2023 – 140th Anniversary
The Boys’ Brigade in the United Kingdom celebrated the 140th Anniversary of its founding with a series of local and online activities centred around the experiences provided to children and young people.
140 Prayer & Thanksgiving
On Wednesday 4th October 2023 the Brigade Ministry Team hosted an online thanksgiving and prayer gathering as part of our 140th celebrations. Our prayers were focussed around four themes: Engaging with young people. Helping young people to explore life and faith. Helping young people encounter Jesus and make a personal commitment to follow him. Expanding the Kingdom by equipping young Christians to grow in their faith and service.
140 Monopoly Challenge
On Saturday 30th September, over 700 young people and leaders came together across four cities to kick start the 140th celebrations. 140 teams took part in the 140 Monopoly Challenge in London, Manchester, Glasgow & Aberdeen, with teams racing around these cities trying to visit as many properties as possible on that city’s Monopoly board in five hours.
Juniors 140 Sleepover
2,000 Juniors continued the 140th celebrations last weekend, with our Juniors 140 Sleepover. This involved sleepovers in over 100 locations across the UK, including in church halls, trampoline parks, adventure centres, castles and also South Africa.
Anchors 140 Challenge
Anchor age groups have been tasked with creating the number ‘140’ in the most creative way possible.
Company, Battalion and District celebrations
Many other activities to celebrate the 140th Anniversary have been done by Companies and Battalions, and this has been supported by the 140th Anniversary activity program packs. These included seeing Anchors create time capsules that they can open when they are Seniors, Juniors exploring The Boys’ Brigade in numbers, Company taking on our ‘Big BB Quiz’ and Seniors travelling back to 1883 in our ‘140 Years’ activity. Districts have also organised 140th anniversary events, including the North Scottish Area Baton Relay.