Volunteering is about giving your time, for free, supporting activity that benefits the local community. 

This could be through organised events such as The Boys’ Brigade & Girls’ Association, organised litter picks or sports coaching. Or it could be self-managed such as deciding to do your own beach clean.

We need volunteers to help children with activities, games, sport, arts and crafts, hobbies, music etc. Whatever you can help with is greatly valued. We also want volunteers who will be able to relate to young people and over time, become adults they can trust and talk to.

We are looking for volunteers who can give at least 1 hour a month to support our young people.

We meet every Wednesday during term-time, and we try to align volunteers to specific sections. This helps to ensure consistency for our young people to develop a rapport and build their confidence. It also means volunteers can get to know one particular programme in detail along with the award scheme for that section.

Our meeting times are;

Anchors | 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Juniors | 6pm – 7pm

Company | 6:30pm – 7:30pm

Seniors | 6:30pm – 7:30pm

We also try to run additional activities outside our core meeting times dependant on the availability of leaders to support, so occasional weekend support may be required – and we are also looking to establish an annual camp for which all leaders would be invited.

We are currently looking for volunteers aged 18 or over, but in future may look to recruit volunteers from age 16.

There is no upper age limit, you just need to be passionate, young at heart and able to relate to young people and understand the many pressures young people face in the 21st Century and be able to support and guide them through the many challenges they will face

In order to be a leader with the 1st Cowal you will need to undergo a number of checks and some training in order to able to work with young people.

PVG Checks

All adult volunteers must undergo a PVG check in order to work with young people. This process is managed on our behalf by the Cowal Kirk, who will also seek references from 2 individuals that cannot be related to you.

Training

Prior to working with our young people, you will need to undertake different training dependant on how involved you want to be with the Company. 

Officer

Officers within the Boys’ Brigade have the highest levels of responsibility, and work through a rank scheme (Warrant Officer, Lieutenant and Captain). Officers often take responsibility for leading specific activities or age groups.

To be an officer you will need to undertake a two day Youth Leadership Training (YLT) course. These come in two forms, a residential weekend or a series of evening sessions run in person or via web conferencing (Zoom or Teams).

Officers can also deputise for the Captain, meaning if the Captain is unavailable for any reason, BB&GA can keep running.

Helper

Helpers support Officers during activities in set-up, during and clean down. Helpers will always work under the supervision of an officer.

To be a Helper you will need to undertake two e-learning modules; Introduction to BB and Safeguarding. These can be undertaken from hope via the internet and take approximately an hour to complete. This will be complemented by further training “on the job” by the Captain and other Leaders.

If you want to know more, submit your interest using the form below and our Captain will be in touch shortly to organise an informal chat.