Newsletter no.36 August 1998
EXECUTIVE NEWSCOMMENT
A WELCOME FROM THE NEW PRESIDENT, John Donohoe I am taking over from Nick Kempe with some trepidation. In my time on the Council I have admired his hard work and dedication and the passion and clear-sighted vision with which he approached the challenges facing our mountaineering world. He will be a hard act to follow and I am delighted that he will continue to play an active role in developing our submission to the Access legislative process. I would also like to pay tribute to the retiring members of the Council, Ron Robertson, outgoing Secretary, Findlay Swinton, Scott Johnston, Bill Wallace, John Mackenzie and Roger Wild of the British Mountain Guides. This is too rich an assemblage of talent to lose and I intend to exploit their individual and collective wisdom shamelessly. There are lots of new faces on the Executive Committee and some of them look as if they still get on a hill occasionally! They may not find much time for that in the year ahead. We are facing a period of dramatic constitutional change with a Council of the Isles as well as a Scottish Parliament affecting the inter-relationships of the peoples and countries of these islands, and it is not clear where this will lead us. I believe that the Scots will relish the return of major political and legislative power to our Edinburgh Capital. This will lead to changes in how our environment is managed and such scandals as the lack of National Park status and protection for our most precious areas will be addressed. There are tremendous opportunities open to us to organise our sporting, leisure and tourist activities in a way which benefits all, and the MC of S is prepared to assume greater responsibilities in this exciting future. There are also significant threats. We Scots have ne'er been abune a richt gude stramash and we could end up with internecine battles - Eastcoaster v Westcoaster, North v South, Gaelic v English or Town v Country. Many country-people feel that their way of life is threatened by an uncaring urban majority and suspect that town-dwellers seek only an empty wilderness as a weekend retreat and that their concern for the environment does not extend to concern for the people in that environment. As the battle lines harden in Strathspey over the Cairngorm Funicular we must strive to demonstrate that as climbers and hillgoers we are not anti-skiing or appropriate local development. We oppose this particular scheme because it is scenically and environmentally damaging with the basic flaws in the proposal leading inexorably to the manifest absurdities of the Visitor Management Plan. The future will inevitably bring changes to our relationship with the BMC. Our links are close and warm, though inevitably enlivened by the occasional stushie. I see us developing our direct international contacts as well as working closely with our sister organisation, with whom we have to share this small island, on matters of common interest. As the constituent parts of the United Kingdom learn how to manage increasing devolution and autonomy our mountaineering governing bodies and training boards must do the same. We are living in interesting times and it is going to be fun!
A VISION FOR THE FUTURE from our outgoing President, Nick Kempe.
[This address was presented at the June Annual General Meeting] The work that MCofS is doing on behalf of mountaineers has expanded considerably over the last four years, but I do not want to look backwards and would rather use the last AGM at which I have the privilege of being President to share with you my vision for the future. I will put this across in a series of points, in no particular order. But first a disclaimer: it is my vision, contains one or two controversial points and has not been sanctioned by anyone else! I would like to see MCof S have as many members as the RSPB in Scotland, ie 60,000! As many people care about mountains as birds - sometimes the same people - so 5,000 individual members in five years time would be a start. I'd like to see a mountaineer automatically given a place on the boards of the Scottish Tourist Board and Highlands & Islands Enterprise because of the contribution we make to the Highland economy. I'd also like to see us automatically included in the various partnership type initiatives which are operating at present, a good example being the Glenmore / Rothiemurchus initiative where we have not been included despite being the most important interest group. I hope to see our traditional freedom of access secured by legislation in the Scottish Parliament and for this to treat access to the countryside for informal recreation as a fundamental human right. I'd like to see MCofS respond to every access problem as it arises and to have enough knowledgeable local contacts to be able to take this on. I'd like to see a lot more money being spent on preventing erosion of mountain paths. We need a means of funding this and given the contribution of mountaineering to the rural economy a dedicated national fund ( a tiny percentage of the roads budget would pay for all we could possibly ask for) is urgently required. I look forward to the Ratho development opening and Scotland having an international quality climbing wall. I think this would be good for many climbers in Scotland, and not just for potential members of a Scottish Team. Given the very successful Commonwealth Youth Meet I can see climbing competitions becoming a Commonwealth event in the next ten years, and it is already a candidate sport for the Olympics. I'd like to see closer links between Glenmore Lodge and mountaineers and as a first step towards this would like to see a Glenmore Lodge Advisory Group, about which there has been some discussion with the Scottish Sports Council, set up in the near future. I would like to see us develop further the very close working relationship we have with the Scottish Mountain Leader Training Board who only recently came onto our Executive Committee and with whom we have developed an agreement outlining our respective areas of responsibility/ interest. I'd like MCofS to support more expeditions and international meets. There is nothing like learning from others with a different viewpoint and experience of mountains and mountaineering abroad. This is the case whatever the standard at which one operates. I'd like to see BMC renamed as the Mountaineering Council for England and Wales and a new UK Mountaineering Council, with equal representation from the four nations, set up. This is because there is considerable confusion about what is English and what is British and in four years of writing letters to the BMC I have never felt that this distinction has been properly understood, or more importantly felt. This is not just an issue for MCofS but for all Scottish "sports" bodies. I'd like the UK MC to run UK wide services for mountaineers such as Liability and Travel Insurance and distribute any surplus to the four nations accordingly. I'd like to see more women on our Executive committee. This AGM has seen a considerable improvement with two out of seven ordinary vacancies filled by women, but it is still only two out of seven. I hope the fact that both our vice-presidents are women will serve as an inspiration to other women to become involved. I'd like to see us have five staff and a larger office within three years. I'd like to see a more balanced approach to public funding of mountain safety initiatives. At present the vast majority of expenditure goes on avalanche prevention (over £100k) and only £21k for general safety work. While I am delighted that MCofS has now been given responsibility for managing this £21k, it is not a lot of money with which to make people more aware of safety issues - it will pay for one part-time officer and leave under £10k for leaflets, videos etc. A relatively small increase would make a big difference. I'd like to see more huts , particularly in those parts of Scotland not well covered at present. Deeside, Assynt and Coigach, Glenshiel, Creag Meagaidh and Glen Lyon spring immediately to mind. I'd like to see what litter there is in the hills disappear completely and for it to be made easier for people to learn about the mountain environment. I'd like to see MCofS continue to resist the expansion of bolted climbing in Scotland and indeed for us to have the confidence to take our ethics abroad and argue for bolt free zones in areas such as the Alps. No bolts in any Alpine national park would be a start. I'd like to see mountaineers alerting the general population about the evidence we see from year to year of glaciers receding and the very obvious threat of global warming. And, finally, as I promised to be brief, I'd like to see MCofS treated by the Scottish Parliament as part of civic society, recognised as representing mountaineers and being the body that is consulted and involved as a matter of course on all issues affecting mountaineers.
by Kevin Howett (with thanks to Bob Aitken)
Born : 12 December, 1929 Sandy Cousins, one of the founding fathers of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and its first Honorary Secretary from 1970 to 1978, died at North Connel on the 15th of May. He and his wife Moira had moved there from Glasgow to be near their daughter, her husband and their three young grandsons. But a rapidly wasting illness - probably derived from work with asbestos - tragically curtailed their intended retirement in the West Highlands. Sandy was never a hard technical climber, but an all-rounder of vast experience. A member of the Glasgow Section of the Junior Mountaineering Club of Scotland, of which he became President, and later the Scottish Mountaineering Club. His enthusiasm for the mountains knew no bounds. His exploits included a solo walk from Cape Wrath to Glasgow in 1971 in his usual relaxed and unassuming style. News of Sandy's death came to the office just before the final arrangements were being made for the 1998 annual general gathering. Outgoing President Nick Kempe consequently had the sad duty to report this at the AGM and gave a passioned tribute to Sandy's work over the years on behalf of mountaineers. I first met Sandy when he was re-elected onto the MCofS Executive Committee some 23 years after he had been so instrumental in its creation. Indeed back in 1970 he realised that the MCofS would need a secretary of drive and energy to achieve the objectives for which he had helped create it, and accepted the position himself. As Secretary for 8 years he was hugely industrious and efficient and set the MCofS on a good course. His second period of "Office" coincided with the 25th anniversary of the MCofS in 1995 and his enthusiasm for its work had not diminished. He took control of the small group tasked with arranging the celebrations for the anniversary and amongst other ideas he produced the car stickers which incorporated the original MCofS Logo from 1970. This was entirely fitting as he had drawn the original all those years ago - neatly shaped from an antler and with his own design for the logo lacquered into the butt - and this logo is one of his tangible legacies to the mountaineering community. We are still asked for copies now! He also did much to research the history of the MCofS and wrote the initial chapters of the, as yet, unfinished story. A much abridged and personal account was reproduced in the BMC's mighty historical tome 'The First Fifty Years of the BMC - a Political History', published in 1997, but the full, unabridged version was not completed in time for the MCofS's 25th celebrations. Only when this is complete will it become obvious to a wider public what fore-sight and hard effort Sandy contributed. We have reproduced Sandy's introductory passages in this Newsletter as a fitting tribute to his work with the MCofS. During the debate and lobbying the MCofS were confronted with in 1994 concerning the Aggravated Trespass Bill it was Sandy who captured the attention and imagination of the general public when he organised a photo-shoot for the press in the hills north of Glasgow. The resulting picture of a bekilted mountaineer, replete with goatee beard, dog and pipe in hand, defending the freedom of access and proclaiming the unjust content of this proposed law did more for our cause than any other single action. It is this image of Sandy that will be remembered by me and I expect by many others. Next time you see one of the car stickers in the back window of a car in a layby, remember that your freedoms to simply head off from there onto the hills are due in no small part to Sandy Cousins.
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