milestones

1930

The 1st Singapore Company at Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church was founded with 40 members.

1936

The membership of Singapore Battalion grew from 40 to 200. Fraser also served as Battalion President in the year till 1956.

1940

Fraser handed over the captaincy of 1st Singapore Company to one of his Boys, S P Chua.

1942- 1945

BB activities were suspended during the Japanese Occupation. Records of BB Companies were preserved at great personal risks where some of the Officers and Boys who remained fervent to BB lost their lives.

1945

After the war ended, S P Chua revived the 1st Singapore Company. He was joined immediately by James Milner Fraser and by 1950, the Battalion had regained its old glory.

1951

The King’s Badge was started as the highest award in the Seniors Section.

1954

The King’s Badge was renamed Queen’s Badge with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II

1962

The Queen’s Badge was renamed Founder’s Badge. Still the highest and most honourable award for Senior Boys, achieving the Founder’s Badge was the goal of every BB Boy.

1971

The Brigade was honoured to have the President of the Republic of Singapore as its Patron.

1983

BB Singapore celebrates the Centenary of the founding of The Boys’ Brigade in 1883, Glasgow, United Kingdom.

1988

With the aim of spreading joy and cheer to the less fortunate during the Christmas season by collecting gifts, The Boys’ Brigade Sharity Gift Box was started with a collection of 7000 gifts. The Sharity Gift Box theme “Have a Heart Share a Gift” clearly states the project’s objectives.

1990

BB celebrates its 60th Anniversary. Camp Temasek was initiated to encompass campers from other Uniformed Groups and BB from other countries.

1995

BB celebrates its 65th Anniversary.

2000

BB celebrates its 70th anniversary. Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church, where the 1st Singapore Company was founded, was marked as the 41st Historic Site of Singapore by the National Heritage Board. BB also had an orchid, Dendrobium Boys’ Brigade named after her. BB CARES, an acronym for Community Activities Rallying Everyone to Serve, was started under The President’s Challenge. BB21 Programme initiative, chaired by Mr Khoo Boon Hui, was kicked off to review and improve the BB Programme so that we remain an attractive and effective youth organisation.

2002

BB Adventure Quest (BBAQ) was launched at Nanyang Technological University. BBAQ became an annual gruelling event where Boys go through various checkpoints to complete the given tasks over a 6 to 10 hours period.

2003

The first BB Pipes & Drums Festival, where Pipes & Drums bands from various Companies pitch their piping skills, was held at the Esplanade Park. BB began a long term project to establish the BB Learning Centre in Prayut Village, Cambodia. BB seeks to provide a structured BB programme that will help to develop the youths in Cambodia. Since its inception, the first Cross of Heroism was awarded to WO Jeffrey Jiang of 12(I) Singapore Company for his bravery in saving a man’s life when on a community service project in Thailand.

2005

BB celebrates its 75th Anniversary. BB was honoured to have President S R Nathan host an Appreciation Dinner at the Istana for our volunteer officers. The inaugural President’s Award Presentation Ceremony was held at the Istana, where the first batch of deserving recipients were presented the highest award in BB by President S R Nathan.

2006

The Boys’ Brigade Learning Centre in Siem Reap, Cambodia was officially opened with close to 50 youth attending classes regularly. Goals and Strategies 2010 was formulated to propel the BB forward to be in tune with the changing educational landscape. Four key thrusts for Goals 2010 were identified: namely Strengthening Programmes; Officers, Relationships and Companies, On Strategies 2010, five focus areas were identified: namely Programmes Excellences, Systems and Processes, Clusters Resource, Communications Plan and Financial Plan.

2007

BBSGB celebrates its 20th anniversary. Cluster Consultations sessions were promulgated to develop and engage officers on the ground to collaborate resources within the BB family.