New Members Meet 18-19 September 2021

Trips & Meets
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New Members Meet September 2021

We are delighted to be holding our first New Members Meet in 2 years this September! Places are strictly limited to 25 people, based on a 1st-come-1st-served basis.

If the meet is oversubscribed we will prioritise new/prospective members who have not been on a meet before.

If the meet is oversubscribed we will also need to ensure we have enough suitably experienced members around to take new/prospective members out.

Please sign up on the spreadsheet linked below.

New Members Meet 18-19 September 2021

Dates: 18-19 September

Location: NLMC cottage near Betws y Coed, North Wales. Sleeping bag, towel etc needed. Free for members, Ā£6 p/n for guests

Transport: car shares, most people drive up on Friday after work, some drive up Friday morning for maximum climbing pleasure. Then drive back to London Sunday eve

Food: communal meal Saturday evening, communal breakfasts, please bring your own food for all other meals. Depending on when you arrive on Friday, you can get dinner at the local pub. The cottage kitchen is fully equipped with fridge/cooker/microwave etc.

Whoop!

Holly

NLMC New Members Sec

NB: if you are new to the club you will need to climb with us on a Monday evening at the Castle before the meet, so we can ensure minimum safety & skills are met.

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@bobf - Still able to make it?

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HollyP,

How do I arrange a meet at the Castle? Iā€™m up north this coming Monday but could make the next one.

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Definitely - looking forward to it!
Iā€™ll sign up in the spreadsheet.

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Hi Matt, you can post on the Castle thread in the ā€˜At the Wallā€™ section. Iā€™m hoping to be there the week after next too so will post there if Iā€™m going.

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Should there be a requirement that all attendees be double vaccinated?

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As pro-vaccine as I am, Iā€™m not sure as a club itā€™s our place to ask that of people (correct me if wrong, committee?). There are some who may not be old enough to have had both yet, and some may have health reasons meaning they canā€™t have it, and I feel like it could be seen as discriminatory and that itā€™s not really our business. I get where the request is coming from, and totally sympathise, but I have a feeling we probably canā€™t be asking that of people

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Itā€™s a tricky one. I suppose all the club can do is ask people to think carefully if they want to spend a weekend in a small building with others who may be carriers of the virus, albeit unwittingly. I wouldnā€™t risk it.

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Lottie is right, we canā€™t do that as a club and it is down to personal choices really.

Paul wrote up the club position with the cottage reopening, which hasnā€™t changed and the Committee is limiting the meet to a much smaller number of people as previous ones got to 40-50.

Probably worth restating the club expectations in terms of COVID precautions etc.

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In opening the Cottage we expect all members to abide by the following, which are in line with current BMC advice on managing Covid risk:

-Do not use the Cottage if you, or anyone in your household, either has symptoms of Covid-19 or has tested positive, or is being advised by the NHS to self-isolate.

-When arriving at the Cottage you MUST sign in (this was already a rule, but it is now especially important that we follow it).

-When at the Cottage practice good hygiene, e.g. regular washing and sanitising of hands.

-Please ventilate the property by keeping windows open when possible (this is a key piece of advice the BMC are emphasising as a risk reduction factor).

-If you test positive for Covid-19 after using the Cottage please inform Paul Sagar ASAP so that he can work with track and trace to alert other Cottage users.

Ultimately, the decision to use the Cottage is a personal one, and each of us must exercise personal judgement in weighing the potential risks involved. But as climbers, hopefully we should all already be used to that kind of thing when heading to Wales!

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Sensible advice. Doubtless if I were 21 Iā€™d risk it. At 71 I wonā€™t. Iā€™ll go to huts run by the big clubs (CC and FRCC) as they still have very strict policies on numbers.

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In this case there is a request for experienced members to come along to take people out.
It isnā€™t unreasonable in this case for them to expect others to be doing the responsible thing and be double jabbed.
Otherwise, why bother to volunteer time.

The prospective new members donā€™t have to attend. Itā€™s all for their benefit. The least they can do is ensure they are socially responsible and double jabbed. (With the exception of those with a genuine medical condition that prevents it. - and from that group of people, the number who are likely to want to attend is small.)
If they do indeed have a condition, they should be telling someone and producing evidence. How can the club ensure that appropriate measures are in place unless they know.

The cottage at night is hot, humid and has a lot of people crammed together (even with reduced numbers). Not ideal for minimising infection transmission of an airbourne virus.

Infection rates have rocketed. Someone might (stress might) not die or end up in hospital, but why risk getting laid up for a couple of weeks to take a strange novice climbing - with all the responsibility that entails - if the sensible thing to assure your safety isnā€™t being followed.

I hope it all goes well.

Matt

| Mark_W NLMC Committee Member
1 September |

  • | - |

In opening the Cottage we expect all members to abide by the following, which are in line with current BMC advice on managing Covid risk:

-Do not use the Cottage if you, or anyone in your household, either has symptoms of Covid-19 or has tested positive, or is being advised by the NHS to self-isolate.

-When arriving at the Cottage you MUST sign in (this was already a rule, but it is now especially important that we follow it).

-When at the Cottage practice good hygiene, e.g. regular washing and sanitising of hands.

-Please ventilate the property by keeping windows open when possible (this is a key piece of advice the BMC are emphasising as a risk reduction factor).

-If you test positive for Covid-19 after using the Cottage please inform Paul Sagar ASAP so that he can work with track and trace to alert other Cottage users.

Ultimately, the decision to use the Cottage is a personal one, and each of us must exercise personal judgement in weighing the potential risks involved. But as climbers, hopefully we should all already be used to that kind of thing when heading to Wales!

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Well I am super psyched and have signed up :partying_face: Keen to get out, happy to head out with someone. Thanks for organising!

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My view is that nationally we have done the vaccine drive and from this point on we have to learn to live with the virus.

That involves accepting that you may come in to contact with people who arenā€™t double jabbed. It in turn means having to make personal risk assessments as to what kinds of activities you want to engage in. I and the committee totally respect the decision of anyone not to attend this meet (or any others). Volunteering is exactly that - and something for people to assess based on their own personal situation. My hope is that all club members who are eligible for the vaccine and who can safely receive it will have been jabbed already - thatā€™s just the socially responsible thing to do. But itā€™s neither legal not appropriate for the club to try and police such a thing. That is not our role.

Ultimately the club cannot be on hiatus forever, and more generally life has to go on. I appreciate that this means some people feel like they cannot participate at this stage. Iā€™m sorry for them that they may therefore feel excluded. But it doesnā€™t follow that everybody else has to suspend activities also. As Mark said above, we all have to make our own risk assessments based on our own circumstances from now on, and a blanket stopping of club meets and hut use is on balance no longer appropriate - hence why the new members meet is going ahead

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Hey - so not a new member by any means, but its been a fair few years since Iā€™ve done anything with the club and would love to get involved again. Would it be possible to come along/register my interest?

Cheers,
Omar

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Of course :blush:

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The vastly differing responses of the NLMC and CC committees to what (I assume) is the same advice from the BMC and the same guidance from the BMCs end insurer is, I have to confess, something I find curious. In a fairly idle and disinterested way, I should say (I make little to no use of any climbing huts at the minute, so itā€™s not currently particularly important to me)ā€¦

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Weā€™re following BMC advise. CC seems to me so be doing its own thing. My guess as to why would be to start with the question: how old do you reckon the average CC committee member is?

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Not sure how old CC committee members are. Certainly not in their 20s. The President is maybe 50 or 60. FRCC much older. Young people are much much less averse. I certainly was. Immortal of course, as old young people are.

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Iā€™m obviously not privy to their discussions, but from reading the email communications it very much reads as ā€œthis is whatā€™s requiredā€ (more as a result of the clarification by the insurer of what they think is required, it seems) not a ā€œweā€™re going above and beyondā€ - i.e. I suspect they would think ā€œweā€™re following BMC (insurers) adviceā€ the same as you have. It may be that age makes one read the same requirements differently, as you say, which has interesting consequences in terms of which clubs people will prefer if it continues longer term.

Anyway, I am dragging this rather off topic, so my apologiesā€¦