​Kia ora  

Wow! It may be Winter, but we have had an action-packed few weeks during June and July!

The AGM in Christchurch and the 140th celebrations were an excellent way to get the Winter going. The AGM was well attended and there were nearly 100 people who attended the 140th dinner in the evening.

We also held a very well-attended, robust, and productive workshop for the King's Badge and have launched a survey with changes suggested by this session.

The Echo Men have been busy with a Bush Leadership course in the South led by Kieran Wilmshurst helping more of our young men journey toward additional leadership qualification.

NLDC has just been completed for another year with over 20 young men doing Stages 1 & 2.  I am always impressed with the dynamics of these boys and how they can be so diverse, but unified and learn so much about themselves and each other. There are many photos to share and a small segment of these in this edition of The Bugle.

Now we are halfway through the year and our 140th celebrations, we have achieved so much, however, there are still many great activities planned.  Not least of which is the National Founders Camp in October and we have some registrations, but we would love to get you in now to plan for a spectacular event.

We have many things planned and some of the details are in this Bugle, and we appreciate a week-long camp is a huge commitment, however, I firmly believe it will be one to remember for many years to come.   

As always I thank you for your commitment to the Boys and BB as we seek to support and grow their Faith, Foundation, and Future and remain "Sure & Stedfast" Hebrews 6:19

In His Service

Mike Brewer - National Director 

0274 967 537

mike.brewer@bb.org.nz

King's Badge Review

Thank you to everyone who attended the AGM and the King's Badge Workshop that followed.

The updated designs were presented following the Kings Birthday Monday Zoom call held in early June. A  robust discussion followed with options discussed and several suggestions made on the designs presented.

It was agreed that the designs would be tweaked and other options presented via another survey during July and feedback collected. 

When the results and feedback are collected and analyzed these will be presented for the BB New Zealand National Executive to make a decision on the final design.

In the meantime, if you haven't already completed the survey, please follow the link below and give us your feedback.  We would especially like to hear from younger Boys for the survey who can be a challenge to motivate for a survey so any help would be most appreciated. 

ECHO BLC & Fella-Ship

NZOIA Bushblock! With the help of the lads over at Adventure Specialties Trust (Adspects), we had ourselves a great week of training and team hang out at Texas flat in the Craigieburn Range. BB Bush Block is one aspect of our commitment to investing in our young men, training them to be leaders, to lead the next generation in the context of the great outdoors and BB. Along with Adspects, we were also joined by Sarah from Scripture Union, filling in the spot of one of our guys who couldn't make it, this won't be the last you hear of Scripture Union though, as we have some exciting Echo program collaborations coming up.

During this Bush Block, our guys (and girl) were being trained in the skills required for the NZOIA Bush 1, New Zealand's gold standard for outdoor instructor qualifications, in November they will have a chance to be assessed for and awarded this qualification allowing them to work as outdoor instructors on future BB Echo Programs. So stay tuned!

This Matariki weekend 14 young men from BB Units around Canterbury gathered together in Hamner Springs for a weekend of hangs, chats, and soaks with the blokes! We had some morning and evening sessions discussing being men of God, specifically discipleship as a main calling for all men of God, to be first good disciples of Jesus, then supporting and disciplining each other, and then disciplining others (the young generation).  In between these sessions, we had to soak the cold afternoons away in the Hamner hot springs! We were joined by my good friend Derek Kotze, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Invercargill! See ya'll at Fella-Ship 2024!

Michael Stead Lodge

A number of photos to show the excellent work that Stu Thompson, assisted by Glenn Tabor, has carried out over a few days during the school holidays..

The replacement of the deck and ramp is now complete

The team is looking at doing few more odds and ends in the future including the completion of the painting.

Well done guys, beautiful job!!

BB NATIONAL FOUNDERS CAMP 2023

Register Now!!  We have several $150 subsidies available which can help offset the $500 cost for the camp.  These can be applied for when registering via the Finlay Park website.   

1st  - 7th October 2023

Registrations are now open for Founders Camp 2023 at Finlay Park on the shores of Lake Karapiro from the 1st-7th October, the second week of the school holidays.

We are excited to celebrate 140 years as a movement, and we have heaps of amazing activities planned. 

Here are some of them

• Hydro Slide
• The Rocket                       
• Adventure Trail
• Animal Survival                
• Cage Soccer
• Confidence Course
• Flying Fox
• Go Karts                            
• Indoor Climbing & High Ropes   
• Mini Golf
• Sling Shot Paint Ball 
• Airsoft competition (TBC)
• National ASSEMBLY (Photographed)
• Great speakers 
• Heaps of fun and adventure 

But wait! There’s more, a Waitomo Caves visit is included (travel, lunch, and entry fees)!!!        

Please register and encourage your unit to start planning, fundraising, and booking travel to get to Finlay Park in October.  We are expecting over 200 attendees, so we will need to do some planning in advance, so the earlier we know the numbers, the better. 

Please note those traveling by air can book travel to Auckland, and we will arrange transport to Finlay Park.  There will be a subsidy available for travel to Auckland once we have established expressions of interest from leaders across the BB movement.

Whanganui River Expedition 

Registrations are open