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Adapted from 66th Annual Inspection and Display ReportStraight off I should like to thank some people:
First: Reverend McQuarrie for agreeing to come along to the Display as inspecting officer and to present the prizes. Also, to Dr. Kerr for being such an able Chairman.
Second: The Church, for all the support you give us.
Third: The Staffs of all the Sections for their support and hard work during the Session. Without their dedication, the Company could not operate. I would also like to thank the Representative Elders to the other sections for their support. Irene Gilston for running the Webb Ivory so well and Graeme Dunn and the Parents' and Friends' Committee for all their hard work. If anyone is interested in joining, please speak to Mr. Sutherland or Peter McKinlay afterwards.
Thanks must also go to the parents who assisted in the ferrying of Boys to and from competitions and outings. This help is very much appreciated.
Finally: The wives, mothers and girlfriends of the staff for putting up with all the work they do.
The Company as a whole is in fairly good health. We have around 35 in the Anchor Boys and 24 in the Junior Section, as well as 30 in the Company and Senior Sections. Based on numbers at the start of the year there are 9 Boys eligible to come up from the Junior Section next session and we only lose three of our Senior Boys through discharge, and so the Company strength should grow through next year.
The year was quite successful with the level of attendance on Friday nights being adequate, and those at Sunday Bible Class being disappointing from a staff point of view.
Once again we have had a small team, and a young one but we retained the District Swimming Trophy with Greg Turner retaining the District Championship. Well done to those who took part. We also had some Boys, mainly at the young end of the Company who took part in the District Sports at the Kelvin Hall where we came second. Some of those who were successful went on to represent the District at the Battalion Sports where we came second to the winning District, which is three times out size!
We also took part in the Masterteam competition, and got through to the semi-finals for Scotland - well done to the quiz team. Our Disquiz team retained the trophy at the District Quiz which was one of the closes in many years, with about 3 marks covering the first three places.
Some of the Boys took part in the Battalion NCOs Drill Competition and to our delight, Christopher Baird won it, with Andrew Hart a close second, and Geoff Barnes just missing third. Andrew Higton also took part and was joint winner of the Novice competition. Christopher and Andrew Hart were part of the Battalion Colour Party at the Queen's Men's Parade on Thursday 24th June, which was to Glasgow City Chambers.
We retained the District Squad Drill with our 'A' squad, and our 'B' squad were placed 2nd. This year we won the Company Drill competition and also retained the Battalion Squad Drill and Championship Drill competitions. This year we also marched a second squad in these competitions. This meant that almost every Boy in the Company took part. The 'B' squad came a very creditable 4th in the Squad Drill and 3rd in the Championship Drill competitions. Well done and thanks to all who tookd part in any of the competitions.
As a change this year, the Staff did not take all of the badgework classes. We had representatives along from the RNLI and the Police and Fire Services. All these organisations gave very interesting talks on their work, usually with equipment or samples there as visual aids. It appeared to work, as the Boys all enjoyed the experiences and also learned from them.
This year for outings we have taken the Boys to the carnival, 'Laserquest', and had age-group outings to the cinema, rock climbing and karting. Once again the year is being finished off with a weekend Company Camp in St. Andrews at the end of June.
On a personal note, as this is my last Display as Captain, I would like to say that is has been a great honour, privilege and pleasure to have been Captain. I shall always treasure the memories of these times. I believe that I am leaving the Company in better shape than I found it and with a more experienced Staff. Robbie Sutherland, who is taking over as Captain, is a very experienced and resourceful Officer and, I am sure, will lead the Company to new heights.
Eric Rushworth
Company Captain - 1998-2007
