Mark Branagan
When Victorian Sunday school teacher and military man William Alexander Smith set up the Boys' Brigade, the working class lads dressed in little more than rags and did almost as much square bashing as their leader's other recruits down at the local drill hall.
But as the brigade marches into the new century it will be under the banner of a new corporate image unveiled yesterday by a design expert whose first contact with the movement was playing in the Bradford Battalion Band.
Logos had certainly never been heard of in 1883 when the very first emblem of the Boys' Brigade – a red rosette – was patiently sewn by Mr Smith's wife on to the jacket lapels of the first three leaders in Glasgow.
Back then it was closest thing approaching a uniform possessed by the organisation, established by Mr Smith, an officer with the 1st Lanark Rife Volunteers, whose early approach to youth work included teaching the youngsters rifle drill with dummy weapons and introducing them to cricket.
More than a century on the movement is worldwide with half a million members and branches in more than 70 countries. But one of the problems is there are always more boys wanting to join than there are adult volunteers to lead them.
So the organisation is looking to Scarborough-based design company Electric Angel – which came up with the Future Faithful emblem for Bradford Diocese – to cater for its branding needs and make it more attractive to potential leaders.
It will include a new logo worn on the red jumpers of the brigade's Anchors age group, a world away from when company boss Adrian Riley played in the Bradford Battalion Band aged 11.
Also working on redesigning the brigade's badges for the first time since centenary changes in 1983, the company, based in Gladstone Street, had already impressed the brigade with new information packs and posters to recruit new leaders and promote events.
Director of programme at the Boys' Brigade, Martyn Waters, said: "It was important for us that we were working with someone who understood our organisation and the way local groups work.
"Adrian has been a volunteer in the brigade and this made it much easier for us when discussing the concept of what we were aiming to do. We have been really pleased with the results so far."
Creative director Mr Riley said his job was "to bring the image of the Boys' Brigade into the 21st century" by redesigning the organisation's visual identity and designing new publicity and resource material.
He added: "You'd expect a high-profile job like this to go a design agency in London or Manchester. But it's exactly the fact that we're small and can take a personal approach to design and really understand the client that has got us the work.
"Long before I even went to art college, my dream job would have been designing for the Boys' Brigade. It's very difficult for a youth organisation to keep a contemporary image, especially one with such a proud history.
"Building on that tradition of innovation and presenting the Boys' Brigade as relevant to young people today is the challenge we've been given." One of the biggest hurdles will be the redesign of the Anchor emblem used since 1883, based on the brigade's hymn Will Your Anchor Hold in the Storms of Life?'
There was quite a fuss in the 1980s when the brigade merely updated the Biblical spelling of the BB's motto on the anchor, 'Sure and Stedfast', to 'Steadfast'.
Mr Riley said: "The anchor has taken a lesser role over the last couple of decades as the brigade used a more modern 'BB' logo – but it's time for it to take centre stage again."
The Boys' Brigade rebranding will be rolled out across the UK – starting with the information packs this year – and the new logo will start appearing in 2006.
mark.branagan@ypn.co.uk