On 29th October, a group of ex-Anabasis gathered at Beudy Mawr, for a shared meal and to ‘unveil’ the photo of our Garth Hut, splendidly hung as it is alongside the hearth in the sitting room. It’s a lovely cosy hut, and the rain sounding on the roof and spattering the windows was the same as the Garth rain. Despite that we got out for a bit of a walk, and deservedly got very wet indeed. It would have been easy to believe that we were on an Anabasis meet, hiring someone else’s hut and away from Garth, which was still there, our home at the heart of it all. That of course is not how it is, this is our new ‘home’, and better than that, it’s one of three! It was lovely to be with a group of ‘old’ friends, many of whom I’ve not seen for far too long. A few mentions. Clive Lane led the work that gave us a toilet and washroom at Garth (and many of his work team were here), very much adding to the comfort there increasing the value of the farmer’s asset when he brought it back home. No grudges are held, we enjoyed a happy relationship with the Jones family for almost 60 years. Stan Winstanley (he’s actually Malcolm but he’s always been Stan) was a one-time winner of the Penmaenmawr Race and largely responsible for introducing running to the Club as another way of ‘enjoying’ the mountains. An honour for me to follow him on the first Anabasis ascent of A Dream of White Horses, soon followed by several others, who correctly deduced that if Atko can do it, it must be OK! And 45 years ago, Billy Murphy was recklessly loving enough to guide bag-of-nerves me on my first Cloggy climb (Longland’s) and Main Wall. Bill’s wife Jan for many years provided a hotpot at our annual bonfire meet (timed to coincide with the Penmaemawr Race) and this time organised the splendid bring and share buffet. Everyone contributed to a lovely occasion, which could have been sad but did not seem so. Thank you to Bill (Deakin) for hanging the picture and to all those who have worked hard to make Beudy Mawr the splendid hut it is and who have welcomed us into the Rucksack Club. I loved browsing the Hut Book, and in absorbing the stories, more and more feeling like a Rucksacker…..the fellowship of the hills is a strange and wonderful thing. Incidentally, we learned that ‘Beudy’ is correctly pronounced ‘Biddy’. Back in Liverpool. ‘Biddy’ is a short form of ‘Bridget’, so the hut may come to be known as ‘Big Bridget’!
