News

We came 16th!

A couple of weekends ago, our Junior Section took part in The Juniors BIG Sleepover, which was held simultaneously at more than 60 locations nationwide.

The event also included The Juniors BIG Sleepover Quiz, which included five tricky rounds, with groups up and down the country battling it out to try and come out on top.

Out of the 60+ teams who took part, we are pleased to say that we not only made it to the top 30, but that we came 16th overall!

A HUGE well done goes to our Junior Section members who worked so well together to produce this fantastic result.

More information on the sleepover here:

Juniors BIG Sleepover 2025

We’re back!

This is our official notice that BBGA restarted for the 2025/26 session on Tuesday 9th September, but it’s not too late to join!

We’ve enjoyed being together again, and getting into our regular activities.

There’s quite a bit of movement, this year, between Anchors and Juniors – your child may now be in a different age group (section). Here’s a list of the sections, school years and meeting times.

• Anchor Section – Years 1-3 – 1800-1900
• Junior Section – Years 4-6 – 1800-1930
• Company & Seniors – Years 7-13 – 1930-2100

Please also find below a list of the proposed term dates for the session:

Autumn Term

Start: 9-Sep-2025 until 9-Dec-2025. Half Term on 28-Oct-2025.

Spring Term

Start: 6-Jan-2026 until 24-Mar-2026. Half Term on 17-Feb-2026.

Summer Term

Start: 14-Apr-2026 until 7-Jul-2026. Half Term 26-May-2026.

Week by week dates for all sections can be found on our calendar.

If you’re a parent/carer, and are interested in your child joining us, then feel free to contact us to find out more. Equally you can also fill out the joining/waiting list.

A message from our Captain on the sudden death of former member Stephen Foster:

It is with much sadness and shock that I need to report that one of our former members, Stephen Foster, died last month.

Stephen was a few years ahead of me in the company and one of those that inspired both in sport and as a member of our bugle band. I’m sure that many past members will remember him.

Please remember his family in your prayers at this time.

Mark Churchill, Captain.

Dodging the later rain, the Seniors performed a reconnaissance walk ahead of next Friday’s Juniors’ Night Hike II.

We may even have seen the sun at one point!

Pictures, details of the route and our progress can be seen on Outdoor Active.

An adventurous evening!

On Friday much of the Junior Section assembled for a Night Hike from Swanbourne to Newton Longville, ably led by two of our seniors.

For their first serious walk, 7.2km, they did a remarkably good job, despite the variously muddy fields. They set and maintained a good steady pace, despite the conditions – perhaps that was the promise of chips from the chip shop in Newton Longville? Thanks to them … and sorry about the dirty floor!

Looking forward to our next sortie!

Over the summer, we’re pleased to be able to say that all of the paperwork went through and that the ‘new’ minister of Spurgeon Baptist Church, Rev Mung Hatzaw, is now formally the company Chaplain!

We’d already pressed him into service at our summer BBQ and awards evening (see photo below), but now he’s official.

What does a Chaplain do? Well, apart from the ‘official bits’ at Enrolment and Awards, the Chaplain’s main responsibilities are for the spiritual welfare of our members and staff. We may even have need of his musical abilities!

On the first weekend in October, from Saturday evening to Sunday morning, the Junior Section took part in the Juniors Big Sleepover 2024. Why is it so big, you may ask?

Well, many other company’s across the land participate at the same time, following similar activities, and briefly come together on a Zoom call!

We all made our own pizzas for tea before taking part in the Big Quiz and the Letters Game.

The event was popular with our young people, and they even managed the harder part of the evening – sleep! Well, by 23.30!!

Everyone was up early in the morning and pitched in to set up for breakfast – sausage and bacon rolls. Our last activity dealt with the subject of ‘Domino Kindness.’

A memorable weekend for sure!

Last month the Juniors were asked to help weed the car park at the Newton Longville Free Church.

What a job! I think we made a dent in things, but judge for yourselves – right of the red line looked like what you can see on the left!

They worked well as a team and after a burger lunch, 3 hours of work and a small thunderstorm, we were done – not with the carpark, but we’ve shown them how it’s done and perhaps someone else can do a bit more.

This amount of effort earnt our members their Get Involved project badge. Very well done, everyone!

Today the Juniors were asked to help weed the carpark at the Newton Longville Free Church.

What a job! I think we made a dent in things, but judge for yourselves – right of the red line looked like what you can see on the left!

They worked well as a team and after a burger lunch, 3 hours of work and a small thunderstorm, we were done – not with the carpark, but we’ve shown them how it’s done and perhaps someone else can do a bit more.

This amount of effort earnt our members their Get Involved project badge. Very well done, everyone!

It was a risky decision to hold our end-of-year BBQ outside given the torrential rain we had experienced in the last few days, but the gamble paid off as we enjoyed celebrating the achievements of our members at the end of the school year.

After enjoying our burgers and some time playing games outside, we headed into the church for the awards presentation, led by our Captain, Mark Churchill. The awards were handed out by Spurgeon’s new minister and soon-to-be company chaplain Mung Hatzaw. Awards were handed out in all three sections, Anchors, Juniors and Company. The Juniors were particularly keen to find out who had won the most points for uniform inspection across the year, and by extension who had made it onto the ‘Inspection Hall of Fame‘, which you can check out here. We also said farewell to our oldest BBGA member Magdala, as she received the Seniors Platinum Award and we wish her all the best as she goes off to university.

We pray for all our members and their families over the summer holidays, and that they will return well-rested and refreshed for our first session on 10th September.

If you’re interested in your child joining us in September or you would like to volunteer yourself, you can fill in our joining list or contact us.