AGM – Face of Adventure Weekend Party

The Climbers’ Club AGM has for me been traditionally a great opportunity to meet up with friends, enjoy a slap up dinner, and get involved helping set the direction of those that manage the club – the Main Committee. In fact the AGM is, from my point of view, the main opportunity for the membership to exercise democratic control over the direction of the club. All members are of course welcome to attend the AGM, and with only the optional dinner representing a cost I would contest that all members that have a view on the club’s direction should attend. If you don’t, then just as with a general election if you don’t vote, you tacitly accept the results – in the CC’s case – until the next AGM in a year’s time.

This year the AGM followed a pattern that started to emerge last year as Steve Scott continued his amazing plans to organise a weekend full of activities – a kind of uber-AGM, come meet, or simply The Face of Adventure Weekend Party!

The line up of events was staggering:

• A “Bingo Quiz” hosted by the incoming president, Richard Wheeldon, on Friday evening at the Hawkshead Brewery, Staveley.
• Endless climbing at the Lakeland Climbing Centre all weekend. Complete with a special CC only climbing ladder competition on Saturday.
• Climbing masterclasses from John Dunne, Lucy Creamer, and Chris Gore.
• The AGM meeting itself chaired by the outgoing president Fiona Sanders. Followed by analysis and results from the online membership survey, and the AGM open-forum discussion about topics ranging from our eight huts to our various forms of communications with our 1600 members.
• AGM dinner, speeches, climbing ladder competition prizes, etc. Including the main after dinner speaker Jim Fotheringham.
• An awesome band, the Rusty Bullets.
• Plus at the wall over the weekend: a rock-shoe demo, a rope demo, gear testing, and various gear destruction tests by Lyon Equipment!

Now that’s a packed weekend! Easily the most exciting AGM line up I’ve seen in my 17 years in the club. Long may this kind of exciting agenda continue.