History

How it all began...

Sir William Alexander Smith founded the Boys' Brigade on 4 October 1883 when he founded a company of 35 members at Free Church Mission Hall, North Woodside Road, Glasgow. It was the first of all uniformed organizations for boys, which has now spread all over the world.

William Smith was a businessman, part-time soldier and Sunday school teacher. He devised a unique system of giving boys an organization as part of the church based on religion and discipline. Initially, 59 boys joined, many out of curiosity but only 35 of them stayed. Simple forms of drill, gymnastics and games were introduced and these proved very popular. Other activities were soon added and in 1886 the first Boys Brigade camp was held in Tighnabruaich. It was, in fact, the start of camping for young people.

BB in Malaysia

The Boys' Brigade did not appear in Asia until 1915 when Rev Guthrie Gamble founded the 1st Swatow Company in China. This company however had to close down when Communists took over China. BB then spread to South-East Asia with the formation of the 1st Singapore Company in 1930 by Mr. James Fraser.

BB was introduced to Malaya in 1946 by Mr. Robert Davis, a British Soldier. He founded the 1st Peanag Company with Mr. Geh Hun Kheng as the company's captain. Since then, BB has spread all over Malaysia.

The Boys' Brigade in Malaysia is an affiliated member of:

• Majlis Belia Malaysia
• The Council of Churches of Malaysia
• National Evangelical Christian Fellowship
• Kementerian Belia dan Sukan
• Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia

Motto

Sure & Stedfast, taken from Hebrews 6:19 - "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;" The biblical spelling of stedfast has been retained as found in the King James Version.

Object

The object of the Boys' Brigade shall be

Theadvancement of Christ's Kingdom among Members and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect and all that tends towards a true Christian character.

The text of this object has remained the same since the beginning, with the addition of the word obedience in 1893.

The following is a useful paraphrase of the Object into everyday goals for the Boys' Brigade Company -

• To help boys and girls to develop and grow in Christian character
• To train boys and girls to become loyal and responsible citizens
• To promote physical fitness and develop their leadership potential

Method

The method of acheiving the object is by providing a meaningful and enjoyable programme of educational, physical, social and spiritual interests, based on the "twin pillars" of Christian faith and discipline and guided by adult leaders as officers.

Emblem

The emblem was originally an anchor. Like the motto, it stems from the verse "which hope we have as an anchor of the soul?". With the union of the Boys' Brigade and the Boys' Life Brigade in 1926, a red cross was added to the anchor.

Our company, 10th Kuala Lumpur

10th Kuala Lumpur was born in 1998. It has been growing from strength to strength ever since then. 10th KL was initiated by the principle of Sekolah Menengah Sri Sempurna, Mrs Girlie Tan who eventually became the Chaplain of 10th Kuala Lumpur.
As a school-based organization, we started with more than 100 eager boys and girls joining this uniformed body. As a new company, we had the help from 1st Kuala Lumpur and 3rd Kuala Lumpur to help kick-start our company. The NCOs were seconded to our company week after week to help with our drill as well as some of the Badge Classes. It has been very encouraging for a new company as we see how the more established companies rally round to help us out.
10th Kuala Lumpur started with a team of school teachers chosen to be Officers of the 10th KL Officers Council volunteered by two moms. Currently, we have our Captain Tan Koon Hai (school teacher) assisted by his team of angels Lt Hong (School teacher), Lt. Shoah (school administrator), Lt Robin (school teacher), Lt. Tracy (school teacher), W/O Ivy (school teacher) , Lt. Timothy (school teacher), W/O Issac (school teacher), Lt. Angie Tam (working mom) and Lt. Magdalene (working mom) and our latest addition W/O Seree who will be helping us to reach out to the slum community in the Klang Valley
Being established for the past 5 years, we have indeed come a long way. There has been much of sweat and even tears in putting this company together. As one body of Christ, the Officers Council know that we have to work together with a united heart and mind and indeed praise God for such an achievement which we can see in 10th KL.