Clubroom Roof Meets

Ridge Routes in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Dave Kime, Andy Smith, Charles Knowles, Frank Mellor, Chris Wright, Marion Birkett, Sean Jennings, Mike and Mark Anderson, Tom Benson

This area had long been neglected by the club, although older members remembered long days spent hacking through the ivy, exposed ridges and ascent by swaying trees. Spurred on by these legends and by reports that chunks of stone were falling off some routes, the club has had several meets in this area, so close and yet so unfamiliar to most members – the Club Room Roof.

These meets were inaugurated last year by Sean, who unfortunately was unable to ensure good weather. The first meet was cancelled by an 18″ snow fall and the second gave us the wonderful experience of what it would be like to install a window in the middle of Kinder Downfall. We had chance to look at the roof only very briefly and Andy indulged in the legendary pastime of ivy-clipping. We were by now a little more aware of the problems we had to tackle and this year the committee set aside three Saturdays for the meets. Our first meet was somewhat exploratory, and we found a number of loose slates and a decaying chimney on the outside. Andy, Charles and Frank constructed a spiders web between trees, telegraph poles and the chimney and set about the reconstruction, while Dave and Tom prepared ready-mix and filled the gaping holes under the eaves and did some pointing. A successful day was only marred by the sight of a forlorn starling looking for the entrance to its nest next to the chimney stack. The major problem remaining was how best to stop the mortar falling off the inside of the roof and annihilating the Hallamshire Ski Club, and possibly eventually our own members. We had many ideas and little real knowledge, but fate was kind and brought us a new member, Chris, who in a rash moment admitted he was a builder and in an even rasher moment volunteer to come on the next meet. Perhaps he had seen our new chimney stack and realised that we were real craftsmen, perhaps he had seen the chimney stack a realised …

Two weeks later we met again, the chimney was still standing and Chris was very polite about our work but we hoped he wouldn’t look too closely. We were then shown how to use mortar trowels, and since this appeared so easy we got on with the job of knocking down the 14th century mortar while Chris fixed the slates on the roof with a total disregard for the ropes and ladders with which we had festooned ourselves the previous meet. By lunch time the floor was deep in mortar and we now had to fill in the holes we had made. This was not as easy as Chris had made out and a number of us resorted to mortar stuffing by hand rather than trowel. While Chris hung to the rafters by his toe nails and mortared the higher reaches of the roof, Roger swung from the planks and delivered well aimed dollops down the necks of anyone who passed below. Andy swung across the walls on elaborate slings and during his girdle traverse of the clubroom only demolished two of the spotlights. Mike and Mark Anderson joined us for the afternoon and while Mike filled, Mark delivered pots of gunge to the inaccessible corners of the clubroom. Disposal of the debris took quite some time as did removal of Rogers wedge of mortar from our spines. We had completed the end of the clubroom nearest the climbing wall which we now felt was a little safer even if the holds did require a dusting.

A rather smaller party met to deal with the remainder of the roof. With the numbers we managed to clear and repoint only two sections above the darts / party room – which offered rather less of a challenge than the previous week due to its greater accessibility. Next year we hope to complete the roof with your help – come along, it’s great fun and Your Club Needs YOU. So if you see a member in climbing gear with an ashen face and a concrete helmet he’s probably just been climbing in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Many thanks to all who came on the meet, and especially to Chris for his advice and tuition.

Dave Kime