Author: Tim Taylor

As we approach the winter climbing season, we have been giving careful thought to finding some way of getting Craigallan open for limited use during these difficult circumstances.  A number of Committee Members have helped to make this possible and we hope that the Club may benefit from what is on offer.  The Committee has approved plans for a limited opening of Craigallan.  In order to allow for a 72 hour gap between bookings, the hut will normally be available from 12 noon on Thursday to 12 noon on the following Monday.  If there are no other demands on the hut, it may be possible to extend a visit but priority will be given to the above schedule built around weekend visits.  At present only one household may use the hut at a time.  The Risk Assessment and Conditions of Use have been prepared for a maximum of two households known to and trusted by each other so that this can be allowed if the law changes.  In addition, up to four self-contained campervans with no access to the hut will be able to use the car park but bookings must be made through the Warden.  No “on spec” visits[…]

A number of the Club’s officers have been working through the problems of accommodating to the circumstances in which we now operate, what adjustments there need to be to recognise those and how we might begin to have a programme of activities.  That the ground shifts constantly is well illustrated by the announcement last Thursday of added restrictions in Greater Manchester and parts of Yorkshire. An adjustment unaffected by that is a change in Club admission requirements. Given the suspension of all Meets, the Committee has agreed that the three Meets rule should be waived for the foreseeable future. As a result, potential new members need to find two current members who will propose and second a Membership application. More information and the application form can be found at https://test.rucksackclub.org/who-we-are/join-us/. With that adjustment a number of new members have been recruited since lockdown occurred…we look forward to further appropriate applications coming in. The Club’s Hut Wardens, Andy Llewellyn, Andy Tomlinson and John Farrow met – virtually – Monday evening to look at the issue of day Meets and reopening the Huts for albeit limited use. After considerable discussion, they concluded that the current policy of suspending the meets programme and[…]

  The Committee has considered what to do about opening the huts and starting up the meets programme.   At the present time, the huts remain closed and the meets programme suspended.   If you want to know why, John Farrow (the secretary) has prepared a note which appears below.   We all want a return to some kind of normality but, just right now, the Committee do not feel it is the right time.   For the moment we feel obliged to double lock the hut access doors to prevent unauthorised entry. The situation is under review all the time.   We will keep you posted.    Thank you for your understanding.   John Farrow writes: Here is my view of where we are with the huts and is supported particularly by the Wardens.   I think the most important question to be resolved before we do anything is what cover the policy we buy through the BMC – Combined Liability Insurance – provides – or doesn’t – where a Club hut is the vector for Covid-19 and an individual is damaged, possibly permanently, or indeed dies. If one of us drops a rock on someone’s head we are[…]

The Secretary writes: [An update] Or rather a re-statement of the current position which is that the huts are closed, buildings and car parks, until the Committee has concluded how they may safely be brought back into albeit limited use in line with the three English, Welsh and Scottish governments’ differently expressed rules and guidelines. Two reasons for that, one less obvious, one not.  The buildings have stood empty long enough for the possibility of legionella bacteria to have accumulated in the water systems which need appropriate cleaning.  Any unregulated use of the buildings will continue to carry the risk of transfer of the Covid-19 contagion.   The BMC has just issued guidelines for re-opening huts.  The Committee must digest those before coming to a conclusion about allowing a level of use of the huts, certainly restricted for the foreseeable future.  Each of them, designed as they are as communal areas, presents its own problems.  Anyone wishing for a copy of the BMC paper should email me. [Or use this link.]