John Mackenzie

The past twelve months will definitely go down as a year of great change for the MCofS. With our newly-appointed Senior Officer acting as a new broom, figuratively speaking, our secretariat has been revamped with some new staff appointed and the adoption of more efficient working practices to assist both members and staff alike. Perhaps most significantly, all this has led to better liaison with clubs and individual members.

Since the AGM in 2006, a huge amount of work has gone into redrafting the 'Mem and Arts' to the effect that the Special General Meeting in February passed the resolution that the Council should proceed to incorporation. The effect of this will be that, as a limited company, we are less liable for individual prosecution, which is a big plus for the Office Bearers and also enhances the likelihood of attracting grant aid in future. None of this would have been possible without the herculean toil of Office Bearers, Executive members and certain club members who took the time and trouble to get it all right. I would like to thank in particular Mary Webster for co-ordinating it all, Richard Shirreffs and Alan Grosset, who fine-tuned it all from a legal perspective, and David Gibson who made sure that the proverbial rabbit was pulled out of the right hat. Thanks are due, too, to all those who sent in letters and e-mails with constructive comments.

My term of office is almost up. It's been quite a bumpy ride at times and hugely fun at others. I certainly wish the President-elect, Chris Townsend, the best of luck and if he has the constructive and supportive help that I have enjoyed then he'll have few problems. Chris is a well-known and highly respected figure who will make an admirable President.

I think the MCofS is lucky to have such a dedicated staff and equally lucky to have the calibre of volunteer that enlist to the Executive or are co-opted onto the committees. However much we change on the surface our basic ethos remains the same - a democratically elected organisation that strives to do what its members want.

Perhaps the most obvious of our endeavours is access and its corollary, conservation. The threats, both perceived and real, are more testing than they were a decade ago. Access per se is, despite pockets of resistance, now accepted. However, the challenges of poorly sited wind farms and proposed mega-pylons are very much on the agenda and will require a united front of our members and those of similar organisations to stand up and be counted. Interesting years lie ahead when we will either see more sensitive planning controls or a despoliation of considerable parts of our countryside. This is not a time to be sitting back, hoping someone else will do the work for us, but to be pro-active and lobby both the politicians and the planning departments. The MCofS has a sound position statement on renewables that is not against well-sited wind farms or other types of renewable energy, but is against hugely invasive wind factories that are totally antipathetic to the small scale of the Highlands or upland scenery. It's all a matter of scale and genuine need as compared to what could be seen as the unacceptable face of capitalism.

The other major challenge continues to be the safety and training aspects of mountaineering, tragically brought into focus this winter. Our courses and training, so admirably run by Roger Wild, are second-to-none but the need for all would-be winter mountaineers to have the basic 'passport' of navigational and ice axe skills and safe use of crampons never lessens despite intermittent winters. Winter climbing is an apprenticeship and is not an instant skill and I hope that our courses continue to attract those most in need, particularly, but not exclusively, the young and the young at heart.

So, there we are. It has been a privilege to be the President and I hope to continue in the background as part of the A&C committee. Thanks again for all your support, friendship and tolerance over the last four years.

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