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5th Halifax
(Elland) Company, The Boys’ Brigade History Beginnings The 1930s The 1960s The 1990s BeginningsThe
company was originally part of the former Elland Wesley Methodist Church. The
idea of forming a Boys’ Brigade company was first raised at a meeting of
Elland Wesley Sunday School on 31st August, 1903, but it was decided
that it would not be a good thing either for the boys or the school. However,
after a long debate on July 12th, 1904 some people changed their minds and
the Boys were allowed to drill one night a week, on Tuesday evenings, though
they had no uniforms. The first captain was Mr. A.H. Hobley and each lad
brought a penny a week to which Mr Hobley added a halfpenny in each case, to
buy the first bugle. The church trustees were against the new venture and the
boys had a difficult time. The
first register, commencing in January 1905 states the company designation as
‘1st Elland Company’, and in the same year an application to
become affiliated to The Boys’ Brigade was made too late for that session. In
1906 the company joined The Halifax Battalion and became the 5th Halifax
(Elland) Company. The band was started about the same time. Boys
went to Battalion camps, and in this way many Elland boys made their first
journey to the sea. On 3rd February 1908 is the first record of a
perennial problem: at a Trustees Meeting the stewards were asked to see the
Brigade Officers, because noise from the Brigade was annoying the Society
Classes meeting at the same time. The 1910sIn
1910 the Company was said to be on its last legs. Mr Harold Savage was
appointed captain and started to build up the company. The Bible Class was
first recorded during that year and an enrolment service was held in 1911.
About this time the band first appeared on the streets, with a few bugles and
drums: 
On 29th
June 1920 the company’s midweek headquarters was transferred to the
Brooksbank Institute, near the top of Westgate, where the top floor was
equipped as a gymnasium. This resulted in a rapid expansion. By 1922
membership was 90 Boys and 6 officers, the highest ever. The
Boys had a football field at the corner of Victoria Road and Jepson Lane.
Regularly they scored between 20 and 35 goals in a match, and only one local
team could give them a good game. In 1927
Fred Depledge won the Diploma for Gallant Conduct. He jumped fully clothed
into a dam to save a boy from drowning. The 1930s
In
1930 the company was one of the strongest in the Battalion. Numbers were
around the 50 mark. The company played a great part in Battalion activities
and the gym team was Battalion champion for many years. Various trophies were
won, especially in swimming. In
March 1931, Mr Harold Savage offered to build a hall to celebrate the
completion of his 21 years service as Captain of the company. It was to be
used for youth work, especially The Boys’ Brigade and Girl Guides. Known as
The Harold Savage Hall, it was described as a magnificent building,
beautifully appointed. It was claimed that it was probably the best hall in
Methodism for its purpose. The main hall was 44 feet by 32½ feet, and the
ceiling 19 feet high. There were also two classrooms. The cost was about
£3,000. Mrs Savage opened it on 23rd January 1932. The Brigade and Guides marched
through and formed a guard of honour. An Old
Boys Association, formed in 1931, presented a memorial brass to the Savage
Hall. It was unveiled on 9th October 1932 in memory of 21 old Boys
who gave their lives in The Great War. On 11th
December 1932 Mr Richard poston started a group of Life Boys, with four leaders. During
the 1930’s cornets were added to the range of instruments played by the band. Throughout
the war years there were between 40 and 50 Boys in the company. Gym, which
consisted of physical exercises performed to piano music, was a major part of
the company’s activities and the team usually won the Battalion competition.
In the spring of 1943 the team won the Yorkshire Championship at Bradford. Company
camps were sometimes held at Dean Head in the valley where the Scammonden
reservoir now is. In the
late forties the band amalgamated with the bands of the Siddal and Copley
Companies to form a joint band. The 1950sIn
Connection with the Festival of Britain in 1951, five copies of a loyal
message to the King were sent by The Boys’ Brigade from different parts of
the country to London, carried by Brigade runners, day and night. Three Boys
from the Elland company received one of the messages from Halifax on 7th
May and ran with it over Lower Edge to Brighouse.  In
1956 the Golden Jubilee of the company was celebrated. The Old Boys
Association renovated the Savage Hall. On 14th April a great reunion
of old boys was held and 300 were there for tea. Two plaques were unveiled in
the hall, one in memory of old boys who died in the 1939-45 war and the
second in memory of Mr Harold Savage. In the
late fifties the band broke its connection with Siddal and Copley. At this
time it was very poor, but efforts began to build it into a good band under
the leadership of Mr Selwyn Bottomley who was appointed bandmaster in 1958. In
1961 the band entered its first contest at Brighouse as a drum and bugle
band. From this contest sprang the desire to improve. 1964 saw the fruition
of this aim: gone were the jackets revealing distinctive crisp white shirts;
gone were the bugles, cornets and narrow-pattern side drums and in their
place were modern separate tension drums and E flat trumpets. The band won
many trophies at contests as far afield as Birmingham. In 1965 the 5th
led the field introducing the bell lyre to the northern scene. The band
appeared at many carnivals and galas. In
June 1964 Mr Donald Riley formed the Cadets for Boys aged 6 to 8. The 5th
were a pioneer in this field as there was not at that time a recognised
section of the Brigade for Boys of that age. At
this time annual Whitsuntide camps were held, usually in the Yorkshire Dales,
over the 4-day holiday period. In the mid 60s the company had a few summer
camps in Switzerland and Austria, travelling on Halifax Corporation buses. In
1967, Mr John Chappell left the company to work in Kenya setting
up BB companies and on his return to England was appointed Field Officer of
the North West district. On 10th
June 1967 the band appeared on television on ‘Opportunity Knocks’ as The Elland
Boys’ Brigade Anchormen. In 1968 the band appeared again on television on
Yorkshire Television’s ‘Junior Showtime’ and on 11th May moved
south as guest item in the BB London District Display in the Royal Albert
Hall: 
About
this time Parade Night for the Company Section was changed from Tuesday to
Thursday. The company had met on Tuesday evenings ever since it was formed
but by now the band was practising on Thursday evenings as well. In order to
cause less of a nuisance to other sections of the church the main band practice
was moved to Tuesday evenings, therefore Parade Night became Thursday which
it has been until recently. In
1969 the band spread its wings even further, being guests of the FDF in
Denmark at an International Music Festival, returning via Amsterdam and
performing before the Royal Palace. For this visit new uniforms were
purchased including navy blue trousers with red stripes down the leg. There
was also a navy blue cape with red lining. In the
summer of 1969 there was a tragic breakdown in communication and many Boys left.
The 1970sWhitsuntide
camps (later Spring Bank camps) were still held in the Yorkshire Dales. These
now became joint camps with the 1st Elland Girls’ Brigade Company. Towards
the end of the sixties a new Company Section award scheme had been introduced
by the Brigade and on the 22nd April 1972 the first two
President’s Badges to be won in Elland were presented. In September
1972 the Wesley church amalgamated with St Paul’s Methodist Church in Elland
and Middle Dean Street Methodist Church in West Vale. Initially all
activities were held at Wesley whilst the St Paul’s premises were modernised.
For a period during 1974, after the Wesley premises were sold, the company
met at the former Middle Dean Street Church in West Vale. On November 16th
1974 the modernised former St Paul’s premises were reopened as Southgate
Methodist Church. The company has continued to meet there ever since. During
1974 an old Boy of the company, Mr Anthony Holden, hearing that the company
would be moving away from the Wesley premises made a recording of the band
playing in the Savage Hall in order to capture ‘the distinctive Savage Hall
sound’. Out of this came the idea of producing the band’s first LP record
‘The Anchormen’. In
1976 the Band was again invited to be the guest item at the London District
display in The Royal Albert Hall. The following year was the Queen’s Silver
Jubilee and the band in one day appeared at various events organised by
Battalions in the London District. The
first BB National Band Championships was held in 1976 at Bingley Hall,
Stafford. The 5th won the first two of these, earning the title
‘Supreme Champions’, a title that was used for the band’s second LP record
produced in 1977. The band continued to enter the National Championships,
winning many of them. 
In the
late 70s the band changed its instrumentation again, acquiring G bugles, and
started to compete in Drum Corps competitions. A colour guard was formed from
girls in The Girls’ Brigade. During
the 70s, in order to transport Boys (and girls) to Band Contests, Carnivals,
Galas and camps the company acquired a 52-seater bus. By 1983 the number of
buses had increased to 3 and they were kept in a garage owned by the council
on what is now the car park adjacent to the Town Hall Hotel. Listening to the
many tales related by former members of the company one would be forgiven for
thinking that these buses ever reached their destination in one piece.  The
buses were used to take the Boys to Company summer camps usually in Scotland.
In May
1980, the band had a second international trip when it was invited to
Riorges, Elland’s twin town in France. The band played at a gala in the town
and at a wine festival at St Haon le Chatel. On
March 21st-22nd 1981 the company celebrated its 75th
Anniversary. An Old Boys reunion was held on the Saturday and on the Sunday
afternoon the Old Boys and the company paraded to a Celebration Service when
new Company Colours were dedicated. In the
early 80s Company summer camps were in Switzerland, Austria and Holland. The trip
to Riorges was repeated in 1982 and in 1983 the band competed in a Drum Corps
Holland contest in Vlissingen, again visiting Amsterdam. 1983
was the Centenary of the BB being founded and many celebrations were held.
The band appeared at the main event ‘Centenary Salute’ held in Ibrox Stadium,
Glasgow on 27th August. 
During
1983 the officers agreed that the way forward was for The Boys’ Brigade and
The Anchormen Drum Corps to become two separate organisations. Initially,
both were based at Southgate Methodist Church and many Boys were in both
organisations. The company section of the BB adopted the
‘1963’ uniform – blue shirt and tie –.
About this time the Company began operating as one organisation. Previously
the three sections of the company worked quite independently, having their
own accounts and fund-raising events, appointing their own Officer-in-charge
etc. Many
fund-raising events were held. 1985 saw the first ‘BB Day’, a fund-raising day
including Santa’s Grotto, stalls and a sponsored event. In about 1984, the
company started selling stamps in the churches and delivering Christmas cards
in Elland and District. This fund-raising effort continued until 2000, usually
in aid of the Overgate Hospice. The
Junior Section held indoor weekend camps, sometimes at Burnsall in the
Yorkshire Dales. The Company Section sometimes had indoor weekend camps at
Burnsall, Scarborough or Southport. The 1990sAt the
end of 1992 it was agreed that the time was right to start a company band
again. Various second-hand instruments were given or loaned by other
companies, many of them being instruments that had belonged to the company
previously including a bell lyre dating back to 1965. This was again an E
flat trumpet band. From 1994, the band played regularly at Parents &
Friends Nights. In
1993 the company purchased a 15-seater minibus for £880. It was kept in a
garage courtesy of Nu-Swift International. In the same year, Mr Trevor
Jenkins returned to the company as captain. The
Company Section competed in many Battalion competitions and won a number of them.
The football team won the Battalion football league several times. The
Company Section Boys were unhappy about wearing the Brigade uniform and
sweatshirts were purchased and worn on some Thursday evenings. By
1997 it was thought the band was good enough to enter a competition and the
BB Northern Districts Contest was entered (at South Shields). The band won
the novice class. After
a lot of fund-raising and applying for grants, the company replaced the
minibus in 1999 with a 17-seater minibus in a lot better condition. This cost
about £11,000. During
the 90s the Company Section held a variety of weekend camps, sometimes
indoors, sometimes under canvas and on one occasion on a narrowboat. Many of
these were at the North West District Traning Centre at Kirkham, Lancashire.
One of these was a joint camp with The Girls’ Brigade and some were for
Junior and Company Section Boys. The 2000sIn September 2000 the whole company adopted the new Brigade uniform, the Company Section wearing the polo shirt and sweatshirt version of it, similar to the Anchor Boys and Junior Section. In
2001 when Mr Trevor Jenkins resigned as Company Captain no successor could be
found so an Executive was formed to do the work of the Captain. After
a break of 20 years, the band entered the Brigades National Band Contest in
2002, being placed first in the Beginners Class. The
Company Section held two weekend camps at an Adventure Centre at Newcastleton
in the Scottish Borders. In September
2004 the Parade Night for Company Section was changed again to Wednesday
evening meaning that for the first time all sections of the company met on the
same evening.
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