The 1st Morpeth Company of the Boys’ Brigade was founded on the 23rd ova November 1894 by The Rev

1^{st<=
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Morpeth Company Formed 1894.}

The 1^st Morpeth Company = of the Boys’ Brigade was founded on the 23^rd of November 1894 by = The Rev. Harry Bott, who was a curate at St James Church.

The Brigade was nationally, had onl= y been founded 11 years previously by Sir William Alexander Smith on the 4^{th<=
/sup>
of October 1883, in a church hall in Glasgow
and had slowly moved southwards. The 1^st Morpeth Company was one=
of
the first companies formed in England.}

It is thought that the Brigade was = probably founded in the mission house at the end of Manchester Street, which is now fla= ts for old people. The early company held bible classes and drilled in St James Sc= hool Hall, which then belonged to the Anglican Church, and was opposite Halliwel= ls Engineering Works. Other classes such as First aid, Safety etc, were held in the mission House.

The Rev. Bott was therefore the fir= st Company captain and was succeeded in 1895 by F Brummill Jr, who in turn was succeeded in 1896 by J P Phillip, a Doctor of Medicine. In 1899 Mr R Carr became Captain and in 1905 he was succeeded by Mr JE Johnson who remained Captain until 1919.

The funds needed for the costs of r= unning the company came totally from fund-raising and subscriptions. The earliest record of the fund raising that can be found comes from the Morpeth herald = of the 13^th of July 1009. The report reads:

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“Our Annual Rummage Sale was held on May 21^st= , and we wish to thank all those who so kindly sent goods for sale or subscriptio= ns; all those who helped in marketing and selling goods. The officers are deeply indebted to you all who helped.

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The com= pany continued to meet in the mission Hall until the early 1920s when the parish Memorial Hall was constructed from an old coach works. From that time the d= rill hall was held in the Memorial hall on a Monday evening. One night a week th= ere were four classes held in the Parochial Hall (now the Y.M.C.A.).

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In 1915= the company took over the old gym in Lord Hood’s Yard, though bible class= es were still held at St James School. The gym was used for band practice and = at that time there three bands, a brass band, a bugle band, and a dance band. = Can you imagine that!! The gym was also used for physical training and boxing. = For which there was a proper boxing ring where the boys were taught to bow correctly.

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It was = locally said that if there were any arguments at school during the day, the boys wo= uld come to the gym in the evening and fight it out.

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In 1920= the company obtained tenancy of the Victory Hall which belonged to Oliver’= ;s Bakers, bur in 1934 everything was moved to the Billiard room at the Paroch= ial Hall. The Billiard room was used until 1941 when temporarily went into mothballs as more officers went to war. The Billiard room was also lost dur= ing this time as the Y.M.C.A.wished to use it as a canteen and so what was left= of the company met at St James School Hall once again.

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In 1945= Cannon Baker asked Stanley Seabrook to get the company re-organised and he agreed,= at that time there was himself plus 3 officers but shortly after that Mr Nicho= lson moved to Newcastle= and left Stanley Seabrook. Bob Lumley. And Thompson Caisley. Stanley invited a further 3 men to help= out the company and so there were 6 which was a large number in those days.

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After t= he war the company returned once to the Parochial Hall and they used the upstairs room= for one night a week where classes were held. In 1949 Stanley Seabrook fell ill= and Bob Lumley took over.

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In 1949= efforts were made to restart the Brass Band and Cannon Baker looked after it. He ma= de a policy that only present members of the company could join- many old boys w= ould have would have liked to join, but because of the new rule, the band was not very successful and low in numbers.

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However= , a bugle band was started and it led the parades for several years. These parades we= re held normally once a year and included the East Northumberland’s Officers Group. Things progressed smoot= hly from then on except that the company size progressively reduced due to other attractions coming along e.g scouts. Cinema, radio, tv and due to the fact = that several of the officers had married and left the company.

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In 1955= the situation was fairly desperate as there were only ten boys left in the comp= any so Mr W H Weedy took over with Thompson Caisly helping and Mr Roberts part/time. =

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In 1951= the company held an indoor Fair which raid £500.

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The Wes= leyan Chapel on Manchester Stree= t came on the property market and the company who had been looking for premis= es for some time, had the foresight to buy it. The Chapel cost $4,400, of which 50% was paid by a government grant (Chris Chattaway was the Minister of Education at that time). £200. was borrowed from the Church of England and this was paid back within a year. The remaining money came from the Building Fund which had been raised before the war and put into war bonds w= here it increased further. Further fund raising activities took place over the y= ears to the extra money. The Company are still in this hall and membership has fluctuated over the years from lows to highs but they have still kept going= .

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In 19 54 the life boys were found= ed- this was due to people insisting that something for was required younger boys and this was for 8-11 years. The Morpeth Company started their Juniors Section = with Mrs Maisie Daglish and Mrs Dorothy weedy being in charge of the boys. Thomp= son Caisley also helped out in this section. In 1970 Mrs Rhona Dunn took over t= he Juniors and in 1980 Mr J R Dunn took charge of the company Section and then became Company Captain in 1982 owing to the ill health of Headley Weedy. Jim Dunn came from Ashington and North Seaton Companies where he had been a mem= ber since he was a boy.

The hall had for many years been heated only by paraffin heate= rs and in 1980 they eventually had central heating installed which made a tremendo= us difference (more fund raising). In 1981 the hall was totally redecorated. <= /span>

The focal point of an ordinary year in a Company its Annual Ca= mp. It was held for one week in July under canvas. Boys saved up for weeks and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The earliest reports on camp for Morpeth came from the Morpeth herald which was dated the 13^th July 1909.

The Company went to camp at Lamberton which was 3 miles north = of Berwick. The highlight of the week was Parents day when a bus was usually h= ired and all parents, grand parents, and friends came to visit and stayed for te= a.

On being approached by our researchers some years ago, Thompson Caisley said that the earliest camp he could remember was held at the Boling North Field, a few miles out of Warkwarth. The company travelled up by trai= n to Warkwarth Station, then they would march in uniform to the campsite. The ca= mps were held at Warkwarth from 1919. At some camps the company Dance Band would play in the village hall at Warkwarth on a Saturday evening. On Sunday the company would march to church in the afternoon and then in the evening the Brass Band would play a programme of varied music at the Stanners in Warkwa= rth and all the residents would come to listen. The camp was held at Warkwarth until 1933 when it was decided that the field was “Undesirable”= as it was now being used by weekend campers and courting couples.

In the 1934 and 1935 the camp was held at Berwick. The expendi= ture sheet for one of those years shows that the camp made a loss of £22.4s.3d.

In 1936 the company went to a ground belonging to Newcastle Battalion- it was situated at Martham Towers. 1937- 38 it= was held at Brockhouse Farm at Whi= tby.

There were no more camps during the war and after the war the = first camp was a District one and was held at Hexham. The 1947 Morpeth stared the= ir own camps once again and returned to Whitby. The 1948 camp was memorable because they had a record of 94 boys at camp. 1= 949 was at Whitby but in that year Stanley Seabrook took ill and had to return home – he never left the house after that. In 1950-51 the camp was held at Dunbar and in 1952 at Maske. After that the company decided to join forces with the North Seaton Company, whose captain was John Dunn and this relationship continued for many years.

Before the war it was always the tradition at Warkwarth that t= he local Mayor came to present the prizes for inspection and this last happene= d in 1935.

In 1933 the 50-year celebrations were held in Glasgow on the 9^th of Septem= ber at 3.30pm. It was preceded by an International Camp. During these celebrations= six N.C.O’s from the camp handed over a casket containing a message for t= he boys of 1983. For the boys of= 1983 the sealed casket was handed to the Brigade President, the Earl of Home, who was the father of Sir Alex Douglas Home. The celebrati= ons started at 3.30pm and were attended by His Royal Highness Prince George at Hampden Park Football Ground. 1^st Morpeth Boys’ Brigade we= re there on parade among the 32,000 who marched.

The celebrations after that was the birth of the founder (24th October). This was held in 1954 when a similar parade was held but not with such great numbers. Our Captain Jim Dunn was at the 1954 camp (he too shares his birthday on the same day as our founder but not the same year).<= /p>

In 1983 the centenary was celebrated in great style and events= were held all over the world. A camp was held at Durham University for Senior Boys, our boys had a memorable time making friends with young pe= ople from many different cultures. However the most important and major event in 1983 was a celebration at Ibrox Stadium at Glasgow in August where the famous cask= et from 1933 was opened. It was examined, the statement read out and another w= as put in and resealed for the 150-year celebrations Morpeth Company were ther= e. We took a bus full of boys and sleped in a church hall in Glasgow and would have not missed the celebrations at any cost.

Since 1983 there have been many changes in the company includi= ng the retirement of Captain Mr Jim Dunn in 2004. Know a new Captain Mr Kevin Purd= y. He has been in the 1^st Morpeth Company since he joined the Junio= rs when he was aged 8. The Anhors which was started by Miss Lesley Jackson and since then it has been run by many officers including Mrs Carolyn Lees, Mrs Fiona Lees, Mrs Christine Ogle, with helpers Miss Emma Plews, Miss Michele Swinhoe and from 2006 Mr Clive Kemp and Miss Rachel Stone. The Juniors Mrs Rhona Dunn, Mrs Denise Steel, Mrs Margot Swinoe, Mrs Dawn Wilson Mr Mike Le= es Debbie Potts, Mrs Christine Ogle and Now Mr Clive Kemp and Mr Anthony Schol= l. The Company section and Senior Section Mr Kevin Purdy, with helpers Mr Guy Anderson, Mr Andrew Parker, Mr John Errington and Mrs Anthea Errington.