One thing bothered William Smith even in the early days with the 1st Glasgow: "How do we keep in touch with our Boys during the summer months?"

His military service provided him with a ready answer: CAMP. The idea of camping for Boys was a stroke of genius on Smiths part, though parents and friends must have thought him crazy. Campwas all very wellfor soldiers on manoeuvres or in the field of battle in farawy foreign lands. The idea that anyone should camp for fun seemed absurd, and with a crowd of mischievous boys at that! Anyway, it would certainly rain for a week-it always did during the Glasgow fair.

The Fair Holiday in July was the time when all heavy industry in the city came to a standstill. It was the only possible time for Camp, the one brief holiday in the year many of the Boys had. Few of them had ever been away from the city streets before. The Captain announced at the beginning of the Winter session that the 1st Glasgow Company Camp would be held for one glorious week from Friday the 16th July 1886. The cost to be saved fron threepence a week, would be nine shillings a Boy. And of course, prompt, regular attendance and good behaviour on drill nights and at Bible class would be essential to ensure that a Boy was fit to go to camp.

The parents were far from sure. Their offspring would catch their death of cold, get sunstroke, fall of the boat, be bitten by a sheep or gored to death by a bull. "Camp!" said one mother indignantly, "My children have always had a roof over their heads, and as long as I live always will!"

The early Summer camps were a fever of excitement for the Boys and a masterpiece of careful organization by the Captain. We still have his notes, which were later to be used by many would be campers. As usual with important B.B. matters, capital letters mark the special items: Camp, Stove, Boats.

Dishes, Knives, Forks, Spoons should be provided in sufficient quantity for all possible requirements, including a good margin for kitchen and store purposes. In determining the quantity for each Boy, it should not be forgotten that one of the influences to be used in camp is fefinement.

It was a rule that in a Company Camp the Officers should mess with the Boys, "as this ensures the fare will be good, and has an excellent moral effect."

Everything was to be kept spic and span. Boot brushes and blacking, soap and brooms went down on the list, as did cooking utensils, a stove, tea and coffee urns, all to be ordered in good time from a respectable ironmonger or stove-maker.

1st Leytonstone (Essex )Company leave for Camp at 4.a.m.in June 1904. 

Each Boy will, of course bring his own Bible and hymnal, and unless in cases where it would leave the family with none, he will bring a blanket also. For his own health and comfort he should further be required to bring towels, extra socks, spare cap, brush or comb, and a change of clothes if he possses such.

Straw - 10 to 121bs. per Boy can easily be got for a few shillings from the farmer on whose ground the Camp is, on the understanding that it is is to be returned when leaving.

There is one person whom we have not yet mentioned, but without whom the Camp could not be carried on, and that is the cook.(no capital letter for him!) If a good steady army cook is available, he is the best man for your purpose; he will be accustomed to the manner of life and the rough and ready appliances at his command. Half a crown a day and his food is the proper remuneration for such a man, with the bonus of any stores left over, if he proves obliging. A fire-place is easily rigged up with the few bricks, or may be made in the grounds in true military fashion.

1st Leytonstone Company at their first camp, Bognor 1904.

Camp duties.

William Smith knew well that a Boy in Camp was likely to be a hungry boy:

The general routine for the day was:

Breakfast consisted of a plateful of porridge and a large cup of fresh milk, coffee, and plenty of bread and butter. Dinner was vegatable soup, mutton (boiled in the soup) and potatoes, with more bread.Tea consisted of bread, butter, jam and biscuits. 'Jam will be found very much cheaper than butter, and more highly appreciated. A piece of cake may be added as a special treat on Sunday, and on the last night." Finally, just before lights out, a cup of cocoa and a large biscuit.

The great morning of Friday l6th July dawned for 1st Glasgow and the Boys mustered for Roll Call at 5 a.m. at the Mission Hall in full uniform, each with his kit-bag.

'Attention!' A pause for quick inspection. Then - 'Quick march" and the Company set off smartly behind their baggage-wagon. Even at that hour in the morning a crowd of parents and friends and envious younger brothers and sisters waved and cheered as the band struck up 'The girl I left behind me.'

The Company marched through the streets of Glasgow to the Broomielaw to join the steamer Columba for Tighnabruaich in the lovely Kyles of Bute. Then a short march to Auchenlochan where the lst Glasgow had their annual camp in the local hall for a number of years before they moved to Portavadie on Loch Fyne and went under canvas. Portavadie, of long and happy B.B. memory, is now a desolate hole in the ground where oil rigs were to have been built. The special feature of the early camps was that boats were provided for daily trips up and down the coast, for fishing expeditions and exploring the inland waters of the Firth of Clyde. The days of simply messing about in boats' were yet to come. Everything was under the strictest discipline. But it was new, and it was fun. Bathing parade at 7 a.m. must have been chilly indeed, even in an Argyll July. There was always a Regatta for competition among the Squads and a day when visiting friends and relatives came 'doon the watter' to see how the Boys were getting on. Sunday, of course, was a day for full-dress parade at the Parish Church in the morning and the Free Church in the evening.

Two things make the first camps very different from today. One is that the Boys remained in uniform throughout the week, except presumably when they went swimming. Photographs show them sailing, messing together, even very much 'at ease' in the long afternoons, but always stiffly clad in dark suits, heavy shoes, and the uniform accoutrements of cap, belt and haversack. It is all very different from the free and easy T-shirt and denims of today.

The other bygone event marked the day of leaving Camp.As the Boys marched through Tighnabruaich on their way to the Columba the local people turned out, not only to cheer them on their way, but to present each Boy with a bouquet of flowers as they broke ranks on the pier. One wonders what the Boy of today would make of this!

Woodside was ready to greet its returning heroes, flowers and all, as they marched up from the Broomielaw to the tune of 'Home Sweet Home'. Then there were tales to tell and scars to show and plans to make for next time.

Every B.B. Boy has his memories of Camp, and the stories grow in the telling. The idea of camping for Boys spread like wildfire, and the pages of The Boys' Brigade Gazette are filled with accounts of glorious summer days of high. adventure. So may it always be! In nothing did William Smith bring so much joy to so many as in adding Camp to the vocabulary of The Boys' Brigade.