12th February 2008 in 1st Ballylinney Church Halls

1. Welcome The Battalion President Mr B. Smyth occupied the chair, welcomed all to the meeting. He invited our new Battalion Chaplain to conduct our opening devotions.

2. Attendance. Also in attendance were Rev. C. McClure, D. Hoy, M. McAdoo, A. Miles, Ken Hogg, D. Buchanan, A. McDowell, A. Hamilton and F. Picton. An apology was received from G. Armstrong.

3. Minute. The minute of the previous meeting which had already been circulated was confirmed and signed by the chairman.

4. Matters Arising
(a) Secretary read a letter he had received from Susan Featherstone thanking us for the gift towards her trip to India with a group from the Boys' Brigade.
(b) Following the suggestions from the previous meeting the arrangements and formats for the meetings for the next session were discussed. The Service had been excellent and was felt to be essential to enable us to focus on our Object. Junior Section and Anchor Boy Councils still had less than 10 attending. Felt that more focussed meetings with a theme could be tried to encourage Officers to expand their vision outside their own company. Email and an area on the website for discussion by the Executive can be used to facilitate any urgently arising matters of business. On the proposal of D. Hoy, seconded by A. Hamilton the following programme was agreed. September (last Sunday) Officers Service of Dedication: October - Executive meet November Joint Councils with a training aspect: March (early) - Executive meet May Celebratory Meal with Battalion AGM incorporated

5. Section Matters [a] Company Section Secretary reported on the omission of the Achievements section from the Marks for the McCune & Fitzell Cups. This was due to his oversight and his apology was accepted by the Executive. This section will need to change as the new Junior Section programme is brought in over the next session. It was agreed that the achievement section be left out next session until all Companies are operating the same programme.

[b] Junior Section A company had been refused entry to the Unihoc competition as their entry was well past the deadline previously set.

[c] Anchor Boys No Anchor Boy matters.

6. Company Visitations Gillian Armstrong and Ken Hogg had visited 4th Carrickfergus. They had a good visit and while numbers are small everyone appeared to have an enjoyable meeting. Drew Buchanan and Brian Smyth had visited 2nd Carrickfergus and reported that their new Captain had settled in well and a good varied programme for all sections was being followed. David Hoy and Alan Miles had visited 1st Larne. This is a very large company and had a good programme running. Other visitations were planned for the next few weeks.

7. Training Committee The first Stage 3 course had been completed and the second one was starting next week in Larne. The numbers were down on last year with 42 Boys (60 Boys last year) and some aspects of the Discover programme had been included in the programme. Secretary to report these numbers to Rathmore to ensure that the necessary number of Presidents Badges are ordered early by H.Q. staff.

8. 40th Anniversary Celebrations The Officers Dedication Service / Outreach/ Carrickfergus Community event had all taken place and the President thanked all those who had arranged these events for all the hard work they had undertaken. The Ballyclare Community event would be at the May Fair and Ken McKinley was to be contacted regarding the Larne Community event. The Dinner at the end of the year was still low in numbers. This to be pushed at the Council meetings later this month. M.McAdoo was asked to see if it would be possible to change the date to the 16th May.

9. Finance The Treasurer presented an updated version of the accounts which showed a healthy balance as the cost for the Outreach was less than budget. Owing to the success of Webmasters they are now required by the Inland Revenue to charge VAT on all their accounts. Subsequently our monthly fee will be £58.75 instead of £50. It was agreed that this new fee would be paid on the proposal of Margaret McAdoo, seconded by David Hoy.

10. Brigade Matters (a) Executive looked at the Brigade review paper on girls in the Boys' Brigade and the proposed changes that were being recommended to the Brigade Constitution. It was felt that while we were supportive of changes where they were necessary for some churches on the UK mainland to carry out youth work we would have concerns where we have good boys and girls organisations already operating and also we were concerned about Child Protection legislation if it was a requirement to provide a Lady Officer/Helper if girls were admitted to a company. (b) The secretary reported on correspondence regarding a conference " Visions into Reality" to be held at Gannaway on Saturday 26th April 2008. Battalions are invited to send up to 3 representatives. The Secretary and President indicated they hope to attend, there was no one else available. This would be relayed to Felden.

11. Any other business. The President distributed leaflets regarding the history of the B.B. displayed in the Heritage Centre in May Street. The next meeting of the Executive would be on 28th April in 4th Carrick.

12. Prayer Time & Benediction There being no further business the Battalion Chaplain led the meeting in a time of prayer after which we concluded the meeting by saying The Grace together.

Signed ________________________________ Date _________________________