Boys Brigade Founders Camp 1954

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.

Members of Hartlepool Boys Brigade attended and these are some photos from the camp.

Gallery images

• Aerial view
• Boys Brigade at Founders Camp
• Boys Brigade at Founders Camp
• Boys Brigade at Founders Camp
• Boys Brigade at Founders Camp
• Boys Brigade at Founders Camp
• Boys Brigade at Founders Camp
• Entrance to Founders Camp