Home  /  Camps & Band
Canvas, coast & drums since 1929

Camps & Band

For most old boys, camp and band are the heart of their BB memories. Here's a century of both — much of it drawn from the Company's own records.

Summer Camp

A hundred years under canvas

The Company's first camp was held at Carnlough in 1945, but Battalion camps reached back to the very start — one Officer, one Staff Sergeant and eleven boys attended Battalion Ganaway Camp in July 1929, in only the second session.

Through the decades the 24th pitched its tents along the Antrim and Down coasts and beyond — Carnlough, Kilkeel, Portrush — before venturing further afield. Camps were held for the first time outside Northern Ireland in the Isle of Man, with Ramsey and Port Erin proving especially popular, and later in Scotland and England. Archery was a camp highlight, and there were joint camps with the 43rd Belfast and visits exchanged with the Company's Girl Guides.

In 1958 — the BB's 75th year — three of the forty Belfast boys chosen for the national camp of 750 at Lilleshall in Shropshire came from the 24th. By 1975 the Company owned its own canoes and a minibus, and sailing and canoeing had joined the programme.

Camps through the years

1929Battalion Ganaway Camp
1933Ganaway
1944Carnlough
1945Carnlough — first Company camp
1950Joint camp with 43rd Belfast
1953Kilkeel (with 43rd & 105th)
1954Portrush
1957Port Erin, Isle of Man
1958Lilleshall (national camp)
1961Port Erin, Isle of Man
1976Port Erin, Isle of Man
Battalion camp at Ganaway, 1933
Ganaway, 1933
Camp at Carnlough, 1944
Carnlough, 1944
Camp at Portrush, 1954
Portrush, 1954
Camp at Port Erin, Isle of Man, 1957
Port Erin, 1957
Camp at Port Erin, 1961
Port Erin, 1961
The band at Port Erin, 1976
Port Erin, 1976
Photos & camps wanted — we hold camp photographs from 1933 to 1976. Help us continue the list from 1977 to today, and add your own camp photographs to the Memories Wall.
The Band

Drums, bugles and Battalion honours

A bugle band was planned from the Company's earliest days, and band work became one of the 24th's great strengths.

When Harry Downie became Captain in 1953, many boys were keen on band work and the old kettle and rope drums made way for a new set. Pte. David Hunniford took third place in the individual bugling competition in the 1930s; decades later, the band's reputation peaked. In 1975 the band finished first in the Junior Band Competition, won the drum corps competition, and through Sgt. Roy Getty took the individual drumming contest. The Junior Bugle Band were competition winners in 1976.

The band marched at camp and on parade — at Portrush in 1954 and Port Erin in 1976 — and regularly brought distinction to the Company in Battalion competition, on one occasion collecting two firsts, a second and a third.

The band on parade at Portrush, 1954
The band on parade, Portrush 1954
Junior Bugle Band winners, 1976
Junior Bugle Band winners, 1976
Band history wanted — when did the band begin and end, who led it, and what were its proudest competition results since 1977? If you played in the 24th band, we'd love your story and photos.
On the field

Football, drill & Battalion competition

Sport ran alongside band and Bible Class from the start. The Company football team won the junior division of the Battalion League in 1938/39; the squad drill team took second place in the Junior Squad Drill Competition final by just half a mark in 1936; and across three successive years in the early 1960s the Company won the Battalion Athletic Shield. Senior League and Cup honours followed in 1964–65. Boys of the 24th were continually chosen for Battalion teams.

The 24th Belfast football team, 1950
The football team, 1950
Senior League and Cup winners, 1964–65
Senior League & Cup winners, 1964–65
The annual inspection, 1948
Annual inspection, 1948
Trophies & teams — help us record the Company's sporting honours since 1977, and identify the boys in the team photographs.