Moray MP Douglas Ross was honoured to join the celebrations in Lossiemouth this weekend to see the latest handover of the Boys’ Brigade baton from Banffshire to Moray as part of the relay to mark the 140th anniversary of the youth organisation.
Members of 1st Buckie Boys’ Brigade were piped into Lossiemouth after arriving in the local lifeboat, and the brass baton, originally created by Sir Henry Duthie to mark the BB’s 100th anniversary, was taken ashore for the formal handover to the 4th Lossiemouth Battalion, overseen by the Lord-Lieutenant of Banffshire, Andrew Simpson and his Moray counterpart Major General Seymour Monro.
The baton, which contains a message from King Charles and a reply from James Allan, North Scottish President, and Captain of the Lossiemouth BB, started its journey in September and will be passed on 140 times in the North Scotland Area where the message from the King will be read to every Company.
Douglas, who serves on the Boys’ Brigade All Party Parliamentary Group in Westminster, said:
“It was a real honour to be at the ceremony in Lossiemouth to see the baton handed over. 1st Buckie company did a fantastic job, and it was great to see them travel along the coast in the lifeboat.
“I know 4th Lossiemouth company have exciting plans while they have the baton and it's really positive it is travelling around all the companies in the North of Scotland.
“Marking 140 years of the Boys’ Brigade in this way has highlighted the work done by everyone connected to the Boys’ Brigade in the North of Scotland and I look forward to following the Baton on the remainder of its journey.”
The baton was handed to James Allan at the Braemar Gathering on September 2nd and by the end of its journey will have travelled to all Boys’ Brigade Companies in Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, Buchan, Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles.