I attended the BMC AGM weekend in Buxton on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 March 2019. There was a workshop for club’s reps on the Saturday afternoon which was well run and stimulating. Another on the Sunday morning was attended by at least twice as many people and seemed less satisfactory. The AGM later rubber-stamped the BMC’s proposed membership charge increase.
I wanted to find out more about the background to the hike in charges which are mainly linked to a big increase in the cost of insurance after what was described at the meeting as a ‘catastrophic’ accident on a climbing wall, leaving a young man with life-long disabilities.
The insurance includes cover such as: accidental bodily injury to third parties and/or damage to third party property arising out of your insured activities… Protection for director, officers and senior managers against claims arising from their decisions or action taken.’ The full extensive statement can be read on the BMC’s website re. the AGM, under item 8.
The BMC stated, ‘Past subscription increases and comparisons with other organisations show BMC subscriptions compare favourably with other similar UK based sporting organisations and overseas mountaineering associations. Over the last decade, the BMC has increased subscriptions on two occasions only: 2014 (£1.50 uplift for all membership categories) and 2018 (£2.50 uplift for individual members, £1.00 for club members).’
BMC CEO Dave Turnbull mentioned, during his talk in support of the motion to approve the increase, that a cheaper form of membership might be available with restrictions e.g. that it would not involve ‘Summit’ magazine. Huw Jones, who was later elected as a Nominated Director (accounting and services) mentioned that there might be a reduced rate for membership by Direct Debit.
I sent a report to the NC about the AGM and copied Dave Turnbull in. I contacted him recently to ask about any developments. He said he would pass my enquiry to the Organisational Review Group. I have yet to hear from them. It may be that nothing will come of it – we’ll see.
The other reason given for the increase was to fund the ORG’s recommendations for improvements in the running of the BMC. The flow-chart above is an example of what we were shown regarding reorganisation. I wouldn’t want to be overly critical but I had a suspicion that with so much time being spent producing sophisticated plans not enough time or energy might remain to put them into practice!
There was much criticism of the BMC website, both in terms of accessing information and being able know what was available. My feeling was that it would be useful to prioritise what was most used and make it as user-friendly as possible – as with the general planning, the bells and whistles could come later.
Attendees were treated to a meal and prize-giving event on the Saturday night. I sat next to a guide who had done Everest twice and had a wealth of great anecdotes. (I later learnt that his nick-name was ‘Rocket Ronnie’!) Another chap across the table was built like the proverbial brick outhouse and was going to do Mont Blanc in the summer. So, nothing intimidating there! It was an enjoyable event and good see several young climbers given awards for voluntary work. One fact I came across was that the average age of BMC members was about 37. I imagine Red Rope’s is about 57!
I thought the weekend was well worth attending, partly just to get an overview of how the BMC worked. It was also interesting to meet other clubs’ reps. One current expression when discussing conclusions is, ‘What was the take-away?’ (This does not refer to chow mein!) My conclusion was that it is important to plan sensibly but not make a rod for your own back in the process!
The RR National Committee have decided to subsidise 2020 membership fee increase from club funds. You can see NC minutes via ‘Quick Links’ on the club website.
by David Symonds, (National Secretary)