Boys' Brigade exhibition to open this autumn in Carrickfergus

Organised by the East Antrim Battalion Heritage Society, it will open at 2pm on October 4 on High Street in the town.

Writing on the organisation’s website, Drew Buchanan MBE, chair of the charity said: “Entry to the museum is free, but [we] would welcome donations to help with the expense of leasing the premises.”

The Society’s mobile museum has visited venues in Larne, Ballyclare and Carrickfergus over the last the last couple of years.

Longer term, the group is seeking support for a fundraiser that would help establish a permanent Boys’ Brigade Museum in a bid to protect the organisation’s rich heritage and to preserve it for future generations.

The group has collected over two thousand articles of memorabilia to date, from badges and membership cards to uniforms and photographs.

Many span the 50-year history of the Boys’ Brigade in East Antrim, while some items are even older, dating back 100 years.

The heritage museum was set up on August 1, 2019.

Mr Buchanan said: “Three of the BB companies in the battalion area had closed and this resulted in a conversation on how we preserve the records and BB memorabilia associated with each company.

“We provide ‘pop up’ museum exhibitions displaying items of Boys’ Brigade history to the public.

"We do this in Carrickfergus, Larne and Ballyclare. This allows us to be accessible and visible to a greater number of local people in these locations, attracting the young and not so young members of the public. We also advertise where Boys’ Brigade companies meet within East Antrim.”

The heritage society became a stand-alone organisation in December 2021, then a charity in May 2023.

The charity launched their website www.bbeab.org and began their fundraising campaign for permanent premises on July 1, 2023.

The Boys’ Brigade was founded in Glasgow on October 4,1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith.

From this one Company formed in Scotland, the BB has grown in to a worldwide movement, having worked with millions of children and young people for well over a century.