My late uncle by marriage, Charles McCorkell, always known as Chuck, was a member of the 1st Billingham Boys Brigade from about the age of eight. I have been sent photos of his time in the Boys Brigade by my aunt, Freda nee Leek. The small group photo was taken at Wynyard in 1949, the lad elevated at the back is Brian Kemp, the five lads in the middle are Eddie Wood, Chuck McCorkell, Gordon Brown, Des Good and Peter Yardley, the lad at the front is Frank Barnes.

The large group is a bit more difficult to place names, the information on the back of the photo is as follows. Back Row (L to R): ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, ??, Charlie Paterson, ??, ??. Standing (L to R): ??, ??, ??, Alec Brown, Des Good, Chuck McCorkell, ??, ??, George Whitehouse, Roy Jenkins, Frank Barnes. Sitting (L to R): ??, Eddie Wood, ??, George ?, Maurice Taylor, Barry Stonehouse, Patrick Walsh, Ken Stewart, ??, Stan Calvert. Front Row (L to R): ??, ??, ??, Fred Palmer, Jackie Melville, Ken ?, Harry Whitehouse, Philip Kelsey, ??. As you can see the two back rows are a bit jumbled but the other two are straight forward.

The Brigade met in the Methodist Central Hall on Billingham Green. My aunt tells me that she dated Eddie Wood a couple of times when she was about 17 years of age, that would be around about 1954, I believe he was living in York Crescent at the time. Freda lived in Cornwall Crescent. Chuck was a keen sportsman playing both football and cricket for a number of teams, Freda played netball as Captain for the school as well as a team member for both ICI and NEEB.

Photographs and details courtesy of Bruce Coleman.