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The committee met on 8th January and this is the latest update to let you know what we have been getting up to:
• Recent club highlights have been the talk by Mick Fowler and the well-attended Christmas Meet at the excellent Coldwell Centre on the East Lancashire Moors. Many thanks to Andrew and Ali for the organisation and to everyone who helped prepare the sumptuous Christmas meal.
• The list of away meets for 2024 is looking healthy. Meets are planned to Coniston (January), Capel Curig (Easter), Yorkshire Dales (May), Northumbria (Spring BH), Cairngorms (May-June), Chapel Stile (June), Dentdale (July), Mid-Wales (August), Galway (September) and the Lakes (November).
• After last years’ successful Alps trip to Ailefroide another trip to Aosta is planned for late June / July. Those lightweights who prefer sunshine rock are catered for by a trip to Sicily in October!
• We are organising some skills sessions run by experienced club members including winter skills and navigation. Future sessions may include self-rescue, sports climbing techniques and abseiling. Let us know if you have any suggestions.
• On the social scene, after last years’ successful ceilidh, another has been organised for Saturday 23rd March. Vanda has organised more slideshows and Helen is organising some “Pub Grub” evenings allowing members to share good food and convivial conversation. We are also hoping to hold another photographic competition.
Information about away meets, skills sessions and social events will be posted on the message board.
The committee are continuing to look for ways to streamline club communications and are considering the following proposals:
• Reactivating the Castle Facebook and Instagram accounts. This will allow us to share information about club activities between club members. It will also help us to promote ourselves as an active club to people outside the club, especially younger folk, who may be interested in joining us. We will be encouraging all club members to contribute photos etc which reflect the wide range of current club activity.
• Setting up a WhatsApp Communities group. This is a way of organising the different WhatsApp activity groups which will be helpful to the membership team. Please note that the existing activity groups will operate in the same way that they do now.
• We are trialling a Microsoft programme which will streamline the membership process and reduce the administrative workload of the membership team.
Geoff is working on proposals for the club to reduce our environmental footprint – watch this space for the results.
As always the committee welcome feedback from club members – especially suggestions for meets and other activities. Volunteers to organise climbing and walking meets are even more welcome!

THE CASTLE CHRONICLE – Special AGM Edition

Many thanks to everyone who made the effort, on a dark and stormy night, to attend the club annual general meeting. This report is to update members who weren’t able to attend.

• Reports were received from the president, the treasurer, the meets secretary and the membership secretary. It was noted that the club membership is currently a very healthy 112 members.
• Two changes to the constitution relating to membership were approved.
• The new committee was approved as follows: Geoff Nichols (President), Steve Leather (Vice-President), Kathy Burgess (Treasurer), Paul Embley (Secretary), Kial Wright (Meets Secretary), Lorna Nicholson (Membership Secretary), Matt Biggins and Rosie Twambley (Communication and Publicity Secretaries), Bill Boley, Vanda Boyd, Julian Brooks, Helen Dunnett, Pete McGlynn, Andrew Milne, Eli Shannon (Committee Members).
• Thanks were given to the retiring members of the committee: Chris, Gemma, Lin and Richard

The main item on the agenda was discussion of the committee’s recommendations for communications and publicity. Matt and Rosie have done a huge amount of work completing a review of club communications which Matt presented to the AGM. Three options considered by the committee were outlined and comments and questions were received from the floor:

• Option 1 – UPDATING OR REPLACING THE WEBSITE: Issues were highlighted with the message board and the need to make the website more smartphone-friendly. The problem with this option would be the expense of commissioning changes from Digital Nomads, who currently maintain our website, or from a different website developer. One quotation received was for £5000. However the discussion indicated that we might have “in-house” expertise which could be used to update the website at reduced cost.
• Option 2 – USE OF MEETUP FOR ALL CLUB COMMUNICATION: MeetUp is a cloud-based subscription service which would meet many of the club’s communication needs and be relatively cheap and easy to administer. It was suggested as an option by Digital Nomads and other website developers. This option was the recommendation of the committee. However the feedback from the MeetUp trial was mixed and concerns were raised at the AGM. These included whether signing up for meets was helpful and problems with instant messaging using MeetUp. The trial had only been for climbing meets so other club groups needed to be involved in trialling it. Many members find WhatsApp useful and it is likely that they would continue to use WhatsApp resulting in splintering the club.
• Option 3 – NO CHANGE: Andy is not planning to retire as webmaster at the moment. He estimates that he spends about 4 minutes per-day managing the website. It uses a popular operating system and it should be fairly straightforward to train people to administer and maintain the website when he retires. Other members already use the website as administrators though it was noted that this could be complicated especially when troubleshooting was required.

The opinion was strongly expressed from the floor that members had not had enough information to make an informed decision if a vote was held at the current AGM. The decision was therefore taken not to vote on the recommendations but to extend the period of consultation to involve a wider range of club members including walkers and cyclists:

• A working group involving a wide range of club members will be formed to plan the way forward.
• All members of the club will be encouraged to put forward their comments and suggestions to the working group.

Here is Edition #2 of a newsletter to let you know what your committee has been up to and give you some other club news:
CLUB MEETS:
• Recent away meets to the North York Moors and Lundy Island have gone well – with the latter trip including an exciting helicopter journey to the island!
• An enterprising group of club members will soon be off to the Alps.
• The club’s Munro baggers will be kept happy by trips to Torridon (October), Crianlarich (New Year) and Braemar (May 2024).
• After the success of the Easter meet at Capel Curig we are planning a repeat visit next Easter.
• The Christmas meet is booked for 1st – 3rd December up on the East Lancashire moors.
OTHER NEWS:
• We recently had a well-attended maintenance day at the clubroom organised by Vanda and Paul. A lot of clutter was removed, Gordon did a heroic job removing cobwebs from the roof beams, David scraped bags of moss off the porch roof and much sandpaper was used preparing window frames ready for painting. Vanda is sorting out heavy-duty matting for the entrance area.
• After the success of the recent New Member’s Meets Gordon, the club’s equipment officer, has purchased three extra climbing harnesses which can be used for future meets and training sessions.
• Mick Fowler will give a talk to club members about his extensive worldwide mountaineering experience on Thursday 16th November. More details to follow.
• The AGM will be held at the Norfolk Arms on Thursday 23rd November.
MEMBERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION:
• The club’s membership process is currently being fine-tuned to comply with BMC guidelines for prospective members.
• Thanks to everyone’s’ willing response to the request to complete the Membership Renewal Form we now have an almost complete membership database which can only be accessed by committee members. For the first time the database includes emergency contact information and indicates those who don’t want photos published on social media.
• For climbing meets only we are planning a trial of MeetUp, a digital event-planning platform. Organisers of climbing meets hope that MeetUp will be especially helpful when assessing what support may be needed for new members attending meets and will avoid confusion by ensuring that communications about meets aren’t spread over multiple platforms.
We welcome any feedback on our activity as well as suggestions for future events. If you think you would like to play a more active role in club organisation by organising meets or joining the committee then please let one of us know.
Paul Embley

We thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know what we discussed at the Castle committee meeting held on 21st April 2023:
• Geoff highlighted the success of recent club events including the away meets to Scotland and Snowdonia, the ceilidh and the celebration for Charles’ 90th birthday. He thanks all meet leaders and activity organisers for their hard work.
• Future away meets were proposed for 2024 including Roy Bridge (February/March), Capel Curig (Easter) and Braemar (May).
• Now that we have decided to keep the lease on the clubroom, Paul and Vanda are planning a maintenance and cleaning day to be held on Monday 22nd May from 4pm. Willing volunteers needed!
• The recent New Members Meets were a great success. We agreed to ask Gordon, the equipment secretary, to buy three new climbing harnesses for use at future meets and training sessions. We are also looking for volunteers to help organise the next New Members Meet planned for September.
• The committee is currently investigating how the club can streamline and improve club communications including reviewing current methods and trialling new options. This is intended to improve clarity in club communications and to assist in the smooth running of the club.
• We are looking for ideas to reduce the club’s carbon footprint. Car sharing is an obvious way – but we welcome other ideas.
• The membership team emphasised how important it is to have a complete, up-to-date database of club members to allow the membership process to run smoothly, provide emergency contact information and identify member’s privacy requests (such as use of photos on social media). The committee agreed to send out a message to all members encouraging them to complete the Membership Renewal Form and explaining the reasons why it is important.
Finally we are always keen to receive suggestions for club meets and social activities – so if you have any bright ideas please let us know!

56 of 98 members have now voted. Voting will close on October 31st so please do yours now. There is an option to abstain and it would be useful if members who really do not mind either way used this to give the committee a full picture of club feelings. If you are having problems voting please email me so I can help. Lin.

Message from our Vice President Lin Warriss, dated 14 Jan 2022

An outcome of our AGM was the need to establish working groups to look at the future of the clubroom and tenure of committee posts.  We are now seeking volunteers for the groups, the briefs for which are below.

We are aiming for small groups (single figures) covering cross sections of the membership, with at least some people with topical knowledge.  Groups would initially be convened by a committee member who would look for mutually convenient meeting times but the group could then appoint their own chair and note taker.

We cannot quantify the time demands, but you need to factor in availability for meetings and research tasks, over the next five months or so.  Findings and recommendations to be made to the committee no later than June 2022.

1. The future of the clubroom. This group will build upon the work already done by the committee to establish whether the club room continues to be an asset to the club and to produce information for circulation prior to an all-member vote.  The vote will be held before our next AGM so that any necessary amendments to the constitution may be passed. Consideration should be given to:-

• What might be done to maximise the use and user friendliness of the current clubroom to avoid abandoning a unique asset without due consideration
• Cost effective alternative venues for current and future club activities. (e.g. meetings / socials / training on wall)
• Provision of cost effective, suitable and accessible storage of our library and equipment.

2. The length of tenure of committee members. This group will look at the current constitution as it pertains to the committee and produce proposed amendments for consideration at the next AGM.  Length of tenure is the main focus but a couple of anomalies have been identified which would benefit from clarification as part of the process.

The current rules limit the tenure of the President and Vice President to 2 years but do not cover any other roles.

Consideration should be given to:-

• Established good practice, whether from the BMC or other clubs of a similar size and remit.
• Encouraging fresh ideas versus losing existing expertise.
• Practicalities such as changing banking authorities every time the treasurer and other signatories are changed.

If you would like to join one of the groups, please email Lin Warriss (Vice President) on linwarriss@aol.com stating which group you would like to join and whether you feel you have any particular knowledge which might support the group.  This should be done before Friday 28th January so that the committee can discuss group membership at our February meeting.

Follow up from Lin, dated 21 Jan 2022

Hello again

Club equipment which members can borrow includes: 2 helmets, 2 harnesses, ice climbing axe and hammer, avalanche probe, snow shovel, 5 ice scre ws, wart hog, and two pegs. To borrow them contact myself or Paul Embley. They are stored in the club room. If people want equipment for the New Year Scottish trip let me know and I’ll bring it up.  Geoff Nichols.

Gemma has ordered some new Club T-shirts and car stickers. If you would like to buy either or both, please follow the instructions here.

Message from the Chairman:

With the recent changes to the Government’s Covid advice, the Committee have reviewed how the Club meets are organised to make sure we can keep the Club active and comply with the new Covid three tier system.

1. The rule of six will apply to all official walks.
2. Tier 1 & 2 (high risk) and Tier 3( very high risk) are unable to mix or cross borders, so we will try to organise walks for each group. This will depend on if walk leaders come forward to lead each group. This applies for Thursday and Sunday walks – volunteers welcome.
3. If you live in a Tier 1 or 2 area you must only walk in this group. This also applies to members who live in the Tier 3 area. This follows advice about travel in and out of each area.
4. The booking system will be active for each walk on the website and the meet leader will confirm how they want contacting after you have booked.
5. Cycle meets and climbing meets will be still be informal and arranged through WhatsApp and must follow the same rules.

The Government will review the Three Tier System and we have arranged a committee meeting in line with this in case there are any changes, so we can review them and amend any rules for Club meets.

Thanks and stay safe.

Chris Lunn