Longside Parish Church in Aberdeenshire recently celebrated Irene Birkett’s 40 years as an officer in the Girls’ Brigade. Primarily asked to come and play the piano for the newly formed company at Longside in 1979, it wasn’t long before she found herself undertaking officer training and was commissioned in 1981. In 1995 she took over as captain of Longside, a position she still holds. She has held many posts within the Girls’ Brigade in Scotland.