KMC 80th Anniversary Annual Dinner

Celebrations started with a splash, as Midge and a few others (with dry land support crew) went for a spellbinding moonlit dip in the Padarn.  Dave Shotton toughed it out in his budgie smugglers, the rest of us wore varying amounts of neoprene.  Coloured floats containing torches created a magical atmosphere as we swam out into the lake.

The moon came out for a few seconds as we got changed, and all returned to the bar at the Vic for a drink and a chat – no mulled wine available sadly, but good to meet up with the other early guests.  Thanks to Midge for an invigorating start to the weekend!

Saturday morning started with torrential rain, clearing a little by 10 so six of us set off to climb Snowdon via the Snowdon Ranger path.  Visibility was awful and Midge and Graham (who had been consistently picking wet days for his walks for ages), decided to head back to the Pantri when we got to the col.  The rest of us plodded up through the mist, happily being caught up by Roger and Bridget after a while.  We made it to the summit, had our photo taken as evidence then trudged back down to the Vic (and up again to Ty Powdwr in Dave W’s case) for hot baths and a change.  Sean, Jo and Jared set off to do a route on Tryfan in the morning, but the north face was streaming wet so they scrambled over Bristly Ridge before heading back.

41 people sat down for dinner – Jim Gregson delivered a lovely message with warm congratulations from ex-president and longstanding KMC member Dennis Gray.  Our after-dinner speaker Andy Halley gave an inspiring talk about his work with Urban Uprising, a charity which uses rock climbing to build resilience, social skills and physical health for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.  UU don’t operate in Manchester at present, but have teams of volunteers in several locations around England and Scotland – if you want to know more about them https://www.urbanuprising.org/ is the website, you can make donations via this page too.

After dinner our raffle raised £210 Which will be donated to Urban Uprising – thanks to Phoebe and Craig for selling tickets and running the raffle, and everyone who donated gifts, particularly Jim Gregson who brought some really covetable prizes. 

When the last of Sheena Hendrie’s old guidebook collection had been taken, we moved to the lounge for some relaxing chat and a haiku poem/caption competition.  There isn’t enough room here to print all the winners (or the random rude poems about Andy S and Jim S, who seem to be inspiring subjects for poetry), but my favourite haikus on the subject of “Type 2 fun” and “Ty Powdwr” were:

 

Type 2 Fun ("Team One"):

Moonlit dark cold lake

Brave souls swim lit by torches

Tingling hands and feet

 

Ty Powdwr (Sue and Pete):

Damp, moist and homely

But enough about the guests

And no snoring please!

 

And here’s one which started well but didn’t follow any of the rules at all (by Jim, Sue and Phillippa)

There was an old couple like Batman and Robin

But one was Craig and the other Colin

They had type 2 fun on an ice fall

One had a ball, the other a fall.

 

Thanks to all who came along, the location of next year’s dinner is not yet fixed but will not be Wales – if you have any ideas for great venues, let me know!

 

Christine Beeston