Figure 1.--These boys are washing up in morning at a 1904 summer camp. We believe that it is a CLB camp. Note the destinctive caps. The boys appear to be wearing long pants or kneepants with long stockings. Click on the image for another view of this camp.

We note that the Church Lads' Brigade (CLB) had an active summer camp program, although we know very little about it. We hve no information as to what activities were persued at CLB summer camps. We note in many available images of both BB and CLB summer camping that large tents were used, looking rather like army tents. This suggests that before World War I that there were few if any camps with cabins and other facilities. It is difficult to tell the dfference between BB and CLB summer camps, Most image have similar looking tents in the back. Unless the phoographs are identified, we can only tell which group is involved by the uniforms.

Image

The camping image here was a photo postcard posted from Whitstable, a fishing village on the Kent Coast of England on August 4, 1904. (This show by the way that photo postcards in England were being made at least as early as 1904. This is a useful fact in dating unidntified images.) It is not identified, but the boys' caps suggest that it is CLB camp. The card is addressed to: Mrs Simpson, (Road name obscured by postmark), Lavender Hill, London S.W. The text reads: "Dear Ma, Just a line to let you know that enjoying myself very much. Ernest and Len are also enjoying themselves. I cannot stop any longer as it is dinner time so I will say goodbye Yours affectionately - D"