Girls’ Brigade Captain


After 60 years as a member of the Girls Brigade and 19 years as Captain of the 1st Aylesbury Company, Mrs Sue Ingram stepped down in favour of her successor, Mrs Linda Gill.

Sue first joined the Brigade in 1947 at the age of 5 and has been involved in London and Hertfordshire before her move to Aylesbury. A big influence in that early involvement was her father who was Boys' Brigade Captain.

Sue has been looking to hand on the Captaincy for some time and now in Linda, a lieutenant with Sue for the past 11 years, she has found someone in whom she has the utmost confidence. 

            Photo: Courtesy of Bucks Herald

Mother-of-two Linda received her Captain's badge during a morning service at Buckingham Street. She told the Bucks Herald 'I think its quite good Sue will continue helping and I feel I will have the support to go on together. The support from the church is really nice with positive comments and offers of help.' On the future, Linda said, 'What I would like to do is to get involved in more regional events. The HQ runs a lot of events and we have not really had a lot of involvement in that kind of thing but I think its good to show the girls its not just in Aylesbury'.

Reflecting on her own time in the Brigade, Sue Ingram spoke of the changes she had seen over the years, the main one being the much more relaxed style nowadays. Sue told the newspaper, 'I've seen a lot of girls come and go and I do hope we are a good influence on their lives. It's nice when girls who have gone through the company bring their own girls back.'

Aylesbury has been very fortunate in having a Captain as dedicated as Sue for so many years. We are equally fortunate in having the new Captain Linda determined to continue Sue's successful stewardship. The church and the Girls Brigade officers and members say a very big THANK YOU to them both. 

And there's more...

Open to all girls from 5 to 18 the Girls' Brigade meets every Monday during term time at our Aylesbury Methodist Church Buckingham Street from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. Activities are geared to age groups. Typically they comprise games to start and end with, badge work and worship time. Badge work involves:

  1. Spiritual, focused on understanding the Christian faith
  2. Physical, normally involving sport of some kind
  3. Educational, usually creative focused on craft work
  4. Service, including first aid, care in the community and mentoring

There are also weeklong summer camp and external summer sessions such as walks and swimming.

 Although it is not essential for the girls to attend church, a part of each session is spent in exploring the meaning and values of the Christian faith. If you or a family member might be interested in joining or helping, please contact Linda Gill on 01296 429218 or visit the national Girls' Brigade website at www.girlsbrigade.org.uk.