Leadership over the Years
On 11th August, 1942 the “Seventh” was born thanks to the initiative of Rev. Peter Lovie, minister of Middle Church who wanted to introduce something into our Church to attract boys and young men.
In those early days during the Second World War it was no easy task. Many young men, potential Officers, were serving in the armed forces. However our first captain, David Brown, took the task on and with the assistance of one or two others he set the company rolling.
After the first two years David Brown relinquished the post of Captain and was succeeded by Scott Smellie. In 1946 however Scott went abroad and Charlie Coleman took over as Captain. Being an ex army sergeant Charlie introduced the Boys to drill, a strong tradition which has been a hallmark of the 7th till this day. As can be seen from our records our successes on the drill floor were not only at Battalion level but we have also performed well at National level.
In 1950 our Captaincy again changed hands when Jim Dunlop took on the position, commencing a period of 14 very successful years in our Company history. Jim built up a team of Officers which were the envy of many Captains of Companies and with his enthusiasm and inspiration his leadership brought the Company to yet a new level of efficiency and success. During his captaincy we produced award-winning First-Aid teams, spent many years of happy comradeship at both summer and weekend camps and continued to be a force in our Battalion with many varied sports and activities. During these years, due to growing numbers, we moved our meeting place to Greenhill School before moving down to the present Church hall in 1956.
Jim Dunlop relinquished the position of Captain when he was invited to take on the role of Battalion President in 1964 and Matthew Peat had the honour of taking over the role of Captain of 7th Coatbridge Company, a position which he went on to hold for the next 30 years till 1994. During his long years of service in this role he made it clear on various occasions that he ‘was blessed with the support of a great team of Officers and a very understanding wife'.
Some Officers moved on but the Company always had others ready to step in. It would be unfair to name some Officers and not others as we always worked as a great team, everyone contributing something from his own special expertise. Matt experienced many highlights during his captaincy and the Company continued to be a force not only in the Battalion but at national level in competitions etc. Matt often recalls that it was his great privilege and honour to captain the 7th over these many years.
In 1994 he stepped down from the captaincy and was delighted to hand over the reins to William Dunlop (Billy). It was very appropriate that Billy, who had spent his life in the 7th throughout his Dad's captaincy, should be our next Captain and in the 7 years to 2001 the Company continued to move forward under his leadership. In 2001 when Billy decided to step down from his post another longstanding officer, Alastair Peat, took on the role.
In 2002 the Company regained the top award in our Battalion by winning the Challenge Trophy for the best all-round Company – our first success at this level for 20 years. The Company remained in the top 3 in the Challenge Trophy each year for 14 of the next 15 years, including winning it twice, once in a historic manner when they shared the Trophy with 1st Viewpark in 2005, the first time the Challenge Trophy had ever been shared in its history.
In 2016 another of our experienced officers, Douglas Hazlie, took over the captaincy and the Company has continued to maintain its success across a variety of Battalion competitions including Drill, Scripture Knowledge, Top Team Quiz and 5-a-side football.