Halcyon days of the 1st Kirkwall Boys' Brigade
By David Partner
(From The Orcadian dated July 19, 2001)

Kirkwall BBs in 1956 - click on image for an enlargement

Ian Scott's article earlier this year, about his schooldays in Kirkwall after leaving North Ronaldsay, and his joining the Boys' Brigade in the town, certainly stirred a few memories with those of us who served in the company in those days. Unlike Ian, I do not still have my BB diaries, but I do have photos and a great deal of other relevant paraphernalia and a host of memories of service in the 1st Kirkwall Company under Robert Tullock's captaincy.

The Founder

To continue Ian's pattern, let me first say a word about this great movement. It was formed on October 4, 1883, in the North Woodside Mission Hall \m 1st Glasgow BB Company \m by William Alexander Smith. Smith was born at Pennyland House, Thurso, on October 27, 1854, the eldest of four children. When he was 13 his father died while on a business trip in China. Mrs Smith moved the family to Glasgow where they lived with his uncle.

As an adult William Smith was a church member, Sunday School teacher, and a member of the 1st Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers. These elements were to form the central core of the movement he founded and give the BB its twin pillars of Bible Class and Drill.

1st Kirkwall in the '50s

I went up to the 1st Kirkwall in September, 1952, from the Lifeboy Team, which during my period of service was led by Jim Langskaill, manager of Boot's Chemists, and then by Jim Scott, eldest son of James S. Scott, shoe merchant. The latter had been responsible for me being recruited to the BB movement. The "Lifies" had been founded in 1917 as the Boy Reserves to the BB, but in 1926 had become the Lifeboys after the merger with the Boys' Life Brigade which is when the red cross was added to the BB anchor badge.

In 1952 the captain of 1st Kirkwall was Robert Tullock, an upright, seemingly strict man with a moustache, whom we younger lads were in awe of. However we eventually discovered what a mischievous sense of fun he possessed. He was assisted by just three lieutenants that session (1952-53) \m Sid Cooper, whose expertise we all watched when he was drum-major of Kirkwall City Pipe Band, Angus Findlater (pre-"Owre the Ferry" days) and Billy Wilson.

The company met in the Victoria Street Hall, courtesy of the Paterson Church, who owned the hall. I see from our membership cards that in '52/53 we paraded on Tuesdays at 8.30pm. Classes in Gymnastics, Signalling and Wayfarers along with recruit training was at 7.30pm while the Fireman's Class was at the Fire Station at 7.30pm. Recruit Training! Where we were taught about the BB and given Elementary Drill. Right Turn! Left Turn! One \m Pause \m Two was the count to master the art.

At the end of six to eight weeks we were given a wee test on the BB, its history and its object:

"The object of the Boys' Brigade is the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys, and the promotion of the habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness."

Then we received our uniform at last \m cap, belt and haversack. The cap was the "Pill-box" or Forage Cap to give it its proper name in use since 1884 with two rings of white braid which had to be blancoed regularly. The belt had been part of the uniform since 1855, while the haversack came in in 1886. It had originally been meant to be used for lunch or excursions only, but the folded version was then adopted for parade uniform.

We did not wear our haversacks on weekly parade, but kept them for church parades and special occasions such as Display Nights. This difference from the norm struck me pointedly when I left Orkney for student life and became a Warrant Officer in a Leith Company, where the haversack was worn every week except the Friday night before a church parade.

Chaplaincy, Parades, the Band, Badges

In my first year in the company the senior chaplain was Rev A. R. Thomson of King Street Church. Each chaplain took it in turns to be senior, and each session we paraded to each of the four kirks - Cathedral, King Street, Paterson, and Congregational. Then there was Empire Youth Sunday in May when all the youth organisations paraded, headed by Kirkwall BB Pipe Band.

We also paraded on Armistice Sunday, but without our band, marching instead behind Kirkwall City Pipe Band. Indeed for the first couple of years I seem to recall we held our weekly Bible Class in the "Peedie Kirk" before marching down, in "civvies" to the War Memorial.

The BB Pipe Band! Formed about 1945 by Jimmie Couper and which came to displace the Bugle Band which the company had in the 1930s. It met for instruction and practice under Willie McLeod (pipes) and Philip Stout (drums) on Fridays in the St Magnus Hall after the Lifeboys finished their weekly meeting at 8.15pm. And those badges! Made from nickel they were shaped to reflect the subject. Crossed dumb-bells for PT, crossed flags for Signallers, shield-shaped with a red cross for the Ambulance Badge (changed to First Aid in 1957)

The Ambulance was the oldest proficiency badge in the BB introduced in 1889. The badges, like our shoes had to be kept polished too. They certainly seem more attractive than the modern equivalents. Some of the badges required the boy to have gained certificates in the previous session(s) before gaining the badge, and with the Ambulance you could continue in succeeding years to gain red, blue, and white cloth shields to put behind the badge.

Drill

Our marching WAS good but not always impeccable. Despite 25 minutes per week under the instruction of Lieut Billy Wilson \m "Quick March! About Turn! Watch your dressing! Don't look at the floor, there's no threepenny bits there" \m we still made mistakes. Following our parade to Gilmerton Church during our camp in 1954 Capt Tullock was so distressed by our marching he had us drilling outside the hall for ages, dropping people out of the squad three at a time as they proved their marching abilities.

But we also did what would be called Advanced Drill \m complicated manoeuvres in sections drilling together. "Form Column of Sections! Form Line of Sections!" etc. And there were the special Display Night drill squads, drilling without word of command after "Quick March." (Eat your hearts out RAF Colours Squadron). And while we thought we were good it was noticeable that the Guides and Scouts also marched smartly. And the training stayed with you. At the Centenary Parade in 1983 the public thought the best marchers on parade were the large company of Old Boys.

Drill may be militaristic, but, as Roger Peacock in his biography on Smith Pioneer of Boyhood says, drill teaches us "mental concentration, physical self-control, and spiritual unity," (and thus team spirit as well). He also points out that drill is not supposed to be a strained and rigid attitude. It also helps to produce an air of confidence. More than a century on from Smith many more of today's slouching youth could do with some of that discipline of the BB and its kindred youth organisations instead of knocking them.

Gilmerton 1954

The camp at Gilmerton 1954. Prompted by Ian's reminiscences I re-read the diary account in the Orkney Herald files in the Archives Department of Kirkwall Library. Thirty-six boys went on that camp. Thirty-two had never been out of Orkney before. Cecil Sinclair and myself are two who had been "sooth" previously. I wonder who the other two were!

Camp group departing from Nicolson's Garage in 1954 - click on image for an enlargement

The link with Gilmerton came from Rev Keith who had been minister in Stromness till fairly recently. We crossed the firth on the fairly new St Ola and travelled by bus (Burr's of Tongue). The diarist records we had tea at the Moorings at Muir of Ord, owned by the bearded P/M Gordon Asher of the 5th Seaforths. We did not reach Edinburgh until 3am, on Tuesday morning. Quite why it took so long I don't know. Maybe the bus was slower than today's luxury vehicles. At the same time the A9 was still tortuously twisting with steep descents and long struggles uphill, such as Berriedale, where the road went down into the village before climbing out again.

We had a great time in Gilmerton. Those who visited The Scotsman had their photo in the paper next day. Others of us, including myself, went to Portobello Power Station. What a heat came from its furnaces there. On another day we reversed roles, and it was our group's chance to visit the press. But we were taken to the Evening News and did not have our photo in the paper.

We went to the cinema too, and at Dalkeith behaved so well that the manager provided the fish and chips the boys had on their last night before heading home to Orkney, after seeing Chu Chin Chow on Ice at the Haymarket. (I did not see that show being on my way to London, but had seen it at London's White City the year before).

One night after being at the Regent Cinema we missed the last direct bus to Gilmerton. The senior boys walked from Princes Street, while the rest got a bus to Liberton and then walked over fields to Gilmerton.

There was also the night we went to see the wrestling at the Eldorado. We were in side seats and told to be on our best behaviour. The captain and Sid were in the front rows. One wrestler that night was "Black Butcher" Johnston who left as big an impression on Brian Findlay's mind as he did on an arm muscle of his opponent, because, as Brian recently reminded me, Johston placed his foot on the muscle and executed a full 360 degrees turn with full body weight on the arm. The night ended in uproar when in a British title fight the challenger, having endured fouls galore, lost the place, knocked out the holder, and knocked the referee out of the ring.

As we looked at the ringside there was the audience, including our revered captain and Sid, standing booing the events. We also went to see the Half-Past Eight Show at the Kings starring Jimmy Logan and Harry Gordon.

Carrbridge 1955

The year Ian joined the company we had changed to a Thursday night. At the end of the '54/'55 session we went to Carrbridge for camp. The summer of 1955 was one of the hottest I remember. Carrbridge was the site of the Inverness Battalion camping ground. We swam every day in a suitable spot in the nearby river.

We visited Inverness twice \m by train as we did not have a permanent bus with us this time, though Burr's of Tongue again ran us to the camp. At this camp, as at Gilmerton, we had Jimmie "Mosh" Marwick with his accordion to keep us entertained on the bus etc. On the evening of our second day at Carrbridge the local team played Nethybridge on the pitch adjacent to the camp. Cecil Sinclair and Leslie "Dumpy" Campbell were recruited for Carrbridge. Nethybridge won 2-1, but "Dumpy" scored Carrbridge's goal.

On the Saturday night the NCOs were allowed to go dancing at Boat of Garten, where Angus Fitchett's Scottish Dance Band were playing. On another evening our football team played the Carrbridge youths and won 3-1, two of the goals being scored by a budding chief librarian, Pte Bobby Leslie.

Because of the hot summer, everything was tinder dry, and a spark from a passing train set the forest ablaze, so one night we were allowed to go to watch the firefighters in action at 11pm. Then there was the night of the water fight when in the course of Privates v NCOs we practically emptied the water barrel we relied on for so much. We were not too popular with staff that night.

Other camping memories include tent inspections with uniform and bedding laid out immaculately, digging trenches and erecting the latrines, and of course pitching and striking camp.

Other '50s Memories

It is impossible to re-tell every memory, and those who were there have their own recollections. They will recall too the weekly parades over the years, the camps at Swanbister from 1956-1959, the acquiring of the RAFA Hall at the bottom end of the Bignold Park which allowed us, from 1957/58 to expand the number of nights of classes and have a club night on Saturdays. Originally we had a ten-year lease on the building at £1 per year.

There was too the visit from the then BB World President Lord Maclay, brother of the Secretary of State for Scotland, in 1957, along with Harry Shirley the Scottish BB secretary.

Football! We had our summer nights in the Bignold Park. There were the several trophies including one between ourselves and Stromness. The Advance Parties for Swanbister Camps. Flett and Sons' lorry picking up the gear from Tullock's Garage at Burnmouth Road and going round the town for the members of the party.

I mentioned three lieutenants for 1952-1953. Other lieutenants who served in the '50s were Arthur Flett, Douglas Thomson, Tommy Scott (brother of Jim the Lifeboy leader) and Warrant Officers Billy MacGillivray, his brother Hugh, and Davie Walker. In '55-'56 we had six lieutenants and two WOs Davie Walker and Sinclair Scott (Ian's brother) were chosen as two of the Scottish Representatives at the camp on Eton Playing Fields in 1954 to mark the founder's centenary, Sinclair being in the pipe band at that camp.

We also had a number of "civvy" instructors. In addition to Willie McLeod and Phil Stout there was Dave Rendall, Dave Tinch, Bill Grant, Tommy Mainland, Dr Brodie, Angus Mackay, Mr Ryan, Dave Logie, Jas Wylie, A. T. Firth, to name the ones listed in my membership cards \m to whom we were all grateful for helping to ensure our company had a full range of interests to occupy us.

Conclusion

The BB has always tended to recruit the vast majority of its officers from former members, especially those who complete full boys service to 18. Three of my contemporaries, Jim Maxwell, Ian Tulloch and Colin Leslie were sent by Bob Tullock to the King George VI Leadership Course at Carronvale, the Scottish BB HQ and went on to serve as officers in the 1st Kirkwall.

I left Orkney in 1959 for Edinburgh University, and in Leith joined the 8th Leith (Pilrig/Dalmeny St Church) Company as a WO. I attended a joint Edinburgh/Leith Battalions' Training Course and also subsequently subjects weekend courses at Carronvale.

After serving in Leith and Golspie I returned to Orkney in 1975 and served with the Orkney Battalion until my retirement from the movement in 1990. Despite many great memories from 40 years boy and man in the BB the aspects that always stick in my mind are the things I learned in the Kirkwall BB in the '50s under Robert Tullock's captaincy, and when two or three (or more) of us gather together and the BB comes into conversation, pleasant and happy memories of those days come flooding back.

Thank you, Ian, for your memories which spurred me into writing this account of those halcyon days of the 1st Kirkwall Company BB in the '50s, which may stir other memories for those who were in the ranks with us.

Thank you too to the guys who helped me to put some forgotten names to the familiar faces in the 1956 photo.