UKC

In "Summit #45" I see the BMC President has finally let the cat out of the bag and declared the BMC's hidden agenda.

Moving away from the position of being our 'representative body' it seems that the recent changes "... turns the BMC towards ... becoming a major club in its own right."

It's already a long way along that path in that it is holding a growing number of "meets" for it's members.

Is this really the way it should be going?
Surely the BMC organisation has enough on its plate without trying to cope with being a club?

Surely it should really concentrate upon representing us?

In reply to Long John:

I expect it's looking at itself from an international perspective. Most other countries have a national alpine club that is also the international representative body. The UK is anomolous in that neither the AC nor the BMC nor the combination of the BMC and all the clubs together can offer what mountaineers in other countries have in terms of pulling power. Foreign climbers and indeed legislative bodies including ours find that confusing and it disempowers us all in the international arena. Either we grow up or put up with being little people and it's an issue that needs to be addressed. If you want the UK to carry on being a parochial oddity then fair enough. Personally I don't.

In reply to Alison Stockwell:

What makes you think that the BMC doesn't have the same "pulling power" as it would have if it was a "national club"?

What we have is a far better system.

In reply to Long John: the BMC *is* representing you. read the annual report, keep up with news on the website, come to area meetings and you'll see the truth of this.

perhaps you have some great ideas about what else the BMC could be doing? so far you have only provided criticism. some constructive suggestions about what the BMC should be doing instead would be far better.

cheerio

In reply to Alison Stockwell:

>If you want the UK to carry on being a parochial oddity then fair enough. Personally I don't.

A reminder that the UK is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, The BMC only represents England and Wales (with MCofS covering Scotland and MCofI covering Northern Ireland as well as Eire), so difficult to see how the BMC can represent the UK.

Dave

In reply to Alison Stockwell: I'm not so sure it is that much simpler in other countries, eg France at first glance seems to have the CAF as a national body, but thats recently changed to be a federation of clubs (so a bit more MCoS/BMC like ?) and then there's also the FFME.

As far as I can tell Spain has no single national body. Do Italy, Switzerland, Austria etc really have a single national organisation or is that just a simplification ?

In reply to Dave Pritchard:
Yes, it's a big historical mish-mash. But to their credit the BMC and MCofS have been giving at least the appearance of working well together recently. Ultimately as mountaineers I think we are all strongest when we behave as though we are on the same side, as organisations and as individuals.

In reply to Dave Pritchard:
The councils, in the shape of MCofI, MCS, BMC and BMC Cymru/Wales meet as a 'Mountaineering Co-ordination Group' at regular meetings. Whilst it is recognised that the Home Nation councils are the representative bodies for their respective turf (with yet another anomaly in that MCofI covers both North and South of the border) it has also been agreed that the BMC can act as the voice of 'UK mountaineering' abroad, as the organisation with the resources to take on that role, whilst acting on behalf of all.

In reply to martin k:


In my experience, this is typical of the BMC's reaction to ANY criticism. I guess what you're saying is that you only want to hear praise and anyone who thinks the BMC is doing anything wrong can just take a running jump. Is that right? But you welcome new ideas for further remit-expansion and profit-making opportunities?

In reply to Al Downie:

Al, don't post things like that, you may regret your comments later if you read this thread late afternoon. Can't say more till I get the word.

In reply to Long John: I am fascinated to know why there are so many "hidden agendas" surrounding the BMC. I have been a participating volunteer for a year now and have only found transparency. If you ask a straight question you get a straight answer and a chocolate buscuit if you ask nicely. Ok, so there are sometimes administration blips, just like any organisation, but it is run by a team of rather dedicated folks who do answer to "the people".

The simple fact is that the BMC does an awful lot and if you blinker yourself to everything but one thing, you find that they do so much of that one thing, that suddenly the BMC has a hidden agenda to only do that one thing. It is easy to forget that they also do an awful lot of other things too!

Sure they organise the odd meet, usually around some sort of conservation work. However they also openly represent, advise, insure and negociate. All hidden agendas in the eyes of some but blatently obvious if you ask me.

In reply to Jon Dittman:

I have no suspicions about 'hidden' agendas, and I believe what you say about the level of transparency that exists. I'm much more concerned about the BMC simply having _too many_ agendas, many of which I don't believe are in the best long-term interest of the climbing community. But as I've said before, the BMC has developed itself into a self-interested organisation and would rather focus on increasing the climbing population and its membership, than serving the needs of the community that already exists. Hence its unstoppable drive to teach children to climb.

Last year the BMC ran its first Alpine Meet in Saas Grund, and we will be running another one this year.

The Mountaineering Council of Ireland have organised an Alpine Meet for many years which has proved very popular with their members. As a service to our members the BMC decided to run their own Alpine Meet.


Jon Garside
BMC / MLTE Training Officer
t: 0161 438 3329
e: [email protected]

In reply to Al Downie:

The BMC is not leading the drive to teach children to climb that will and is happening at walls all over the country. What they are doing is trying to make sure it is done in a way that the chidren understand and accept the whole sport of climbing as it currently stands so they don't ruin it for the rest of us.