Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and you managed to find some cool ways to enjoy the long weekend?

I just wanted to forward the attached article by Bob Crosby, about his trip to Morocco. This is a country that's firmly on my 'list' for walking or climbing, when this is all over and if there are any airlines left to fly me there! (Although I suppose we could have an epic cycle trip ;-))

That's all for now, take care and keep the articles and photos coming!

Ttfn
Zoe

Hi Folks,

I was good to see a fair few folks take part in our Quiz night by Zoom. But if you missed it here is the Quiz attached. I've also attached the answers as well, but NO Cheating or Googling - you know you're only cheating yourself! The format is in Open Document Presentation so it should run in most presentation software as well as Power Point.

I've also attached the files as PDFs, but since there is a music round which I can't embed audio on Acrobat Reader I've had to send a separate WORD doc with the music files embedded, but as soon as you double click these it reveals the Track Title - so not perfect.

Hopefully it's all self explanatory.

Have fun - the best score we had on Friday was 21.

Regards

Andy Railton

Hello all!

We promised you a Bowline quiz and I am excited to confirm the details as follows:

Day/Time: Friday 15 May at 8pm

Link: https://cognitoiq.zoom.us/j/93234654565?pwd=cG55T2l2eHlBb1U1cUFTVEF2cFh3UT09

The quizmaster will be Andy Railton via Zoom, so grab a beer and settle in for a fun evening!

Lots of love 
Zoe

Hi Club Members,

Firstly I hope this email finds you well.

No doubt you will have become aware of the new guidance from the government and may have been wondering what this means for the club. The good news is that for us as individuals the new guidance allows for the resumption of some climbing and hillwalking, albeit with a strong emphasis on staying well within your comfort zone and maintaining social distancing at all times (the only exception being members of your household).

However for the moment we will not see a return to non-virtual club activities/gatherings as these are not practical within the current guidance. Unfortunately this means we will have to wait a bit longer before we can get together again, but I'm sure you'll agree this is a fairly small price to pay to do our bit to help keep the situation with COVID-19 'under control'. The club hut will continue to remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Of course this is an evolving situation and the guidance is very likely to be refined over the coming days and weeks. We will keep you up to date as and when this changes the situation with regards to club activities/gatherings and the use of the club hut.

If you'd like to see more details on the guidance specific to climbing and hillwalking as an individual the BMC have a good article on their website - https://thebmc.co.uk/can-i-start-climbing-and-hill-walking-again.

Kind regards,

Andy

Hello one and all!

I hope you are all managing to enjoy yourselves during this bank holiday, even though most of us can't be near the rocks and mountains. 

Andy Railton is working hard on a club quiz, which will be available to test us all on, hopefully, the 15 May via Zoom. A good chance to grab a beer and socialise with fellow members, so make sure you keep the evening free and watch this space for more details!

We have had a good response to our request for articles, and Chris Brumby has sent us some photos of his trip to the Cordillera Cantabrica for us to drool over - this is somewhere that looks completely amazing. We definitely have to go here some day when we can all move freely again! I have also attached an obituary for Joe Brown, climber and mountaineer, which Dave Unwin has penned and kindly donated.

I hope you enjoy the articles, and thank you to those who took the time to send contributions over - we'll have some more to share next week and please keep them and any photos etc coming so we can all enjoy remote adventures until we are finally released!

Lots of love and stay safe!

Zoe

Hi Folks,

Please attached Email from the BMC, they are undertaking a flash survey and would like individual club members input.

Regards 

Andy Railton 

Dear Clubs,

Many thanks again to those clubs who have taken the time last month to submit a response to the proposed Clubs Strategy for the BMC. I am currently sifting through and summarising the responses, and will endeavour to reply do those representatives who asked questions directly as this process continues.

In the meantime, we are keen that individual club members have a chance to engage with this process, even if they may not have time to digest the full document, and as a their opportunity to engage at area meetings last month was lost due to the coronavirus outbreak.

We have launched a flash survey for members to quickly feed their views on the overall direction of the strategy. It consists of a short video outlining the strategy and the reasoning behind it, and a short 3 question poll. It should take members no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

The flash survey can be accessed here: https://forms.gle/yEukbbGrqhwGqGup9

If clubs are willing, we'd be very grateful if you could share this link with your members in your next club communications or via social feeds. This has already been promoted via direct BMC mailings and social channels, but it would be an enormous help if clubs could also encourage their members to participate.

We are now hoping to present an updated paper in June to clubs and National Council, taking on board all of the comments received. We expect the final draft to be launched some time this summer, although we are keeping dates and what format it takes under review until we know what lockdown restrictions we may be under at that time. Given

Once again, many thanks for your contributions so far.

All the best

Mike Spooner

Cubs Workstream Lead, Organisational Development Group
Student Clubs Rep, BMC Clubs Committee
mike.mikespooner@gmail.com



BMC Student Clubs on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BMCStudentClubs/
BMC Student Clubs Officers Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/559909024047717/
Student Clubs Web Page:
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/student-clubs

What's the BMC Clubs Committee?
The Clubs Committee was set up to discuss all things related to clubs and to facilitate sharing of information between clubs. There are clubs representatives from each of the BMC's areas to represent their interests and opinions. There are also two Student Club reps (Mike & Lizzie) whose job it is to gather the thoughts of student clubs and help communicate the work the BMC does. We also have a Student Panel of 5 student club officers who help feed us ideas and keep us up to date with the issues clubs are facing. So if there's any issues you think we should be talking about, or thoughts on what the BMC could do better, then get in touch!

Hello all

I hope this email finds you all well and coping with lockdown through what must have been the nicest spring for - well, forever!

First of all, as you are aware from Andy Railton’s email, Pam Cottle sadly passed away last week. Pam had been a member for very many years, and was an active climber and cyclist who grew up in the area around the club hut and was good friends with Ada, Edfryn’s wife. She was very devoted to the hut and was often kind enough to donate useful items, the most recent being the picture frames that now display many of the posters on our walls. Pam will be sadly missed and our thoughts are with her partner, Tony, and her family at this very difficult time.

Although we can’t all be out having our normal adventures, we do have some exciting things for you to look forward to and participate in. 

Andy Railton is working on an online club quiz which will be a great opportunity for us all to get together (via Zoom) to have a bit of a social over a beer whilst competing aggressively for the glory of the winning spot. Some of you will remember Andy’s AGM quizzes which were always good value - particularly the infamous body parts category ;-). Keep an eye out for more details on when this will take place.

Also, we are looking for more articles on your adventures to circulate in our catch up emails (of which this is one, in case you weren’t sure). They don’t have to be long - even just a paragraph is fine - and they don’t have to be about climbing - I’ve kicked us off with one about the booze cruise Suzie and I went on a couple of years ago! Just let us know what you did, (or even what you plan to do), and send anything you would like circulating to me at zpbowline@gmail.com - I’ll make sure that they get sent out. To read about Suzie and mine’s exciting trip check my scribblings out here https://shrokasmith.wordpress.com/. 

You all must have lots of ace photos and memories that will remind us of adventures already had and inspire us for new ones in the future. Just a reminder that these can be shared (if you so choose) in the Bowline Climbing Club Members Facebook group. This is a members only group separate from the club Facebook page which is designed as a bit of a social forum. If you aren’t a member already, get signed up - this is the place to engage (politely, kindly and responsibly, obvs) in general chat with other members.You’ll find Mr Hextall has already submitted a freakishly hard treasure hunt on there, but there’s also general news and views to be shared.

Stay safe everyone and hope to see you all soon!

Lots of Love

Zoe

I've some sad news to pass on. Pam Cottle passed away this Wednesday. Of course funeral arrangements are affected by the current situation so attendance won't be possible, but as soon as we have any details we will let people know.

Regards

Andy Railton