The BMC Area Committee meeting. Ahhh. Were there ever, in the canon of the English Language, four more innocent words put together with such devastating power to induce unstifilable yawns upon the breaths of those who might hopefully consider themselves to have – a life?
Was there ever a greater challenge to one's self image as an ‘interesting’ person, than to find your own name mentioned as an ‘attendee’ at such an event, to see one's own name on the register, there for all to see?
I was only moderately aware of such things as BMC area committee meetings, when it so happened that I went along to one myself, led there by a strange chain of events. At the time I was seeing a lot of the great Overweight Mountaineer, Hull Nine Yards himself, Andy Kirkpatrick – all very biblical you understand – and he was to be doing an entertainment at the meeting, demonstrating his lantern slides of his latest holiday. Ken Wilson had been in touch with Andy, and he had been volunteered to be a patsy for one of Ken’s plans. Andy then volunteered me as a fellow patsy, and we both drove off one wet night to the Anchor Inn in Tideswell.
It is often interesting to look back on your first impressions of something that goes on to become commonplace in your life. At the time in my life, I don’t think I had ever been to a meeting before, and was surprised at the formality of it. It had a chairman sat attentively at the front. He had some elves on either side, scribblers and winkers, and around him, arranged in untidy chairs, were the townsfolk. These were ranged in various attitudes of attention, and amid a gathering of stout males were, surprisingly, a number of females, and a few faces I recognized. One of these faces was about to pour forth.
The head elf at the front announced an agenda item about the removal of bolts from sport climbs in Cheedale. Quite an animated debate then sprung up. Ian ‘Squawk’ Dunn, who was in attendance, had placed some bolts that compromised an existing trad route. Seb Grieve, also in attendance, had, in an act of moral outrage, abseiled down and pulverized the bolts. The two began to argue, and various heated voices joined in. It was all very enjoyable.
The debate was personally especially enjoyable, as I had met Seb at the crag not long before, and he had recounted to me being down in Cheedale and finding his hammer in his rucksack, a leftover from a DIY project of his. Bored with climbing on the day in question, he decided to abseil down a new route of Squawk’s and smash to bolts. This made his moral superiority very funny, and the joy of his bandwagon seem ludicrous.
During this, Ken Wilson pressed a printout into Andy’s hand and mine. After the moral pandemonium, the next item came up. In my hazy memory, I think it was some condemnation of Rockfax or something. We were given the floor, and eventually we read it out between us. It was a heart-felt impassioned plea for something or other. We were given a round of applause, then someone asked us a very basic question about our opinions. We both looked at each other blankly, then, like two schoolboys about to wet themselves, pointed at Ken and said ‘We don’t know, he made us say it!’
There was outrage! Ken was Bah Baaahing in the crowd, and we were generally made to look like a couple of idiots. To suggest that we were mere pawns in a game would, I believe, be quite insulting to the intelligence of pawns.
The heat died down, then someone read out stuff about some worthy stuff called access. After that, there was a beer break, and Andy entertained us all with his old yap about ice and bodily functions. More beer, then home.
And that was my first BMC area committee meeting. For some reason, I kept going back. The head elf turned out to be John Horscroft, and each time I would watch him battle with those who wanted to let loose with Churchillian world views, those with nothing to say, and those who wanted to talk too much. (If this all sounds like one person, then perhaps you have been to an area meeting yourself!)
Through the weeks, those topics which would originally be a turn-off, would, with more knowledge, become more interesting. Without ever being to an area meeting, I would have no idea of the volume of work that goes on in the name of access, for example. Although, I must admit, that I still feel none the wiser about what the BMC constitution is.
The location has since changed, moving closer to Sheffield, now situated in The Grouse Inn, under Froggatt. This move has opened the meeting to claims of Sheffield bias, although it had had the effect of creating greater numbers of regular attendees. It is now chaired by Mike Hunt, who has successfully carried on Horscroft’s style and format. The agenda is dealt with efficiently, it is open and welcoming to all, and there are still good speakers regularly turning up to do lectures after.
The format for the Peak area meeting has, for me, been a very good one. I say this as one not particularly interested or effective at meetings. Yet the inclusive nature of the topics – covering not just constitutional affairs, but access to crags, chipping, bolts and other issues that I, as a climber, can relate to – has allowed a way in to the darker corners somewhat. There is often argument about what an area meeting should be, and some have suggested that the Peak is too much entertainment-orientated at the cost of real business. All I can say about this is that I, and I suspect a lot of other regular attendees, would never have managed to maintain attendance at a meeting that was of no relevance, and would never have developed an interest in the BMC issues in general.
So what if people are just turning up after the crag for free sarnies and chips and some slides. For out of that crowd, a few will listen, out of that crowd, a few will vote, and out of that crowd, a few will volunteer to help with access or with guidebooks or with youth. What John and Mike have done is to take something that belonged to the rank and file of BMC members - namely, a say in the running of the organisation, and a knowledge of what it is doing - and actually given it to them. And this can only be a good thing.
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