Working meets are an important part of the club’s annual calendar, held in spring and early autumn each year. As a club we are very fortunate that we have two huts, but both buildings need regular maintenance, and although there is a lot of work carried out throughout the year, working meets are essential to make sure that the buildings are kept in good order, and allow us to carry out improvements at a reduced cost compared to paying professionals. The barn, which apparently once had the reputation of being ‘the scruffiest in North Wales’, is much improved in recent years, and although many members don’t get a direct benefit from this, it does mean that we can carry on getting in the barn bookings, and it is those rental fees that pay for the upkeep of both the Barn and Cottage, keeping membership fees down and making the cottage a viable ongoing asset.
The Autumn Working meet was held in early October and with a large turnout of both regulars and new members it was clear that we could tick off most of the jobs on the list, and hopefully still get out climbing on the Sunday. After breakfast on the Saturday the team of 15 or so members got stuck in to cleaning the huts straight off, and then it was all hands painting, filling, strimming, doing electrical work and carpentry, and log splitting and stacking for the rest of the day.
The barn was spruced up, with new rucksack storage racking built on the landing, as well as ply-boxing in the (very grim) water tank, and there was lots of work on the cottage, including the replacement and raising of the inglenook soffit which has made quite a difference to the front room.
Working meets are not all about the work, they are also a good opportunity to catch up with, and make, friends and the excellent communal meal on Saturday night, as well as breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday, gave an opportunity to catch up and make new climbing plans. It was also great to meet the new members who had come along and got stuck in.
The next major project is the re-roofing and sorting of the shed, with the aim of getting our third ‘property’ serviceable and water-tight, and functional as both a store for tools and materials, as potential storage for bikes, and for members who snore. We hope to get this done over the spring 2017 working meet.
The last two working meets have seen really solid attendance and a huge amount of work completed. Building on George Wilson’s tenure as Hut Warden we are maintaining -and improving- the buildings, and we’ve also been able to get out climbing on the Sunday once the jobs are done, something that I certainly hope will continue in future.
Many thanks to everyone who came along, and hopefully we’ll see more members in Spring for the next meet.
Chiz Harward
Hut Warden
Thanks to Manchi for the pictures!
