Ages

5-8 (school years 1-3)

Uniform

Red sweatshirt, navy blue polo shirt (optional)

Meeting time and place

Saffron Walden Baptist Church, term time Tuesdays 6.30pm-7.45pm.

A bit about us...

The Anchor Section is all about having fun!  Our usual evening programme consists of a mixture of games, craft and stories.

Boys earn badges for participation in the activities offered and these are usually presented every September.

Every week we have a short focus time when we listen to a story from the Bible and talk about what we can learn from it.

Other activities that we regularly enjoy include: cooking, movie nights, treasure hunts, team games, LEGO® and visits to the common during the summer term.  We also sometimes have 'theme' evenings, like our Dinosaur Challenge.

In the past we have enjoyed visits from 'the animal experience' where boys were able to hold snakes, giant snails and huge spiders. We also enjoy our visits from Steve the Juggler who lets us loose with the tools of his trade. We celebrate Christmas in a big way and this year we even had a bouncy castle in the chapel. A favourite activity in the summer is to visit all the chip shops in town and then (after sampling) mark them out of ten, MasterChef style.

Ages

8 to 11 (school years 4 - 6)

Uniform

Royal blue polo shirt, royal blue sweatshirt, black shoes, black trousers

Meeting time and place

Saffron Walden Baptist Church, term time Tuesdays, 6:30pm – 7:45pm

The Junior Section aims to harness the energies and exuberance of our boys through a number of fun and physical activities. During the last couple of years, activities receiving the most enthusiastic responses were as follows: a series of Star Wars themed evenings, making and decorating clay candle-holders, ten pin bowling competitions, building wooden bird boxes, making and test-flying kites, learning juggling skills and a project on the food bank.

Every year our section is responsible for making and displaying the Baptist Church Christmas decorations! All of this has enabled our lads to accomplish many of their Bronze, Silver and Gold Junior Section Awards: these badges are awarded at the end of each year at a special ceremony.

In the summer months, we like to take the boys out of the buildings to enjoy the open spaces of the town: games on The Common, town trails and challenges.

Each week, the boys receive Christian teaching from one of our leaders which may be in the form of a Bible story, discussion or video; we end this time with an opportunity for prayer.

Our section draws boys from many of the town primary schools and has proved successful in forging friendships ahead of secondary school. Those boys who stay through to their final year of Junior Section find the transition to Company Section to be an exciting next step.

Ages

11 to 15 (school years 7 - 10)

Uniform

Royal blue polo shirt, navy blue sweatshirt, black shoes, black trousers

Meeting time and place

Saffron Walden Baptist Church, term time Tuesdays, 7:55PM - 9:30PM

Our Company section is involved with a wide range of activities, using the Boys' Brigade's 'Discover' programme as a platform.  Lads attending regularly and showing commitment will gain the Compass Award in year seven, Discovery Award in year eight or nine, and the President's Badge in year ten.

As with all the other sections, we try to meet the specific needs of individuals when we plan our programme. 

Members of the Company Section aspire to gaining their President's Badge.  One of the requirements for this is attending a leadership training course, and taking up a leadership role within the company.  Some of our young men help out in the Juniors and Anchors.

At a time in their lives where things are changing quickly, the Company Section of the Boys' Brigade offers a safe place for young men to develop, with constructive activities planned and organised, and an emphasis on developing their own skills and talents, especially in the area of leadership.

Ages

15 to 18 (school years 10 - 13)

Uniform

Royal blue polo shirt, navy blue sweatshirt, black shoes, black trousers

Meeting time and place

Saffron Walden Baptist Church, term time Tuesdays, 7:55PM - 10:00PM

Seniors are aged between fifteen and eighteen years old and wear a uniform of black trousers and shoes, royal blue polo shirt and navy blue sweatshirt.  We maintain a programme of activities that is relevant to their age; they are now young men rather than boys!  At Saffron Walden our Seniors meet at the same time as the Company Section they sometimes engage in different activities to the Company. However, most evenings they usually do activities together. They also have the option of staying on later, until 10pm.

Seniors are awarded the Challenge Plus award for taking part in the wide range of activities we provide.  They also have the opportunity to gain the Kings Badge, the highest badge in the BB.  This requires a similar level of commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh's silver award, and includes elements of volunteering both within and outside of the BB, as well as physical and training aspects.

We encourage our Seniors in leadership roles, and help them to plan and implement activities for the Company Section.  This can range from planning a quiz or leading games, to running our tuck shop