1st Barnet Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association Marching Forward For Young People

1^st Barnet Boys' Brigade and Girls' Association have achieved a Youth Mark award for the work with their company members in Barnet. 1^st Barnet Boys' Brigade and Girls' Association is a uniformed Christian youth organisation working with 5 - 18 year olds providing weekly programmes and activities to make a positive contribution to young people's lives.  The company currently has over 150 members.

The young assessors were impressed to find through their observations and interviews that 1^st Barnet Boys' Brigade and Girls' Association (BB/GA) involves young people in decision making about the organisation and how it is run. They found that the organisation actively alters the activities they offer according to feedback from the young people through regular questionnaires and voting forms.

It was clear to the young assessors that one of the main strengths was the organisation's emphasis on positive recognition of achievement. They found through interviews with the young members that regular verbal praise was given as well as other methods of recognition including Jack Petchey awards.  The Assessors found BB/GA's badge system very impressive because it motivated the young people to develop their skills and encouraged them to progress onto more achievements. This was also an excellent opportunity for the young people to improve their CV's.

Assessors were impressed that the young members of BB/GA were given important responsibilities. Young people were given roles to deliver activities and services for other younger members of the organisation including running the tuck shop. Assessors felt that by giving young people responsibility, the organisation nurtured their leadership and decisions making skills which will help to improve their lives and impact on their future.

The Assessors recommend BB/GA increase their leadership training with young people, allowing them to take on even more responsibility within the leadership of the organisation, for example, senior members could lead bible study sessions for their peers which would enhance interest and encourage more young people to get involved. They also thought this would greatly benefit the organisation and local community by creating more empowered future leaders. 

Alan King, Company Captain, said of the Youth Mark assessment process:

"The 1^st Barnet BB/GA have very much enjoyed taking part in this assessment.  As well as finding many positive things about our Company and the way it is run, the Youth Mark assessors have also put forward a number of suggestions for improvements we can make to improve our services further."