He refers of course to the BMC, he continues "In my first year as president I have been deeply impressed that the BMC actually works and does not need much fixing."

The work the BMC does for us; climbers, mountaineers, hill walkers and ski mountaineers is broad and specific, and ranges from providing the popular BMC insurance, all important access and conservation work, lobbying the government, training, youth, competitions, very important safety and technical gear-head work, safeguarding our rich climbing heritage (check out www.mountain-heritage.org), top notch guidebook and map work, climbing education, producing the much-acclaimed Summit magazine and on and on......not forgetting free butties at area meetings and free beer at events like the one last week at Tremadog, North Wales.

You can find out more about the BMC and the work they do in a very detailed annual report now online and available here: (one click away)

You can also look at the inner financial workings of the BMC in the 2006 BMC accounts also available (one click away) and find out detailed answers to such questions as: Where do they get their money from? Individual subscriptions are the cash cow. How much goes on salaries? A lot. How much do the guidebooks make? It's getting better. Is the insurance profitable? Yes and may increase.

Last years income was £1.8 million with an expenditure of £1.7 million. All in all the BMC does look healthy and is providing the climbing community with a great return. Of course opinions will differ in this conclusion. One thing is clear, Dave Turnbull, BMC CEO and his team (27 staff members and hundreds of volunteers) are doing a great job and are considered the best team that have served British Climbing.

In other BMC news, this year's BMC AGM will be held at Plas y Brenin in North Wales over the weekend of Friday 20 April to Sunday 22 April, with the main meetings and annual dinner taking place on Saturday 21 April. The AGM lasts a few hours then it's fun, fun, fun...more details here.