Oliver

Oliver Lowthorpe is 15 and a member of our Boys' Brigade company, but he hasn't even been able to attend school since last summer, let alone BB.

Following sudden onset of symptoms in March 2020, Oliver was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Disease Unclassified Colitis the following November. This is an auto-immune condition, causing ulcers, swelling and bleeding within the bowel. This impacts upon Oliver in numerous ways, including extreme fatigue, urgent toilet needs and severe stomach cramps.

Oliver's condition has also had a huge impact upon his mental health, causing depression and anxiety. Oliver struggles if he is to go somewhere he is unfamiliar with, especially where toilet access may be restrictive, busy or shared.

These issues have led to Oliver becoming reclusive from his friends and rarely leaving the house.

Oliver is now having remote school lessons via Queenswood Education Centre, which is a teaching base for young people who cannot access mainstream school because of a medical or mental health need. He is currently doing so with a borrowed laptop and we hope to be able to fund a brand new one of his own.

Boys Walkathon

On 19th February 2022, the boys of the company will take on a walking challenge.

Anchors (Reception - Year 3) will undertake as many laps as they can of the quarter mile trim trail opposite our base at Swinnow.

The rest will undertake laps of a 4.5 mile route from our base at Swinnow, out to the old former 2nd Leeds BB Company base at Fulneck and back. Juniors (Year 4 - Year 6) will undertake 1 lap, Company Section (Year 7 - Year 9) will undertake 2 laps and Seniors (Year 10 - Year 13) will undertake 3 laps. However, any boys feeling up to it will attempt more!

Captain's Chopper Challenge

On 19th March 2022, Company Captain, Paul Curtis will attempt to cycle from our base at St Mark's Methodist Church, Swinnow, to the base of Paul's boyhood BB company, 32nd Nottingham, at Nuthall Methodist Church. A distance of 75 miles. And he will be doing so on that cultural icon kids bike of the 1970s - a Raleigh Chopper!

The Message

There's a reason that the walkathon connects our company base to an old BB building and the Chopper Challenge connects our company base to Paul's boyhood company base. It symbolizes that the Boys' Brigade is a family and we're doing all of this for one of our own.