UKC

I've just joined the BMC online here: https://www.thebmc.co.uk/membership

My previous membership had lapsed. If you're prepared to fill in a direct debit you get it for half price £15.72.

The confirmation email says that I'll receive my membership number within ten days with my membership card. I'm assuming that this will allow me to vote. If not then I'll have spent £15 on the BMC which I should have got around to doing anyway.

Needless to say, though I am not completely uncritical of the BMC, I think this whole no-confidence fandango is a pile of shite. Other than Steve Venables I don't think there's anyone on that list below 70 (indeed a number are in their 80s). I do have respect for some of them and their historical achievements, but they're hardly equipped to lead the BMC through the 21st century.

Make no mistake that if this no-confidence motion succeeds then it will effectively mean the dissolution of the current BMC management with no plan or even thought as to what to replace it with. It's effectively a vote to have no representative body for British climbing at all. How bizarre is that?

I've just confirmed with the BMC that joining now will enable me to vote at the AGM which can be done with the proxy voting card https://www.thebmc.co.uk/Handlers/DownloadHandler.ashx?id=1439

So there's a few Likes but has anybody who wasn't already a member actually joined up and intends to vote (either way)? Or is everyone just content to put all their efforts into talking endlessly about it on social media?

In reply to Hugh Cottam:

I'm already a member, and will be filling out a proxy form once I receive it

In reply to Hugh Cottam:

I would suggest that people don't rush into sending off the proxy forms just yet - I've got a feeling there could be more developments over the next month

In reply to Hugh Cottam:

Whilst you're here, Hugh: what's the story with Podsacs? The website is looking a bit empty.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

I left 3 years ago Rob, so you know as much as me. I suspect that it's completely defunct, which is really sad.

In reply to Hugh Cottam:

Thanks for the reply. I just noticed the URL in your profile, and thought to ask. Indeed it is sad if it's gone.

In reply to Hugh Cottam:


Why are you focusing on those who weren't members?

Because if they're already members they can vote. I wanted to encourage people who care about this to actually get involved and help decide the outcome. It's a fair enough point that existing BMC members probably also need encouraging and mobilising. I also think that it's fine if people want to support the no-confidence vote. Personally I'm stridently against it as I feel it will leave us with no meaningful representative body at all. Everyone's entitled to an opinion yet the only way it's going to have any weight is if you are a member of the BMC and vote at the AGM (by proxy or whatever).

In reply to Hugh Cottam:


Surely those who care about the BMC should already be members?

In reply to timjones:

Yes, but let's be honest, "should" isn't the same as "are".

I've already seen more than one person say they've renewed their membership to have a say in this.

In reply to AJM:


So they couldn't be arsed to support the BMC until they want to 'support' the BMC?

In reply to AJM:


It's interesting that non-members feel so strongly.

I've been a member for over 30 years and my current thinking is that I will most likely abstain. I don't wish to support the motion but I certainly don't want to show any suggestion of support for the shoddy way that the matter was handled.

In reply to Andy Say:

They tend to be lapsed members who needed a kick up the arse. At least that's my own personal story.

In reply to Andy Say:
I was a member of the BMC for ten years up to last july. I was out of the country at the time let my membership lapse and never got around to renewing when I got back, would it be such an afront to democracy if I rejoined for this?

In reply to Andy Say:



As frustrating as that is to active members the BMC represents all hillwalkers and climbers irrespective of whether that are members or not. Many just need a nudge such as this to join. Hopefully they will stay because they like what we do.

In reply to Hugh Cottam:

Ditto.

Mine is automatic through club DDs but otherwise with other demands of life i could easily see myself having lapsed at one point or another. It'd be nice to live in a perfect world where i had time to be on top of everything; I'm just not that good. From the look of it some others are too.

In reply to AJM:
We have a DD as joint members. If you've decided you want to support the BMC, it avoids accidental lapses and oversights and isn't exactly difficult to stop if you decide you no longer want to support them.

I don't think I get any direct benefit from membership. I occasionally use the insurance for foreign trips, but I see my membership as supporting the organisation, not as paying for a service

In reply to Hugh Cottam:
The dates on the BMC website are all over the place. Can someone please confirm

1 when I'll receive my proxy card -i.e. When summit is mailed out
2 when the deadline for receiving proxies is
3 daft as it might seem, when the actual date of the AGM is.

As it stands, the suggestion is that it will be mailed out on the day the deadline closes and the AGM is 2 days later!

In reply to toad:
No panic. The AGM isn't until 22nd April. Summit with you before the end of March (and can be downloaded). Proxy votes in 48 hours before AGM.

In reply to toad:

You can download a proxy voting card here https://www.thebmc.co.uk/Handlers/DownloadHandler.ashx?id=1439

In reply to Chris the Tall:


Enigmatic and intriguing! Do you suspect there might be developments that might cause people who oppose the motion to change their minds, or the other way around?

In reply to slab_happy:


The other way round; cause a change of mind in those people who might oppose the motion?

In reply to Andy Say:

Are you suggesting Mr Pettigrew actually has some concrete arguments, and has deliberately kept his statements so far as vague and content-free as possible in order to stage an ambush at the AGM?

That would hardly be the behaviour of somebody with a genuine interest in open communication and dialog.

In reply to AlanLittle:
I'd say the decision in such circumstances would be as invalid as the NC decision on the rebrand and as such would need to go to the membership ASAP. In this sense Bob must realise by now he can't win but doesn't seem to want to back down, despite input from Chris Bonnington and others. Either this is some really dirty negotiating ploy or extreme egocentricity.

I just hope some of the other signatories, based on their reputation, can see sense and either force him to come clean publicly now with what he has or remove the validity of his motion being presented at all. Such pressure seems the only way to cut the damage this is doing and the time it wastes from other issues of import the BMC need to deal with.

In reply to AlanLittle:


No. I was making a poor joke.

In reply to Offwidth:


Actually I think that they may have pressured him into dropping the plain daft stuff in earlier drafts!

In reply to Andy Say:

Ah. Oops. Sorry for the low sense of humour reaction then.