Three cheers for everyone who showed up for the AGM, especially those who were brave enough to participate in the informal discussion on trips, vans and the club nights. We welcome feedback on anything to do with running the club so feel free to talk to a committee member on a Wednesday night or send an email.
I’m really keen to meet people who have joined the club over the last couple of years. Don’t wait for me to approach you, hunt me down! I’m usually skulking round the kitchen or up the back near the door. I’m bound to pay attention if you say something particularly memorable such as “I’d like to lead some trips for the club” or “I’m happy to be the club secretary” or “I’d like to be the promotions officer”. Please spread the word that we are still looking for a couple of people to join us on the committee. We can get loads more done and have a better functioning club with a full committee. If you aren’t up for that kind of impact you can always check out our fabulous new look website. Click on the “contributing” tab, top right, for an up to date list of stuff that needs to be done and who to contact.
Tramping trips are the heart of WTMC. If we didn’t run trips we’d soon run out of oxygen, membership would dwindle, we’d have to sell the vans etc. The winter trip schedule is up on the website. Big thanks to those of you who have committed to lead trips. If you have been on more than five or six trips with the club it’s time for you to think about whether you have what it takes to lead trips. This is not a job for everyone but we have noticed a distinct lack of new faces in the trip leader line up. This needs to change if the club is going to continue to offer a good mix of trips each weekend.
We are thinking about running a leadership course to give people the confidence to lead trips. We are wondering what other barriers there are to trip leading. If you are keen to pick up some trip leading skills or can enlighten us as to why people shy away from leading trips get in touch with Amanda or Richard or . We’re keen to hear from experienced leaders who may be able to help with training, mentoring trip leaders or generally providing assistance with aspects of trip running. For example, it would be good if someone had time to implement some of the great suggestions we got at the AGM such as designing and running a survey to help us find out what stops people leading trips.
Winter means lots of snow, hopefully, so remember to book your spots at the club lodge. The new electronic booking system will be up and running from 1 May. Any queries you can always contact Eric at . In May we run our annual Lodge working bee and food stocking weekend. This is a great opportunity for members keen to help out with running the Lodge to learn how everything works and meet the Lodge team. You can sign up at the clubrooms or talk to Brian or Colin. Be in quick as places are limited.
If you want to get into trans-alpine tramping we have our Snowcraft course coming up in August. The trip sheet is up at the clubrooms now or you can email , talk to Jenny or Steve or check out the website. Also, watch out for Jenny’s promotional slideshow.
Finally, thanks once again to Hans and Mika for running Bushcraft 2. Mika even staged a partial drowning to see if participants knew what to do – that is dedication for you! Also, a friendly reminder that Sarah is happy to publish club related notices in the newsletter so long as you take responsibility for writing them.