NMC Committee Minutes Tuesday 7th March 2017 Attending Andrew Shanks (AS), Felix Larieu(FL), Radoslaw Florczak(RF), Adrian Wilson (AW), John Spencer(JS), Steve Blake (SB), Megan Denman-Cleaver(MDC), Emma Smith(ES), Claire Robertson(CR), Camilla Mapstone(CM), Craig Harrison (CH)
1
2
Apologies Joe McCarty(JMcC), Joe Rudin (JR), Eva Diran (ED)
Approval of Minutes of last meeting Minutes approved
3
Action Points and Matters Arising •
RF reports that the new T-shirts are ready and he plans to begin selling them to club members at the meets on Wednesday the 8th
•
CR reported that it would be possible to track traffic to the websites thenmc.org.uk and northumberlandclimbing.com ◦
•
4
CH reports that Chris Hayworth has volunteered to run an Assynt meet on a nonbank holiday weekend that would require a three-day weekend and wants an indication of likely numbers ◦
AW recommends initially booking 6 places
◦
The committee agreed to book 8 places following an update from FL and CH
◦
The meet will be publicized via email and the newsletter
Handbook Issues •
5
StB asked if it would be possible to track views of material posted to issu, CR will investigate
AW notified the committee that the handbook had gone to the printers, costing £174 for 220 copies
Guidebook Issues •
StB reports that the different contributors to the Wired guidebook have agreed to subcontract layout work to Don Sergeant to ensure a consistent style ◦
StB reports that a representative of Cordee was at the Wired guidebook meeting and believed that the Northern Rock guidebook could sell as two volumes
•
StB reports that so far there is only one volunteer for the NMC guidebook subcommittee and that he will put out a call for volunteers on Facebook
•
The extent of regrading that may be required was discussed
•
StB reported that a number of crags were being re-photographed with drone photography
•
StB reported that he had multiple redundant copies of the guidebook material
•
JS proposed that the more traditional crags be revisited for action photos
•
CH asked about the timescales and key deadlines for the guidebook process ◦
•
6
StB reported that the official deadline for the Wired Northern Rock guidebook is a year from now, but he believes that two years from now would be an optimistic estimate of when it could be completed
StB reviewed the current guidebook position for the club ◦
The Wired Northern Rock guide is part of a collaborative effort from clubs to compete against Rockfax
◦
The club is still able to sell the existing guides, and StB believes there is scope for compiling newly discovered boulder problems into a Bouldering Guide volume 2
◦
StB raised the possibility that the club's book production resources may be better directed towards something other than a guidebook to mark the club's 75th anniversary ▪
StB proposed collaborating with Mark Savage
▪
StB reiterated the need for the guidebook subcommittee
AoB •
The North East Festival of Walking and Climbing is due to occur in the third week of June and the NMC will be supporting
•
StB has been working with the new BMC access officer on access to Heckley
•
MDC reported that the RAD database was discussed at the BMC regional meet, with problems synchronising the RAD database with UKC being reported ◦
The BMC has funding for two safety techniques courses, one of which is to be run at the festival and the other to be run north of the Tyne. MDC suggested that it be run around the end of April
◦
The proposed course is to feature two instructors over two days with attendees turning upon an ad-hoc basis
◦
The Brit Rock and Banff film festivals were discussed
◦
The BMC agreed to increase the cost of membership by £1 per member for affiliated clubs and £2.50 for individual members
•
StB reported that Simon Lichfield has replaced John Puncheon as the BMC North East chairman
•
Uncertainty over the role the BMC would play in future was discussedCH volunteered to create Facebook events for the Wednesday night meets
•
StB raised the issue of difficulties experienced holding meets at Northumria University's climbing wall ◦
•
FL proposed that the club make more use of Sunderland Wall
StB proposed replacing the upcoming Northumbrian University meet with a meet at Sunderland wall
10
•
The NMC will run a learn to lead course in conjunction with the new members' meet
•
AW will offer places on the new members' meet to new members a week in advance of anyone else
•
The handbook has been updated with additional guidance on the responsibilities of meet leaders
•
AW proposed adding more honourary members ◦
a dedicated session would be needed to decide whom the club should offer honourary membership
◦
adding new honourary members would require a change to the club constitution
•
AW proposed changing the date on which membership fees are paid to the end of January in order to better synchronise with the BMC
•
FL reports that the bank is currently in the process of adding him to the NMC account and he expects that to be completed within the week
•
MDC proposed that the NMC produce club stickers that could be put on water bottles ◦
StB mentioned that the club had distributed badges in the past and suggested that the club could look into other memorabilia
◦
The proposed design for the sticker is the club logo with the name and website URL
◦
AW and MDC will investigate the stickers
◦
CH proposed that members bring suggestions for memorabilia production to the next meeting
Next Meeting •
Tuesday 4th April