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Lasting friendships are made through GB
“TO see girls and young women hold their heads up high when things go wrong and get back up and try again, is an achievement as a leader.”
Anne Hosie has been a leader in the Girls’ Brigade to more girls than she can number, not just in her company in Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire, but as she progressed through all levels of leadership within the national GB.
“I joined the Girls’ Guildry the Scottish organisation that joined with the Girls’ Life Brigade and the Girls’ Brigade of Ireland in 1965 to become the Girls’ Brigade
“I was a Rosebud aged six in the local Church of Scotland in Lochwinnoch and went along each week with friends from my class at school.”
Anne was brought up in Lochwinnoch, and the Church was always an important part of her family life for as long as she can remember.
“My mother was a faithful church attender and I went to church and Sunday School every week at Calder United Free Church of Scotland. In my teens I started to help with the Sunday School initially playing the piano for them and progressing to be a Sunday School teacher which I did for many years until I married and moved from the village.”
“After Lochwinnoch Primary, I attended high school in Paisley. I had planned to go into teacher training, but as these things happen, I went in another direction. It happened that in the summer after leaving school I got a job in the local Job Centre and worked in the careers department helping young people find employment. I found that I really liked working with the young people and I enjoyed this work and when I was offered a permanent post decided to take it.
“My whole working life has been in different strands of the Department of Work and Pensions, helping people to find work, processing benefit, giving benefit advice, working with employers and latterly communications.
I was awarded an MBE in 1996 for work in the community through DWP, and that was a great honour.”
But the Girls’ Brigade has always been the real draw in her life, because, she says, of the impact it has on the lives of the girls.
“I have always been a member of 1st Lochwinnoch company and am still an active officer today.
“I have worked with all sections of the company, but spent more time working with the teenagers in the Brigader Section.
“Faith is at the core of what we do. Our motto is ’Seek Serve and Follow Christ’. Being in GB has been a way of sharing my faith with others to help nurture the lives of girls and young leaders. It has also strengthened my link to the church where I am currently the Deputy Session Clerk - Oakshaw Trinity Church in Paisley.
“As a girl, your leaders were your example and as a leader you are the girls’ example and as a good leader, we depend on the example of Christ through our faith
“Wanting the best for the girls in your care…. How can it not deepen your understanding of a God who wants the best for his children, who loves, encourages, understands and supports?” she asks.
“The Girls’ Brigade is a fellowship for girls and leaders and, for each company, a fellowship with the church it is connected to, the community where it meets and the wider GB family. This connection and support is key to upholding individual leaders through good times and bad and the glue of Christian faith is what holds us all together.”
Anne has seen many changes in the time she’s been a member too, but always, faith lies at the core of her experience.
“Uniform has changed a few times over the years from a formal style of uniform with shirt, tie and hat to polo shirt and sweatshirt which is much more casual and practical for activities on a company night.
“The programme we offer has changed considerably. It is much more flexible and girls have a greater say in the choice of programme.
“When I started in GB, the programme involved a lot of ‘home craft’ topics like sewing, embroidery and laundry and basic physical subjects like skipping, Scottish country dancing or movement with hoops or clubs and bible stories. That all looks not just a bit old fashioned nowadays, but largely irrelevant to the lives young women today will live. It’s not surprising then, that the programme we offer the girls, is much more modern, and aware of the things going on in the world around us.
Anne Hosie
“As a girl, your leaders were your example and as a leader you are the girls’ example and as a good leader, we depend on the example of Christ through our faith.
“For instance, today we offer a programme that is not just relevant, but interesting which has much more variety and suitable for today’s young person like: Get digital that raises girls’ knowledge of different networks and staying safe online; Looking after your environment, which emphasises littering and the impact it has on their local area; Youth rights and responsibilities, that covers the relevance of rights and responsibilities to help young people be happier and healthier and included and One Scotland many faiths where we look at the variety of beliefs and faith systems that exist in Scotland, encouraging the girls to explore their own personal faith and beliefs. We also do not have written tests, girls just need to participate in the programme.
“Like other organisations we have changed to a digital format for training, online resources and supplies. This is a great source of information and is a time saving way of training for the trainee, but I miss the fellowship we used to share at weekend training events.”
But of course, the Girls’ Brigade, like its brother organisation, the Boys’ Brigade, also have lots of outdoor activities too, including annual camps!
Anne’s late husband, Andrew, was involved in the church and the Boys’ Brigade. He was a company Captain, Battalion President and member of the Brigade Executive, and it was no surprise to find they met through BB/GB events.
“Lasting friendships are made through GB. Girls and Leaders who meet at GB whether within the company, events in Scotland, or those at an international level, find that friendships can last a lifetime even from the other side of the world due to the common link of GB and their love of Christ,” Anne says.
Youth Link Scotland Awards 2020 credit: Barrie Williams
“Programme work, award schemes, competitions, challenges camps, outings and trips are all about expanding horizons for the girls within GB. As girls proceed through the company, as a leader you have the pleasure of seeing them grow in confidence, especially confidence in their own ability. GB is about having the support of friends and leaders around you who are rooting for you, helping you accept that because you may not be the best at something does not mean you should not participate. Girls who take their GB experiences as a girl and as they go forward take on leadership roles and give the next generation the life expanding opportunities that they received.”
And Anne says she has seen these changes in girls for herself.
“There are girls who learned to knit at GB having never knitted before who are now twenty years on knitting for their own family.
“Girls who learn to cook at camp after peeling potatoes for the first time.
“One girl who said on Duke of Edinburgh Award Expeditions that she would never walk up another hill and is now Munro bagging and completed the three peak challenge a few years later…
“I remember another girl who had no opportunity for holidays growing up and after completing Bronze, Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards, took a year out later in life and backpacked solo around the world!
NP Commissioning Day
“These were all changes to the lives of these young women by participating in the Girls’ Brigade, and interacting and being influenced, by the leaders - young women themselves - that they have come into contact with as they grew up.
“So many things keep me coming back, year after year. Friendship, fellowship, encouragement, new challenges, fun and laughter, to name just a few.
“There is a structure to GB and through this I learned new things in an informal setting. GB offers a wealth of enjoyable learning opportunities for girls and leaders. The programme offers spiritual, physical, educational and service topics annually and these subjects were, in the main, fun and allowed team work and the opportunity to try things that I would otherwise not have had the chance of doing. Ski-ing , curling, pottery, Zumba, camp, a large variety of crafts and Duke of Edinburgh awards to mention a few of them.
Youth Link Scotland Awards 2020
“Being part of GB is about being valued and supported within a fellowship, being able to try new and different things without judgement, in a safe environment, about learning and giving respect, about encouragement and friendship.
“Girls often organise their own interests as part of these award schemes and our girls have elected to do topics like car mechanics, learning to drive, woodwork and furniture making, interior design, canoeing, adventurous sail training with the Clyde Sail Training Trust - a wide variety of topics to study in the local area. The girls are creative and organised and it helps their confidence no end when something they want to do has fallen into place.
“Their imagination and passion is a credit to them.
“Being part of GB is about being valued and supported within a fellowship, being able to try new and different things without judgement, in a safe environment, about learning and giving respect, about encouragement and friendship
“As a Leader, GB is about getting to know each girl as an individual, what makes them tick, their strengths and weaknesses, helping them expand their horizons and realise the potential they have within themselves.”
“Over the years I have served as Divisional Commissioner in Renfrew Division and Regional Commissioner in Inverclyde, Renfrew and Argyll Region. I have also served in a variety of National Committees including Duke of Edinburgh Award and Camp Committee although my passion was training. I was convenor of the Training Committee which was responsible for delivering training for girls and leaders and developing training and programme material. I was elected National Vice President in 1997 and National President in 2005. During my term of office as National VP and National President I represented Scotland at local events, European Fellowship meetings and at international conferences in Australia, Thailand, Northern Ireland and Malaysia where the strategic and future planning of the international organization was decided. In the gap from VP to President I was responsible for the organisation and funding of Fonomarae in Glasgow, which was an international gathering for 150 young leaders from five continents.”
Early this year, Anne was awarded the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from Youth Link Scotland, the national agency for Youth Work. They represent more than 100 youth organisations across the country.
“I had no idea that the Division had applied for the award on my behalf, as it’s all done confidentially.
“I was incredibly touched, and honoured, to receive the award for my work with the Girls’ Brigade.
“Covid-19 and the problems it has brought, have affected our work though,” she says.
“Who would have thought that face to face GB would be suspended for six months and that we would be conducting our weekly GB meetings with the girls on Zoom? I have to say I miss the regular fellowship of meeting in the church hall and spending time with the girls as they journey through life and the Girls’ Brigade.”
This article appears in the January 2021 Issue of Life and Work
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