Our 52^nd season rolls into action and to whet your appetite for the coming year the calendar of meets on the last page shows that most of the outdoor meets are arranged and, yes, the Ceilidh is back again on the indoor programme. Between now and August we’ll be firming up on the speakers for indoor meets and the two remaining weekend meets plus 3 small hostel weekend meets which proved so popular last year.

The biggest change this season will be a new venue for our indoor meets. As from the date of our first indoor meet, Thursday 21^st September, we meet at the clubhouse of Hyndland Bowling Club. More details given later …. so if by chance you go to Wellington Church hall then don’t be surprised to find it devoid of Glenmorons, unless others have likewise not read this newsletter.

Henry

As we stand on the cusp of a new season we can only hope the weather improves soon. May has proved to be a wet and windy affair. Late snow added some excitement to a day on the South Glen Shiel ridge and I look forward to some back packing when the sun comes out.

I would like to thank those on last year’s committee who have now relinquished office for all their hard work over the season and welcome the new members, who I’m confident will do a fine job of organising the next year’s programme.

The last committee booked the weekend meets earlier and the new committee will be looking at the following year’s bookings at its second meeting. So please feedback any suggestions as soon as possible. The small hostel meets are still to be finalised so you have time to influence these choices. Hopefully the programme will prove diverse enough to satisfy everyone and we hope we have achieved a suitable geographic spread.

As you will have seen from recent email exchanges there is some concern from other clubs about the ramifications of proposed changes to the constitution of the MCofS.

The committee have written to the MCofS asking for the changes to be delayed; so we can fully discuss the implications to us and other clubs and hopefully have a speaker to talk us through the process and the hoped for benefits.

Gordon

Our outdoor equipment custodian is Bill McIntyre: Bill’s title reflects the new arrangements for recording the usage of our equipment.

These are now due and prompt payment would be appreciated - please remember they must be paid on or before 30^th June 2006. As agreed at the AGM there will be no change from the rates last year, and they are as follows:

A notice was sent to all members about renewing their subscriptions, a day or two after the AGM, but as a reminder you are asked to please send your cheque - made out to Glasgow Glenmore Club - plus membership card, renewal of application form and stamp addressed envelope to the membership secretary, Alice Harrison.

The Club’s 52^nd AGM was held on 4^th May to the accompaniment of an impressive near-tropical downpour outside, with lightning displays not seen in Glasgow for many a year. Some may have observed it was more distracting than having a general election last year on the day of our AGM. Anyway, some 35 members attended, and in addition to electing the new committee and agreeing the subscriptions, per above, the following were the main points discussed/agreed:

Here is the full list of dates right up to the last one before our first indoor meet:

Located on North Street, close to the Mitchell Library, the Bon Accord with its new smoke-free atmosphere gives members a regular opportunity to keep in touch with each other and to plan a few extra outings – come along any time after 9pm, and by the way, there is a great choice of beers as well!

See last sheet which lists the outdoor meets and gives the dates of the indoor meets: the latter are being arranged over the coming months and full details will appear in the next newsletter along with booking arrangements for meets up to the end of the year. As agreed at the AGM, this year we will be organising 3 small hostel meets.

There is just time to make one final call for any members who have this coming weekend free and want to get to the hills – although the Barisdale meet is fully booked, there are places at Morvich, close by Glen Shiel – a great location surrounded by dozens of quality hills - and next month you could camp beside Coruisk hut ….details below

http://www.nts.org.uk/web/site/home/holidays/accommodation/basecamp/Kintail_Outdoor_Centre.asp?NavPage=271&NavId=2166

20 places have been booked at £12 pppn. Please send me a cheque for £36 (payable to Glasgow Glenmore Club) per person for the 3 nights.Facilities include a fully equipped kitchen, lounge with wood-burning stove, dining room, drying room and laundry. Washer/drier, facilities for outdoor drying, colour TV, VCR, radio, payphone, microwave, freezer, dogs not allowed, no smoking. Bring your own sleeping bag

Although all the places in the hut have been booked, you can camp close by. A ferry is booked leaving Elgol at 8pm on the Friday and returning at 10am on Monday from Coruisk.

For more details about either of the above meets, please contact Arthur Whittaker.

Turning to the indoor meets, you will see we have the ceilidh arranged for Friday 8^th December, and another trusty favourite – the Club quiz – will feature early in the New Year. And for our first indoor meet, on 21^st September we are having a member’s ‘slide’ night, so if you’re going somewhere exciting – or just different – then take a plenty of photographs and bring along your slides or digital images. More about this in the next newsletter – but meantime, please snap away!

Our new venue has plenty of space to accommodate us for our meets, and has a large kitchen – complete with nice cups and saucers – plus a bar which the Bowling Club will open for us. It is located in the heart of Hyndland as shown on the map below:

Hyndland Bowling Club

Getting there: Hyndland railway station is close by and all westbound trains from Central or Queen Street Low Levels stop there. The No. 44 bus goes down Clarence Drive – coming from Clarkston Road, Langside Road via the city centre and the No. 11 bus from the city centre goes down Hyndland Road.

By car from the South Side may be most convenient along the Expressway, take the Partick exit and up Broomhill Drive and over the lights and along Clarence Drive. Other routes will no doubt emerge – and then there is parking. A bit tight in the immediate vicinity of the Bowling Club, so try ‘park and walk’ from Hyndland Road or Hughenden Lane area – it should not be too far to walk. Other options are Prince Albert Road, the lower end of Clarence Drive and Lauderdale Gardens between Peckhams and Hyndland Secondary School. If anyone gets benighted then don’t forget we have Club members staying very close by …….

Arrangements for meets will be broadly as before, viz:

And lastly, relax everyone, there is no dress code – so those blazers, slacks, pleated white skirts and straw boaters can stay in the cupboard, but perhaps only until we have an official GGC Bowls Team …. now there’s a thought for some of us in the future!

Just a reminder to everyone that Connie Thomson is our librarian, having kindly offered to continue in this role at the recent AGM …… members continue to make use of our books etc. so if there’s something you would like then please contact Connie on 0141 632 5317 through the coming months until we start our regular programme of indoor meets. A library list was issued a couple of years ago – it’s on the website – and a revision to the list will be going on the website with a hard copy provided with the next newsletter.

Culra Bothy, weekend 14^th - 17^th July

A small group of Club members are heading there and any members wishing to join them are most welcome – some great hills close by. Contact Isobel Freeman if you are interested in going.

Proposed Wind Farm on Burnfoot Hill, Ochil Hills

After our recent AGM we received a letter from The Friends of the Ochils asking for support in objecting to a development of 13 wind turbines, each just over 100m high ( ie about the height of the Glasgow Science Centre Tower) and located only 3kms north of Ben Cleuch, the highest hill in the Ochils. Your editor has lodged a private objection and a number of committee members added their names, also as a private objection. This was because – as stated in last year’s summer newsletter – the committee does not consider it appropriate for the Club to respond as it is felt such issues are for individuals to act upon as each sees fit. Should any member like more details about this proposed development then please ask Henry.

At the AGM attention was drawn to MCofS’s request for more involvement from its affiliated clubs and Dave Webster has been nominated for election to the Access & Conservation Committee. We all wish Dave success in his nomination and many thanks for standing.

Members will be aware of MCofS’s proposal to change its constitution, in order to become a company limited by guarantee which is a step often taken by similar organisations. The reasons have been set out in ‘The Scottish Mountaineer’ and the proposed changes will be on the agenda of their forthcoming AGM on June 17^th.

Those members on e-mail will have received a copy of a letter dated 15^th May from the Cairngorm Club(CC) to MCofS raising a number of concerns and reservations about the proposed changes. This arrived just before the first meeting of our new committee and so we were able to give the matter some consideration. We later had sight of another letter of objection, from the Scottish Mountaineering Club(SMC) dated 19^th May, which expressed many of the same concerns raised by the CC, plus others. Given the imminence of the MCofS’s AGM, on 17^th June, and the fact that it is not practicable for our members to meet at an EGM before then to fully consider the MCofS proposals, as secretary I have written to MCofS on behalf of the committee. My letter requests delaying the implementation of the MCofS proposals for incorporation until such time as we have had the opportunity for full consultation with our members. Part of that process would be to invite a senior representative of MCofS to speak at one of our indoor meets to explain to us at first hand how the new arrangements are going to work and what, if any, affect they may have on our club and our members.

A copy of my letter is reproduced below along with a list of the objections to the present proposals for incorporation raised by SMC in their letter to MCofS.

24^th May 2006

Mr. Richard Spencer,

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland,

The Old Granary,

West Mill Street,

Perth PH1 5QP

Dear Richard,

During the last week we have received copies of the letters sent to you from the Cairngorm Club(CC) and the Scottish Mountaineering Club(SMC) in which both clubs express strong reservations about the proposed documentation to effect the incorporation of the MCofS.

Our club held its AGM on 4^th May: although our members were aware that MCofS was planning to change its constitution, in good faith there was agreement to set new subscriptions for the coming year, which includes the cost of affiliation to MCofS, on the basis that the changes would have little, if any, potential affect on our club and its members. Having had sight of the above letters, this would appear not to be the case.

Whilst it is fair to say that articles in recent issues of ‘The Scottish Mountaineer’ have mentioned the new constitution, the full documents are only available on the internet and not all our members have that access. Furthermore, had we received the above two letters in advance of our AGM – which is unlikely in view of the timing of the release of drafts and the time taken for detailed review by the CC and SMC – then our committee would have brought the issues raised to our AGM.

The timing of your AGM, on 17^th June, and the issue of the final draft of the proposed Memorandum and Articles of Association on 27^th May or thereabouts, would mean that our club would not be able to convene an EGM to consider the final version and to make any related subsequent contribution to the debate at your AGM. This is because our constitution requires that we have to give at least 21 days notice to our members in order to convene an EGM.

Our committee is aware of the possibility that some clubs may feel so strongly about the proposals that withdrawal from MCofS cannot be ruled out. That must be for them to decide, but that would be a most unfortunate outcome which would appear to arise from not allowing enough time for consultation with affiliated clubs. It is the view of our committee that implementation of the new arrangements should be delayed until there has been full and proper consultation with affiliated clubs so that each understands what is proposed and such that the final proposals have their broad agreement It is better to take more time to get it right, rather than take a hasty and contested decision which inevitably will cause ongoing difficulties that may well adversely impact on the effectiveness of MCofS.

For our part, we remain committed supporters of MCofS and with regard to the issues above we would welcome the opportunity for MCofS to provide a guest speaker at one of our indoor meets as requested in my e-mail of 18^th May. This will not only give us a better understanding of the proposed constitutional changes but also provide the opportunity for us to hear more about the work that MCofS does on behalf of our club and the many other affiliated clubs. That must be good for strengthening communications between MCofS and its affiliated member clubs, who together comprise a large part of the hillwalking and mountaineering community in Scotland.

Yours sincerely,

Henry Perfect

Hon Secretary

(note: full text of letter available from members of our committee)

And so finally, on a more light-hearted note, here is your handy check list for that long trek into the hills:

Note: All indoor meets held at clubhouse of Hyndland Bowling Club

Month/(Co-ordinator)

* The Killin and Moffat meets may have dates switched depending on suitability of snow conditions prevailing at the time.

**Venue to be confirmed and 3^rd venue identified.