The XX Commonwealth Games comes to Glasgow this summer (23 July to 3 August 2014) and is a great opportunity to find out more about both the Games and the Commonwealth.

Name the Logo

As an introductory activity print off copies of the logo sheet (from boys-brigade.org.uk/namethelogo.pdf) and ask young people individually or in pairs to identify them. The two at the bottom of the sheet are the Commonwealth and Commonwealth Games logos. Ask the young people if they know anything about either and list responses on a flip chart.

Name the country

An alternative or complementary activity to the ‘Name the Logo’ one using a PowerPoint presentation found at goo.gl/wbQK3i

Night of Champions

Request a free Commonwealth Games inspired multi-sports tournament resource from Christians in Sport to use with your young people including games, ideas and handy guides to hold your own night of competition. Check out goo.gl/kQEkqR

2014 Sports Quiz

Request a free resource pack from Christians in Sport including a six-round Commonwealth Games-themed sports quiz, with a short film containing a devotional message. You could approach the church and organise this as an outreach event. Check out goo.gl/kQEkqR.

Down the Line

This activity will get the young people thinking more about the Commonwealth and what it does and consists of a number of statements to which young people can move to a point on an agreement line to represent their opinion. Download the statements at: boys-brigade.org.uk/commonwealthstatements.pdf

What is the purpose of the Commonwealth?

Print out copies of the ‘Commonwealth Purpose & Information’ sheet (download at boys-brigade.org.uk/commonwealthsheet.pdf) and give out to the young people. Once they have all read this you could ask the following questions and see what the young people think.

The Harare Declaration is now over 20 years old:

• Are all of the key areas still relevant?
• Have some been easier to address than others?
• Does the world now present new and different issues to be addressed?

Watch a short video clip on the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the full time staff, which shares some of today’s priorities. Download from goo.gl/8eKgqD

The Queen’s Baton Relay

Launched from Buckingham Palace on 9^th October 2013 the baton, carrying a message from the Queen to the Commonwealth, will travel 190,000 km throughout the Commonwealth before returning to Glasgow for the Opening Ceremony of the Games. Could the young people plot its journey on a world map? What do they think Her Majesty’s message will say?

The baton will be arriving in the UK from the Channel Islands and will visit parts of the country as follows:

11^th/13^th May – Channel Islands
20^th May – Northern Ireland
24^th May – Wales
31^st May – England
14^th June – Scotland

Find out if your Company is close to the route the baton will take as it travels around and go and show your support. During the Olympic Torch relay in 2012 we saw many BB Companies lining the route to see the Olympic Torch as it made its way through towns and villages across the country, and what a terrific atmosphere that was!

BB and the Commonwealth

Provide a map of the nations of the Commonwealth for the young people to use. You can download a map which also shows the dates the countries joined the Commonwealth and their flags at goo.gl/HxCrht

Can the young people think of reasons why some countries are part of the Commonwealth, whilst others are not? Which of these countries have Boys’ Brigade?

Young people could list the ones they think and the reason why; to check this download the Global Fellowship map which shows where BB is in existence across the globe at bit.ly/1lhqGcz