The main points discussed by the BMC Board of Directors during the October meeting.

A full meeting of the BMC Board took place on the 17 October followed by a Skype call on 25 October to address items which were not covered due to time constraints. The key issues addressed were as follows:

a. Appointment of a chair: Following a full open recruitment process from within the membership and consideration of applicants by the Nominations Committee, interviews were held in mid/late October and the Board unanimously agreed to offer the position to Gareth Pierce – the recently retired CEO of the WJEC (examinations board) and longstanding member of BMC affiliated club – Clwb Mynydda Cymru.

b. Chair, President & CEO responsibilities: A matrix defining the remit and responsibilities of the Chair, President and CEO was discussed and it was agreed to publish this on the BMC website.

c. Board structure: A sub-group was established to consider the options for the appointment of Nominated Directors at the AGM on 31 March 2019. At that point the BMC will no longer have Vice Presidents or a Treasurer on the Board of Directors. The appointments will be made based on consideration of the needs of the organisation. A Board task group was established to look at potential options for the makeup of these roles as well as drafting updated Terms of Reference for the Board.

d. Organisational Development Group (ODG). The work of the ODG was discussed in detail. An independent part-time project manager, Dave Stanley, has been appointed to support the work of the Group and the detailed evaluation of the Organisational Review Group (ORG) recommendations. The ODG is functioning well and is making progress on many fronts including:

• Drafting amendments to the constitution (Articles of Association) to go to the March 2019 AGM.
• Refining the make-up and Terms of Reference of National Council.
• Developing of a four phase strategic planning process running up to the April 2020 AGM.
• Agreeing BMC position paper on climbing in the Olympics.
• Agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding between National Council and the Board.
• Establishing a Zendesk facility to enable members to review and provide feedback on documentation.
• Defining the work required in the Partnerships and Operations & Finance work streams.

e. Hill walking strategy. The strategy document was re-issued to the Board by the Hill Walking Implementation Group alongside a request for financial support to enable more to be done in this area. The Board restated a commitment to 25% hill walking content in Summit magazine and to increasing the wider coverage of hill walking activities in BMC media. It was noted that Sport England had advised it is now not prepared to fund the hill walking strategy. The Board will consider further options to keep this important work going.

f. Senior Climbing Team Selection. The Board supported the need for rigid selection criteria and agreed a selection criteria document as prepared by the BMC competitions programme manager.

g. Volunteers & appointments. Terry Tasker was agreed as the new chair of the Mountain Heritage Trust. Mike Rosser was agreed as the BMC director on the Mountain Training Trust (Plas y Brenin). Rik Payne was agreed as the BMC director on Mountain Training England.

Simon McCalla – Interim Chair

READ: Minutes of the October 2018 Board of Directors meeting

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