News and Announcements

Hi Bowliners,

Those at the annual dinner last year will have already seen this but it has now been added to our YouTube channel and linked from the club history page on our website. This video is of members of the Bowline Climbing Club at Raven Tor. The original of this film was taken on a B&H wind-up cine camera using Kodachrome standard 8mm film. This has been digitised and enhanced to give a brief snapshot of climbing in the early 70's. NB: There is no audio, click the thumbnail below to watch.

A big thanks to Brian Manton for getting this video digitised and enhanced, and for giving us permission to share it.

Hi Bowliners,

It has been nearly 18 months since we had a new front door on our club hut and therefore a new lock. Many of you who had hut keys have exchanged them for a new key free of charge. However there are still some people with old hut keys. Those of you with old hut keys have until the end of April to arrange to exchange them for a new key. After that you will have to pay a new deposit for a new key.

To arrange your key exchange please contact Dave Toach (07703 121591).

Kind regards,

Andy
BCC Chairman

Hi Bowliners,

This weekend is the BMC AGM in the Peak District. As members of the Bowline club you are all members of the BMC and therefore entitiled to vote at the AGM either in person or using the online voting which you will have received an email about from the BMC. Please do take a moment to cast your vote, it doesn't take long to do online.

As well as the AGM on Sunday the BMC is also putting on a series of workshops on Saturday, including subsidised skills courses which are only open to members of affiliated clubs (like us). There is also a dinner and awards presentation on Saturday night which you can attend for free (provided you register for a place). And there is a members open forum on Sunday morning. Check out more details, including how to register for the various events, on the BMC website - https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-agm-weekend-2019

Kind regards,

Andy

Hi Bowliners,

We've now got the hut meets for 2019 on the website (which is behaving itself for now). Check them out via the meets page or see the list below. This is also a good time to note that we've updated the guide for staying at the hut, please make sure to read this before staying at the hut and please pass it on to any guests you are taking with you. 

• Climb all the things - club hut weekend - 1st/2nd June.
• BBQ at the club hut - 13th/14th July.
• Club hut weekend - 21st/22nd September.
• Love the hut weekend - 19th/20th October.

More meets info will follow later this week.

Kind regards,

Andy
 

Hi Bowliners,

We had a good turnout at our AGM last weekend, with 35 members in the room plus a good number of proxy votes we had representation from nearly half the members. The minutes of the AGM will be available soon but I thought I'd give you a quick update on the meeting and some of the matters on the agenda.

Firstly we said a big thank you to Paul Parker for all his hardwork and dedication getting our hut refurbishment completed. Zoe presented Paul with a little tipple plus a model of our beloved club hut. Paul has now stepped down as Hut Secretary so he can focus on enjoying the hut rather than fixing it. We also said a big thank you to Zoe Pickering who has finished her 2 years as Chair of the club committee, steering the club through a time filled with acronyms that some of us have come to associate with hardwork and controversy. 

We discussed the club membership fee's for 2020 and in light of the increase in the amount we have to pay to the BMC (due to an increase in the insurance premiums), and the need to ensure the members fees cover the clubs running costs, the membership fee for individual members in 2020 will be £35 (joint will be £60). The fee's for using the club hut will not be changed.

The club's affiliation to the BMC was discussed and voted upon with the vast majority being in favour of staying affiliated to the BMC so affiliated we will stay (thank goodness). We also discussed and voted upon the proposed concessionary membership category for the club, this was approved by a majority vote and the committee will handle the implementation of this new category in time for the 2020 membership renewals.

Last but by no means least we elected our new committee who will be responsible for the running of the club for the following 12 months. There are some familiar names remaining on the committee but I am pleased we have a number of members joining the committee for the first time. We are still looking for a Meets Secretary to help co-ordinate the meets plan and we can co-opt a person into this role anytime so if you'd like to join our awesome team in this role let me know.

Please particularly note that we have a new Hut Secretary, Martyn Jennings, who has taken over from Paul Parker. However hut bookings are still handled by Dave Toach so please contact Dave in the first instance (see contact details on the club website).

You can find details of the club committee members on the club website. If you'd like to join us for the next committee meeting, club members are always welcome, it is on Sunday 31st March and you can find the details here.

Finally although the club email system seems to be working again we are still looking to transfer the club website, emails, and event management to a new system soon. We'll send out more details about this in due course.

Also coming out next week will be the meets list for the year and beyond.

Have a great weekend and maybe see you Sunday for a climbing in the Peak.

Andy Potter
BCC Chairman

Hello Bowliners,

Yes it's me again with another friendly reminder about our Annual General Meetin this Saturday. As you will have seen from the emails sent out earlier this week there are strong opinions about the clubs affiliation to the BMC. It will come as no surprise to those that know me that I will be voting firmly in favour of staying affiliated to the BMC. I'm not saying the BMC are perfect, far from it, however they need they need the support and engagement of clubs more than ever to move forward, so now is not the time for us to be disaffiliating as then we will have no voice!

However I know that some of you feel differently and that of course is completely fine. What I would like to ensure though is that whichever way the decision goes on Saturday that it best represents what club members want. That means we need you all to vote on the motions for the AGM. It would be great to see you there in person of course, but if not then please do send in your proxy voting forms. You can find the proxy voting forms in the Agenda for the AGM which is attached to this email along with the minutes, financial reports and report on the BMC affiliation from the committee.

If you can join us for the AGM there is a pre-AGM bouldering session at Social Climbing from 13:30. And there is also Pizza and beers after the AGM, see the website to book your place for the Pizza.

Kind regards,

Andy Potter
BCC Vice Chair

Hello Bowliners,

This is an important time of year for club members with the approach of our Annual General Meeting on Saturday 16th March. There are important matters that will affect the future of the club on the agenda this year, and as such it is particularly important that as many of you as possible vote. Obviously it would be great to see you at the AGM where you can vote in person (and then enjoy Pizza afterwards). But if you cannot attend please do take the moment to submit your votes using the proxy forms attached the agenda which you were all sent via email. You can return your proxy forms by email so it shouldn't take up much of your time.

Our club exists to serve its members, and it is through the hard work and dedication of those club members that volunteer to help with the running of the club, that we are able to continue to grow and thrive. We have been fortunate to have a strong team on the club committee over the time that I've been involved and much has been accomplished to keep the club running smoothly and our lovely club hut in top condition for the benefit of all members. And we have also had the benefit of the Charnwood Hills Race committee who have worked hard to continue the success of the race and allow club members to benefit from the financial input the race provides to the club. A big thanks is due to all involved and we will be recognising this at the AGM.

It's an honour to be taking up the Chair of such a successful club and I'm very much looking forward to what we can achieve in the next couple of years. However we will need a strong team of volunteers to allow the club to best serve our members and continue the clubs success. This is where we need you to get involved and be part of the team. Now this can seem quite daunting I know, and you might be thinking that you won't have the time or that you don't have the skills. However we have great support network of experienced club members on hand which means that now is the best time to step forward and get involved. We have some key roles to fill this year and put simply the clubs continued success depends on you. There will be some hard work involved but I can tell you from first hand experience that it is also a load of fun and a great experience, as part of a great team. The roles we need to fill this year are:

• Hut Secretary - A really important role with responsibility for arranging the upkeep of our lovely club hut. Thanks to Paul Parker the hut is in top condition so the person taking on this role will have the best possible start. This role doesn't mean you have to go to the hut all the time, or do the work on the hut yourself, the role is about co-ordinating and ensuring this gets done (usually with the support of club volunteers). Fortunately bookings are handled by our hardworking treasurer, Dave Toach, so you won't need to deal with the bookings side of things. For more details about the role contact me.
• Meet Secretary - Another important role with responsibility for making sure we have a great programme of meets organised for each year. This role does not mean you have to organise all the meets or that you even have to attend the meets. We aim for each meet to have an organiser, so this role is about making sure the meets programme is planned and that meets are taking place and handling any feedback to go into future plans. The meets plan for this year has already been drafted so you'd be starting from a good position. Again for more details about the role contact me.

We are also looking for ordinary members to join the committee and help us make the best decisions on behalf of the club members and to support the committee with general tasks that need doing to keep our club running smoothly.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss getting involved please get in touch with me.

Kind regards,

Andy Potter
BCC Vice Chair