The Coleraine & District Battalion of the Boys’ Brigade held its first competition of the new session with an outing to the Ten Pin Bowling Alley at the Coleraine Jet Centre. A good turnout of almost 120 boys took part, occupying 20 lanes. Competition between the boys was keen and all involved had a very enjoyable and fun packed evening.

Junior Winners 5th Coleraine

Senior Winners 2nd Limavady

Local Company 5th Coleraine came out on top of eight teams in the Junior Event (forms 1 to 3) scoring a respectable total of 483 points. Second place went to the boys of 1st Ballywatt Company who accumulated a score of 431 points. Individual prizes were won by Trevor Scott (2nd Limavady) who obtained the highest score of 112 points and runner-up was Stephen Kelso (1st Tamlaght O’Crilly) with 109 points. Joshua Greene (5th Coleraine) triumphed by winning the prize for the highest number of Strikes & Spares.

Limavady teams dominated play in the Senior Event (forms 4 to U6) with the boys of 2nd Limvady being victorious achieving a remarkable score of 583 points. Narrowly coming runners-up were 1st Balteagh with 570 points just a couple of bowls behind. James Purcell won the battle for the individual prizes making the highest score with 144 and also hitting the highest number of Strikes & Spares. Ian Archibald (2nd Limavady) came second to James in both competitions and notched up an individual score of 134 points.

Our thanks for a hugely successful competition go to Ivan Morrison (Battalion Recreation Officer) who organised the event and the staff of the Jet Centre for their helpful assistance.

Photos are available on the Battalion Bebo page, you must be a member of the Battalion group to view the images.

The results for Company and Senior Section events in the 2008-2009 season were as follows...

	Winners	Runners-up
Badminton
Division 1	2nd Coleraine	5th Coleraine
Division 2	1st Garvagh
10 Pin Bowling
Junior	C Shields (5th Coleraine) S Leahy (1st/3rd Portstewart)	M Donaghy (1st Ballywillan) R Jamison (5th Coleraine)
Senior	J Purcell (1st Balteagh)	G Armstrong (1st Garvagh)
Volleyball
Junior	1st Coleraine	2nd Coleraine
Senior	1st Portrush	1st Kilrea
5-a-side Football
Junior	1st Coleraine	1st Garvagh
Senior	1st Garvagh	2nd Coleraine
Masterteam
	1st Ballywillan
Orienteering
	1st Garvagh	2nd Coleraine (B)
Scripture Exam
	1st Balteagh

The battalion results for the Junior Section in the year 2008-2009 were as follows...

• Indoor Games - 2nd Coleraine
• Quiz Kids - 1st Kilrea
• 5-a-side Football (indoor) - 1st Aghadowey
• Figure Marching - 2nd Limavady
• 5-a-side Football (outdoor) - 1st Ballywillan

Congratulations to the following young men and their Officers on the achievement of The Boys' Brigade's premier award - The Queen's Badge, during the 2008-2009 session.

• Gareth Irwin (1st Balteagh)
• Richard Irwin (1st Balteagh)
• Andrew Scott (1st Balteagh)
• James Taylor (1st Coleraine)
• Michael Wallace (1st Coleraine)
• Andrew Boyd (2nd Coleraine)
• Andrew Cunning (2nd Coleraine)
• Brent Haslett (2nd Coleraine)
• Conor McMullan (2nd Coleraine)
• Christopher Cunningham (5th Coleraine)
• Ben Cartwright (1st Drumachose)
• Matthew Haslett (1st Drumachose)
• Andrew Gilmore (1st Kilrea)
• Adam Keys (1st Limavady)
• Connor McGoldrick (2nd Limavady)
• Ryan Montgomery (2nd Limavady)

And congratulations to Graham Thompson (2nd Limavady) who has qulified through the King George VI Officer Cadet Scheme in July 2009.

I would like to extend an invitation to Boys’ Brigade Companies throughout Northern Ireland to visit leading ferry company Stena Line’s terminal in Belfast to undertake a fundraising exercise.

The Sea Cadets ran a very successful event at our terminal in West Bank Road over the Easter period where they collected money in the car lanes (this was tallied with them washing car/van windscreens) and the departure lounge for an hour prior to two of our daily HSS departures to Scotland (1220 and 1710).

We would be happy to accommodate any BB Companies who would like to undertake a similar windscreen washing/collection exercise (the summer months are our busiest period of the year). Incidentally, the Sea Cadets raised approx £450 per day over three days. From our point of view our customers are provided with an extra service before boarding the ship, while the BB Companies get to raise lots of money. It’s a win-win for both of us.If any BB Company is interested in fundraising in this way could you please get them to e-mail me at the address below (please include mobile phone number) and I’ll make the necessary arrangements.

Nigel Tilson <nigel.tilson@stenaline.com>
UK Communications Manager
Stena Line

Via Kenneth McLaughlin (Training and Development Officer) at Rathmore House

1st Ballywatt Company have recently returned from their Camp at the Glenbrook Guide Centre in the Peak District.

The 10 boys and five staff (including their cook!) spent seven days at the site which is approximately five hours from Stranraer Port in Scotland. They found the site in a lovely location and very well maintained. The week's programme included various sports, competitions, worship and swimming.

The camp also included a trip to Old Trafford where they say they "never saw a lawn like it at Old Trafford – carefully guarded – couldn’t even hover over it, let alone walk on it!!". Also on the agenda was a day at Alton Towers. Both trips were within about one hour of the camp site at Glenbrook.

The boys and staff had good weather for the most part, with a few heavy showers. They said they would highly recommend the site adding that they took our own canvas but think that canvas can be hired.

"All in all a good week."

Details provided by Rev Ivan Hunter (Chaplain, 1st Ballywatt)

The annual Junior Section Outdoor 5-a-side competition too place on Saturday 6th June 2009. The event was held at Coleraine's Rugby Avenue Playing Fields with 12 teams from across the battalion taking part.


The overall winners were 1st Ballywillan (pictured). They beat runners-up 2nd Coleraine after a penalty shoot-out in the final game. Congratulations to all those who took part.

Submitted by Lex Smith (Junior Section Secretary).
Photo thanks to Andrew Drennan (1st Ballywillan).

Queen's Badge Conference and Holiday Leadership Course to be held in June in Northern Ireland.

A Queens Badge Conference will be held in Templepatrick for Queens Badge Advisors, Queens Badge Tutors, Battalion Secretaries, Brigade Training Officers, Battalion Training Officers, Captains and other interested Officers. More...

A Holiday Leadership Course is being held in Castledawson those from other Battalions who wish to attend, will be made very welcome. More...

For further information, including contact details, please see the Battalion Training page here.

Junior Section boys from across the Coleraine and District Battalion came together at Castleroe Wood to plant 125 trees to celebrate the Boys' Brigade  125 Anniversary. The 25 boys and 10 officers met at Castleroe Wood on the Curragh Road on the morning of Saturday 21 March to plant a mixture of native oak and Scots pines.
By Lex Smith, Battalion Junior Section Secretary

    

The results for Division One of the 2008/2009 Battalion Badminton season are in. Congratulations to all those who took part. Photographs can be found on our Bebo Group.

1. 2nd Coleraine Company
2. 5th Coleraine Company
   
3. 1st Coleraine Company