In reply to ebdon:
> I am surprised at the depth of feeling and the extreme alarm the motion has engendered even amongst seasoned volunteers of the AC, CC and of course, the BMC.
After all, it's not as if the MONC would do any damage to the BMC or anything! Not like volunteers who've worked for those organizations for years would know anything about it!
> Seeing the writing on the wall the BMC representatives stressed that, unlike competitive sports, the BMC was not and never would be a governing body but would always remain a representative body. This ethic, peculiar to climbing, was reinforced during subsequent years and appreciated by the Sports Council thanks to sensitive diplomacy and eternal vigilance.
> Fifty years on exactly, for all to see, the current Executive of the BMC lost their way, caving in to government pressure to re-brand and to be match fit to become more commercial without reference to the membership - a clear reversal from representation to out and out governance.
In what conceivable way are the BMC "for all to see" aspiring to become a "governing body" controlling climbing?
If it's "for all to see", what is the evidence of it? Show me how the BMC are trying to "control" my climbing. Show me.
Unless the evidence is supposed to *be* the attempted re-branding, because it was carried out "without reference to the membership" -- except of course for the bit where it was approved by the National Council and the bit where they went round to all the Area Meetings and listened and backed down -- and this proves that the BMC are now a ruthless dictatorship.
> Unfortunately I have no time to continue as I have to drive to Andover where I am doing a lecture for CAN this evening.
Gosh, what a pity! I'm sure if you'd had time, you would be able to point us towards a tiny shred of evidence!
> In regard to the AC's attitude to the motion of no confidence, it does seem a bit alarmist in suggesting that if the motion was to succeed it would lead to a year of chaos before a new executive could take over. This opinion is shared by other respected clubs and their officers who forget that the graveyards are full of those we once thought were indispensable.
The graveyards are also full of non-profit organizations that died when their reputations and credibility were tarnished.
I will repeat my previous statement that I think if the damage to the BMC was *only* a "year of chaos", it would be *miraculous*.
I'm also impressed that he concedes that "other respected clubs and their officers" agree with the President of the AC's position that it would be massively destructive, and just takes that as proof that they're wrong.
> Steve, in relation to Brian Smith's led paper on engaging with hill walkers, also makes the point that at the same time as the BMC was pushing the idea of "Climb Britain" it was also planning to attract some of the 2.4 million hill walkers into the BMC. So the BMC, it would seem, to survive must for ever increase its status and power - at one end of the spectrum from competition climbing and at the other from inducing everyone that intends to venture onto an incline into the organisation.
For everybody who's been proclaiming that the true British Mountaineering Council is all about everyone who does things outdoors and in the hills and it's these evil plastic-pullers who need to be ejected: here's Doug Scott being affronted at the idea that hill-walkers are part of the BMC's constituency. You're welcome.
Do you think he knows there are hill-walkers in the BMC already? Does he know they have votes?
> You can gather from the above that I will continue to support the motion of no confidence in the BMC's executive that was prompted by the attitude of the CEO of the BMC to the need for repairs at the Harrison Rock complex of ablution block
Wait, I thought the MONC was because of domain names? Now we find out that all along it's been about the toilets at Harrison's?
> Nick did a good job there as he and the majority of the BMC executive and volunteers have done in many other areas that have helped to preserve the best traditions of mountaineering for future generations.
"They did a good job. Let's spit in their faces and make them resign."
Sorry if I've hit inappropriate levels of sarcasm here, but this whole thing is such a ... petty, destructive, deceptive, grudge-fuelled, *dishonourable* piece of nonsense, coming from people some of whom I had great respect for.