In reply to UKC Articles:
Plagiarism? I'm sure I've seen a very similar article in the Peak Area newsletter and on UKB ?
I'd agree with most of the content (with a few exceptions below) and certainly welcome the discussion. It would be good to see even more members get involved in BMC democracy after two very large increases in the last 2 years (partly fired up by a Motion of No Confidence and then last year an 'Option' argument about how Board led the members wanted the organisation to be).
On my issues:
Firstly it hints towards the 'what did the romans ever do for us?' joke, without listing some of the most key functions. To most members access is the number 1 factor they join and there is no mention of The Access and Conservation Trust, an internal charity owned within the BMC that fully works on access and conservation. It also misses the crags owned by the organisation and the Mountain Heritage Trust the favorite BMC charity for the history buff. If people don't even realise these charity aspects exist in the BMC how can they donate or volunteer to help?
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-access-conservation-trust
https://www.mountain-heritage.org
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmc-owned-and-managed-sites
Secondly, I'm not convinced of a competition sub-division, certainly not in the next year or so, unless sponsorship opportunities are significant... such structures increase costs and reduce flexibility. The vast majority of the UK BMC run competitions are highly reliant on BMC volunteers and parent volunteers (overlapping sets) and from my volunteering experience seem to need more help (please contact the BMC direct or your BMC Local Area Youth Rep if you can assist). Any changes need to be carefully thought through following on from the ODG governance workstream conclusions after looking into this: the last thing we need is sponsored comps that can no longer motivate volunteering.
Finally the BMC is a complex beast in a period of significant chance and that needs all the leaders to step up, not just the CEO but also the President, Chair and the other Board members and in that to ensure the Articles of Association, resource and staff management, volunteer management and support (most BMC work is done by 1000+ volunteers), and organisational communications are right, on behalf of the membership. The Board and whatever the National Council becomes need to work in step to ensure this leadership is both effective and what the members broadly want.