that was missing was the theme tune (I dare say if he could have got that as well, he would have). His red book (pink actually) was photographs of me displayed on overheads, and, you have guessed, it my mother, daughter Stephanie, and brother John and his wife Deirdre all made guest appearances.
However there was a twist to Alan Macdonald's 'This Is Your Life Show' that he may well live to regret!! At various stages of the Show the boys and my family (yes, my family) were asked to take a vote to see if I was guilty or innocent of an offence according to what they had seen or heard (definitely not what happened in Eamon Andrews' day). If I was guilty, which for some reason happened to be everytime, I was awarded a punishment. Yes, I will repeat that. On my 40th birthday I was awarded exactly 6 punishments and no rewards (Ah-h-h-h-h) These consisted of 1) cream pies in the face, 2) water gun soaking, 3) plates of beans over my head (what a waste of good food!), 4) custard over my head, 5) eggs over my head, and finally 6) flour over my head. By the time they were finished I looked like a cross between the 'Berol-man' and a drowned rat. Never mind, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, even me, but don't tell the boys that or they might do it again!.
On Sunday morning when we got up it was a case of tidying the Centre up and then we went to Cullen Methodist Church where Linda Smith was speaking. After that we treated the boys to ice cream again (couldn't resist it for a second time), and then it was a case of driving home and dropping off the boys back at the church. Over all we really had a thoroughly enjoyable time with the boys and look forward to our next trip away, believe it or not!
Next year the Captain himself will be the 'dreaded 40' and, to mark this momentous occasion we, and especially yours truly, are trying to think of an appropriate punishment - I mean 'ceremony'. Any suggestions? Please pop them on to a post card no later than January 25th next year and send them to me marked urgent!
Regards to all from Stephen Bruce.
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