UKC

I hear on the grapevine that there are plans to redevelop the building which houses 'The Schoolroom', the legendary Sheffield training facility to the great and the good, well, the great, friends of the great and hangers on to the friends of the great. I also understand that there is a petition to save said 'Schoolroom' and was wondering whether I should sign up.

Actually as a total punter who will never be "invited" to the hallowed hall I felt distinctly underqualified to sign, having never bouldered font 8b and not knowing the secret password (Ben Moons middle name). It's slightly ironic that the elite are attempting to enlist the punters to save a facility they wouldn't be allowed into, it's a bit like asking the Womens Institute to save the Working Mans club

In reality, it's no biggie, as the boards can be disassembled and reassembled somwhere else - "plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose"

Would you sign ?

In reply to Bitter&Twisted:

funny you mention it....a friend told me once how one of the sheffield mafia wouldn't let her use his home board.

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In reply to Bitter&Twisted:

Most sports have their Elite institutes paid for by average Jo. Its these which enable us to have a reasonable standard in sports. For most sports is lottery money that pays for it or national associations. If it helps maintain the standard of English climbing I am all for it. Shame they don't have one down south.

In reply to Jon Redshaw:

Yes and it's not like The School was paid for by punters. People are merely suggesting that it might be nice to keep it open.

Never particularly liked it myself but as a top end training facility which is still being used by some of the best and some who may become the best I would like to see it stay open.

Doesn't sound as if a petition will do any good anyway but I dont see any need for cynicism.

There are plenty of crags which I will never visit (and will never want to visit) but I would still support efforts to continue access to them if it were threatened.

In reply to Bitter&Twisted: i wouldnt go out of my way to sign as its a privately owned elitist training venue not a public wall.have been once before and i dont think its anything special

In reply to beastofackworth:

The building that the School room is rented from is a community centre housing artists and other people aswell as ath boards. Any petition would be to save the whole building. No-one is asking you to sign so don't worry about it.

In reply to Bitter&Twisted: I wouldn't sign for that but I would sign to build a state of the art facility which is designed by real specialists in training and not some crag monkeys.

JIMBO

In reply to JIMBO:
I wouldn't sign for that but I would sign to build a state of the art facility which is designed by real specialists in training and not some crag monkeys.

I presume the crag monkeys you are refering to are the Climbing Works guys, yeah your right, they're not nearly elitist enough, they'll let anyone in !

In reply to Anonymous:

put in that context, I'd sign - not just because of the mention of 'artists', more because there are fewer and fewer mixed-use community spaces nowadays, and I think that they should be preserved, and not necessarily rebuilt in nice polished spaces where you're scared to use the facilities for fear of breaking or damaging something.

In reply to Bitter&Twisted: The password is Arnold

In reply to GraemeA at home: Graeme, I've seen you climb and there's NO WAY you would ever be allowed in, so I sticking with 'Tarquin' - cant do much about the font 8b though ;-(

In reply to JIMBO: designed by real specialists in training and not some crag monkeys.


Who are these 'real' specialists in training that you refer to who know so much more than Moffat and Moon ?

In reply to Bitter&Twisted: Its not what you know, its who you know.

In reply to Simon Lee: Marius Morstad might be the obvious starting point...

In reply to JIMBO:

And if he's not available ?

In reply to Simon Lee: I'm sorry but I think the original poster may have somewhat missed the mark about the school room, maybe before my time it was an elitist place but not now. I'd hazard a guess that many of the climbers names who use the board would mean little or nothing to most of the climbing world. It's not about being elitist and 'not letting people in', its a small facility that becomes very dusty (and quite frankly unpleasant) when great numbers of people turn up. The boards are also suffering with age and wouldn't cope with large volumes of traffic.
I've signed for obvious reasons but there are many others that might attract your signature, the local council is claiming to be a good thing for local artists however it is systematically removing all of the 'cheap' artist rental space in sheffield, many of the community groups have nowhere else to get within heeley relocation for these groups would also seem a bit daft given it's 'heeley groups', currently there is a petition at the climbing works in sheffield, i'm sure there will also be one at Cliffhanger, for those who have already put their name down, thanks, and I would encourage as many people as possible to sign.
In climbing terms there is a rich history of hard climbing that begins and ends with the school room, it is simply the best training facility in Britain.

In reply to Paul B:
I'd also hasten to add that a relocation of the boards may not be as simple as the OP believes, these boards were not built to last 20 odd years and are not totally flush etc. therefore it would be seriously difficult to relocate them and get everything perfect. A few mm's out or 1 degree either way could seriously alter the difficulty of some sersiouly hard problems.

In reply to Paul B:
>it is simply the best training facility in Britain.

But Paul, you are forgetting the Denbigh Den and The Boardway.

In reply to Adam Lincoln: for anyone who believes it to be an elitist only venue, it simply isn't, the problems are all tricky but thats down to hold selection and probably over ambitious shaping of wooden holds. For people who say they don't think its that special, please let me know of any other board in the world with so many power based problems all confirmed at the given grade and documented to the same extent?

In reply to Paul B:

Hey Paul - I cant help but to agree with you. I dont climb hard enough to make it even worthwile being upset that i couldnt use this facility (if Im honest I'd just be in the way anyhow).

With a facility for strong representitives of British climbing to use and putt themselves against benchmark training problems such as malcs 8b etc I cannot see reason for people not wishing that to continue.

why would we not wish for a facility for strong athletes to improve and represent the uk in the world (both indoor and outdoors).

Would people not petition if old trafford was up for demolition despuit the fact that they wouldn't ever be good enough to play there?

if anyone chooses not to sign I'd be curious about the reasoning (unless its the whole 'I cant use it' reason).

will be signing at cliff hanger!

Cheers

Tens

ps hope your legs healed good and you can return to the circuit soon.

In reply to tension: Thanks - got the all clear yesterday morning, went to the works yesterday afternoon.