Various images of Stranton Boys' Brigade taken at St Matthew's Hall in the early 1970s

50th Anniversary of Stranton Boys' Brigade in St Matthew's Hall.

Anchor boys are at the front in red, then the juniors and comany section at the back.

The 4th Hartlepool Boys' Brigade (Stranton) for many years had a summer camp at Gunnerside in Swaledale .These are some images from a camp week in the early 1970s. By the late 1980s and 90s, camp was held at Castleton in the Yorkshire Moors

The boys obviously thoroughly enjoyed playing pantomime dames in these images from the early 1970s.

In 1969 there was a Boys'Brigade display in the Town Hall. These young boys from the 6th Hartlepool battalion danced the Can Can. Ooo la la !

Band of the 1st Hartlepool Boys Brigade Company. Year not known.

A Boys Brigade Band. Not known where picture was taken though the writing on the drum states West Hartlepool No 1 Boys Brigade.

Bert Forstad (second from the left), was a Bugler with the Boy's Brigade. Born in 1920, he was a very keen athlete, exelling in athletics and gymnastics.

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.

This group of Boy's Brigade proudly display a Cup and Shield, although it is not known what they have been awarded for.

Boys brigade adult helpers posing with Cliff Terrace in the background.

Boys Brigade members showing off their cups.

Boys Brigade at Founders Camp

John Coates

Gus Elliot and John Coates with other BB members, some foreign.

Group of about thirty young Boys Brigade men lining Hartlepool railway station platform prior to an outing.

A number of as yet un-dated images of a Boy's Brigade unit at the open-air swimming pool - nor do we know the names of any of the boys. 

Group of twelve Boys Brigade members on Hartlepool Promenade with the lookout and lighthouse in the background.

Nine boys and a leader in front of a large tent.

Seven Boys Brigade members in costume with beards and four with walking canes.

Boys Brigade marching through the grounds of St Hilda's Church.

John Coates posing in uniform near his home in Hartlepool.

Group of Boys Brigade members on the beach below Hartlepool Promenade.

Four Boys Brigade members posed in and around a bull-nosed Morris? A fuel can is stowed at the front of the offside running board.

The entrance to the Founders Camp on Eton playing fields.

John Gardiner of No.17, Montague Street, and a friend, in their Boys Brigade uniforms, were chosen to attend the 1953 Coronation celebrations.

Taken in St Matthew's Hall

Children of varying ages on Hartlepool Promenade. Boys Brigade/Scouts in centre front. Many of the children are wearing sashes or garlands. A large audience of adults watches from above & there are people on deckchairs at the forefront of the view.

Two Boys Brigade members out of uniform. Pictured at the gate of St Hilda's Churchyard with St Mary's RC Church spire in the background. The spire was demolished in 1946.

The Boys Brigade. West Hartlepool (Stranton) Company, Company Concert in St Matthew's hall in 1961. Tickets 1 shilling (5pence).

The Boys Brigade Company Concert April 1961. Tickets one shilling (5pence).

Wearing the old style pill box hats the two boys must also have attended the Boys' Technical High School as they are wearing the school badge.