Ann Sankey
Hi, I’m Ann from St David’s Church Broom Leys in Leicestershire and I have been involved with Brigade for 45 years.
I came late to Brigade in Coalville after spending my younger days as an Imp in the Brownies. (Some may say that is an appropriate name for me!) My friend Sue and I had to take over our girls company when we were 17 years old as our leaders left something that couldn’t happen now. Our company had to take a break between the years 1986 to 1999 due to work commitments so our re-opened mixed company is 15 years old this year. I was on parade at the Royal review at Windsor in 1980 and I have represented the Brigade at the Cenotaph parade in London and services at the National Arboretum. As well as our company I have been involved in the training of new helpers, officers and young leader for 20 years and it is an area of Brigade work I enjoy. In 2011 it was a special year for me as I was awarded the MBE for my work with the Brigade in Leicestershire; I wore my uniform to the investiture and was proud to converse to the Queen about our great organisation. Her majesty was very well informed about our youth organisation. I came onto the Brigade council through my meeting with other officers on the Formation Training Officers group (FTOG) and wanting to be involved in the wider development for Brigade. Our company at St David’s is an important part of my Brigade life as it is for the members that I do all the other activities. It is also a great boost that my husband Alan is an officer as we run the company together he is affectionately known as “admin”. We were both involved with the Brigade choir and it was a sad time when we realised no new members were joining us so we had to conclude our concerts and finish our very sociable rehearsals. There is lots of new exciting things happening in the Brigade and it is up to us all to “extent the kingdom of Christ among young people” to keep the organisation going another 125 years.