Category: Archived

Outdoor meets and Covid-19: time to get back in business? Update 15th September 2020   On 10th September the BMC issued updated guidance on helping Clubs to restart meets (https://www.thebmc.co.uk/covid19-restarting-club-meets).  Provided the Club follows the steps detailed by the BMC, organised Club meets may take place with more than 6 people attending (to an absolute maximum of 30 people).  Importantly, the BMC have also noted that if Club members wish to head out in an informal way, the ‘rule of 6’ people in a group applies.   Your Committee is working hard considering the BMC guidance in detail.  The current plan is to produce as simple guidance and documentation as is possible, which will allow us to recommence formal meets with more than 6 people going out together, provided they follow the guidance.  The requirements for England, Wales and Scotland are also slightly different and must be accommodated.  If you look at the BMC document it may seem daunting, but we hope that the guidance we develop will state clearly and simply the steps that need to be followed for formal day walking and climbing meets.   Given all the above, please be sympathetic to the cause of guidance/documentation development[…]

Huts: Partial re-opening of Beudy Mawr: After lengthy discussions, the Beudy Mawr Hut Wardens proposed a partial re-opening of their Hut to allow a limited number of members at any one time [taking account of social distancing requirements] to camp or use a campervan in the grounds, whilst allowing access to the toilet and shower block only [the rest of the Hut will remain locked and out of bounds]. The Committee held a Zoom meeting on Monday evening [24th] and, after due consideration, agreed to support this proposal, starting immediately. Importantly, members must pre-book. For full information, including how to book, please log-in as a member and visit the Huts menu of the website. High Moss: Extensive renovation work is being undertaken which means this will remain closed. Craigallan: The position here will be under review, but it remains closed at present.   Outdoor Meets: We are aware that many members are arranging small informal meets whilst the formal programme is on hold. We are waiting for the BMC to announce that following discussions with the English Government, an increased number of participants can attend outdoor meets…we are led to believe the number could be as high as 30. We[…]

Alison and Jonathon Birch have expressed a wish to join the Club. Both have adequate records with regard to their outdoor experience. Both have attended a number of meets over the years. With the current situation (suspension of meets) likely to continue they would be grateful for offers of sponsorship from those members who have met them on passed Meets and who may wish to act as proposers or seconders.

Morley Wood joined the Club in 1909. He was an active climber who climbed many new routes, often with Fred Pigott including the first route on ‘Cloggy’s’ East Buttress [Pigott’s Route]…Morley Wood was affectionately known as Pigott’s F.H [Faithful Hound] and together they were known as The Inseparables.  Gritstone Rocks 1921, from the 1922 RCJ details ascents of new routes at the Roches [note their spelling] and Bosley Cloud…The Inseparables had quite a year with six new routes at the Roaches, Pigott climbing Bachelor’s Buttress and Black and Tans, whilst Morley Wood climbed Pedestal Route Left and Right Hand, Right Route and Crack and Corner…in the current Rockfax Western Grit Guide, two of these routes are in the ‘Top 50’ list, with the others either 2 or 3 star routes…not a bad haul! Enjoy the article right from the opening sentence which reads: “Gritstone climbing, as most English climbing, has become so specialised that it is in danger of losing its value as a training for mountaineering”! Click here for the article.  

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A number of the Club’s officers have been working through the problems of accommodating to the circumstances in which we now operate, what adjustments there need to be to recognise those and how we might begin to have a programme of activities.  That the ground shifts constantly is well illustrated by the announcement last Thursday of added restrictions in Greater Manchester and parts of Yorkshire. An adjustment unaffected by that is a change in Club admission requirements. Given the suspension of all Meets, the Committee has agreed that the three Meets rule should be waived for the foreseeable future. As a result, potential new members need to find two current members who will propose and second a Membership application. More information and the application form can be found at https://test.rucksackclub.org/who-we-are/join-us/. With that adjustment a number of new members have been recruited since lockdown occurred…we look forward to further appropriate applications coming in. The Club’s Hut Wardens, Andy Llewellyn, Andy Tomlinson and John Farrow met – virtually – Monday evening to look at the issue of day Meets and reopening the Huts for albeit limited use. After considerable discussion, they concluded that the current policy of suspending the meets programme and[…]

  The Committee has considered what to do about opening the huts and starting up the meets programme.   At the present time, the huts remain closed and the meets programme suspended.   If you want to know why, John Farrow (the secretary) has prepared a note which appears below.   We all want a return to some kind of normality but, just right now, the Committee do not feel it is the right time.   For the moment we feel obliged to double lock the hut access doors to prevent unauthorised entry. The situation is under review all the time.   We will keep you posted.    Thank you for your understanding.   John Farrow writes: Here is my view of where we are with the huts and is supported particularly by the Wardens.   I think the most important question to be resolved before we do anything is what cover the policy we buy through the BMC – Combined Liability Insurance – provides – or doesn’t – where a Club hut is the vector for Covid-19 and an individual is damaged, possibly permanently, or indeed dies. If one of us drops a rock on someone’s head we are[…]

The Secretary writes: [An update] Or rather a re-statement of the current position which is that the huts are closed, buildings and car parks, until the Committee has concluded how they may safely be brought back into albeit limited use in line with the three English, Welsh and Scottish governments’ differently expressed rules and guidelines. Two reasons for that, one less obvious, one not.  The buildings have stood empty long enough for the possibility of legionella bacteria to have accumulated in the water systems which need appropriate cleaning.  Any unregulated use of the buildings will continue to carry the risk of transfer of the Covid-19 contagion.   The BMC has just issued guidelines for re-opening huts.  The Committee must digest those before coming to a conclusion about allowing a level of use of the huts, certainly restricted for the foreseeable future.  Each of them, designed as they are as communal areas, presents its own problems.  Anyone wishing for a copy of the BMC paper should email me. [Or use this link.]