The History of the 14th West Kent (Bexleyheath) Company.

Very early in the 20th Century, William Dickinson, much to the dismay of his housekeeper, formed the Highfield Boys Club. At this club the boys had the freedom of his house and spent many Sunday afternoons, followed by a simple service in the local mission hall.
It was in 1904, after several requests by the boys and much encouragement by the Rev Fry, the then Vicar Of Christ Church, Bexleyheath that Mr Dickinson sent out a letter to all club members calling a meeting to consider forming a Company of The Boys’ Brigade.
The response was so great that at a meeting was held on September 14th 1904; all were keen to go ahead with a company. An application form was forwarded to the Brigade forthwith and on October 31st of that year; the Rev Fry had his BB Company, to be known as the 14th West Kent. The Company was given the use of a room at the rear of a small private library, which served them well for the first eight years but numbers were growing.

Soon the Company were the proud possessors of a drum and fife band; the Sunday evening Church Parade became an imposing sight, with the bandsmen playing with lyres strapped to their wrists and colza oil lamps strapped to their shoulders, leaking oils onto the jackets, as they played such marches as “Under the Double Eagle”.

The following year, the Company went to camp at Eddington, at the cost of 10 shillings and much to everyone’s amazement returned home fit and well after a glorious week. The Company soon learned the meaning of discipline and team spirit.
In November 1912, a piece of land was leased from Mr A Hide, the owner of a department store and the building was erected. Thus we owned out first headquarters – 70’ x 28’ at the cost of £340.

Soon the country was at war and many of those early members were to lose their lives. The Company gave its help in many ways, which included the band, now bugles and drums, leading the volunteers on route marches, buglers sounding air raid warnings and everyone collecting waste paper.

With the war behind it, the Company continued to grow and reached the final of the London District Daily Telegraph Shield in 1923, beating the 1st Barnet Company by 13 marks – the marks awarded for rifle drill proving the decisive factor. The following year, we failed in the drill but reached the final of the Devonshire Cup for Bugle Bands, losing to 76th London.

In 1926, the lease ran out on the existing hall and the Company acquired a second-hand wooded medical clinic and had it erected on a new site. Camping was very much a feature, usually at Herne Bay on the North Kent coast, a day out consisted of a five mile march to the local station, before catching a train to Canterbury, watching the County play cricket and then the return trip.

In the 1933-34 session, William Dickinson or “WD” as he was known, handed over to a younger man, Lieutenant AP French, while he became President, a position, he held until he died in 1949.

1939 saw the country at war again and with evacuation of children and the strength of the Company dropped to five, but with what became known as the ‘phoney war’ youngsters returned home and membership crept up. During those war years the main programme took place on a Sunday - Cross Country running, band, gymnastics, fatigue duty, drill and bible class, all before lunch! Quite often activities would finish in the nearest air raid shelter. First Aid classes would take place in the afternoon, with NCOs’ classes in the Captain’s house in the evening. Summer camps would be held away from the bombs on the playing fields of Eton with the London District.

The large Company storeroom had for some time been converted into a factory making candles and in 1944 the hall, which was at the top of Graham Road, was badly damaged. At the end of the war “WD” contacted all his old boys and told them the 14th needed a better hall – following the blitz, the existing one was supported with tree trunks. As restoration was out the question, an appeal was launched for a new headquarters.

In 1952, the captaincy passed to Stan Hancock and the hall was eventually opened in 1954, it was to be known as the Dickinson Memorial Hall, some £3,500.00 had been raised by bazaars, parents’ whist drives, cricket matches and the like.

By 1956, Stan Hancock had resigned and the Vicar, the Rev. Edmund Roberts, placed his curate, George Forrester in charge for about six months to be followed by Fred Brown, a newcomer to the area, but with BB service in Brighton, Surrey and Watford and he held the reins for just over a year before Doctor’s orders forced him to return to the sidelines. John Gale took over; he had been the Company Drill Officer for two years.

A boyhood friendship between Bernard Clewes, the Company Treasurer, and John Gale now proposed for the 14th. Staff were the greatest need and soon John and Peter Bates returned from Cyprus with the RAF. Other senior boys were encouraged to stay and be trained for service in the Brigade.

More boys came to join; we prospered in London Drill Competitions and introduced a full blue uniform which led the way for the Brigade to launch theirs in 1963.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award involved all our senior members – many where to gain the gold. (We also claim the first gold in Kent was won by a 14th sergeant, Roy Redwood).

The early impetus was now on the wane and membership had declined. Our chaplain, Cannon Roberts had moved away and his successor, the Rev Alan Staines had arrived. After some three years he felt the 14th needed a new Captain and accordingly invited the Treasurer to fill the post. The Drumbeat magazine was launched in the same year, 1967 and continues to flourish.

The Company won the London Drill Cup in 1972 and 1973 and followed this with the Daily Telegraph for the next two years. A chance meeting brought Alan Hamer from Blackheath to join our staff and with Ted Peen’s knack of teaching young buglers and John Light’s expertise on drums we began to produce a higher standard. Bell Lyres, unheard of as instruments, were purchased and we began to enter not only the Brigade’s National Competitions at Stafford but also events at Maidstone and Brighton. 

Another feature of the company life was our participation in the London Displays at the Royal Albert Hall. In 1981 we achieved the double by winning the Daily Telegraph shield and the Devonshire Cup in the space of twenty minutes on the same evening in front of the Duke of Kent.
Suddenly, in 1985, our world was shaken – rain poured through our roof and repairs would cost thousands. An appeal was launched. God heard our prayers when out of the blue, a developer appeared on the scene. He wanted to knock down our hall as part of a complex for a new supermarket (ASDA), and would build us a new one!! Headquarters number five (known as THE BB CENTRE) had arrived and was opened, very appropriately, on October 31st 1987 by the then Brigade President, the late Lord Thurso. God touched the company in many ways during that period, but that’s another story.

We have appeared on TV on a number of occasions, Breakfast Time, The Big Breakfast, Motormouth and Songs of Praise as well as the Brigade Council service held at Christ Church in 1998.

On one of our trips aboard to Holland, following a band display in the town square, one resident came up and asked to shake Bernard Clewes hand because his Glengarry was the first he had seen since a Scottish regiment had freed his town, Veere, at the end of the war.

Our affiliation with both London Youth and Kent Youth offers us things which enhance our programme in many ways and like many Companies in London and in our Battalion, we quite unashamedly admit girls to our ranks.

It was some centenary in 2004, with a formal dinner at the Civic Centre in Bexleyheath, outings, parties, a Company Display with an old Boys Band and a company holiday at Felden Lodge and a thanksgiving service held on 31st October of course!!

After thirty seven years as Captain of the Company the reins have been handed over by Bernard Clewes to the eighth Captain, James Ede, a member of the company since 1980.

James unfortunately only ran the company for 4 years before succumbing to cancer, he left a large buoyant company who missed his good leadership. Currently the Company is jointly run by Paul, John and Andrew.  

Captain's of the 14th West Kent (Bexleyheath) Coy.