Firstly, the role of the Brigade.  Since the Brigade was founded, it has had the aim to extend the Kingdom of Christ amongst lads and girls and that aim still holds true today – some may well argue that in today’s world this aim is even more important than it was when the Brigade was founded.  Young people have so many distractions and so many opportunities today compared to older generations but the world has not become any more benevolent – undoubtedly society has become more secular and the numbers attending public worship are declining.  This makes the Brigade’s aim much more relevant and important today.  A lot of our work with young people may appear to be in vain, but I like to think of the work we do being like the parable told by our Lord about the man sowing seed!  Some seed falls on good ground and takes root and flourishes without any problem, but some seed falls on the pathway and rocky ground and appears to be useless.  I would argue that at some stage in each person’s life they may well reach a point, where they are searching for something, and they remember their time in the Brigade and that the values and beliefs they were taught back then come back to them and they find solace and help in perhaps a very dark hour!

Secondly Comradeship.  For a time, I made up and delivered table quizzes for various organisations around my area.  One of the most poignant was a table quiz I ran for the Royal Irish Regiment in my home town.  During refreshments I was speaking to the retired Commanding Officer of the Battalion in our area and he told me about various issues and major mishaps that had affected some of his Battalion.  The thing that has remained with me was his comment that even today, if he got a call from one of his former soldiers he would drop everything and go and give that soldier any help and support that he could – he also related some incidents where this had taken place.  My word, comradeship in action – do we as Brigade Officers have the same vision for members and (perhaps more importantly) past members, where we would drop everything and give any help and support we could.  This is truly a very high ideal but one which I feel we should continue to strive to develop.  A member of the Brigade might be with us for a relatively short time, but we can be there for them for many years to come.

In conclusion, a lot of the work we do can appear to be without ‘reward’ but we cannot tell when the ideals we have tried to communicate to the young people under our care will bear fruit.

Darryl Hewitt
Deputy Governor