LIKE last year’s Editor. I must apologise for the late appearance of this publication. However, I will not attempt any excuses. Certainly it is not due to any fault of Charles Elphick Limited, our printers, who we must thank for being impressively efficient and once again very helpful. Thanks are also due to Rob Collister for looking after the finances and to the contributors for their countless hours of labour.
The disappearance from Cambridge of our brillo pad eater, Bob Keates, completed the departures from the club of the more colourful characters of recent years. Consequently it has been a relatively quiet year with a lot of solid medium-standard climbing being done rather than anything spectacular. A disturbing feature is that it has all been done by second and third year people and, so far, few freshers have emerged as competent. A possible reason is that the Foot and Mouth outbreak wiped out many of the meets. It is encouraging that the support for the remaining meets has been overwhelming. As yet, the popularity of. the vac. meets has not been fully ascertained due to Footh and Mouth, although the Glencoe meet early in the New Year was well attended. This is the first time the meet has been held and it may well take a permanent place in the meets calendar. The current interest in Scottish winter climbing is reflected here. As usual though, the bulk of the climbing has been done in Wales and Derbyshire. The Lake District has yet again been neglected.
Some of the more respectable achievements of the past year appear in the notes so I will not comment here except to say that the credit for many of these goes to Gordon Macnair. We had the amusing spectacle of seeing various prospective seconds being hauled off to Derbyshire and given a trial on Stoney Middleton. Some were willing, some were strong, some were fit; but they all had one thing in common – they all fell off.
Sad to say the Alpine Meet never happened. It seems as though people preferred to venture out without the guidance of Bob Keates – and who can blame them! Joking apart, this is a serious matter, and it is to be hoped that this year’s meet will take place and be productive. Equally sad was the absence last summer of any expedition organised by club members in Cambridge. John Ashburner’s account, which appears earlier in this journal, describes an expedition organised in India involving only past members of the club. One of the heartening things this year has been the way ex-C.U.M.C. members have been doing so well. Dick Isherwood is .html notable example. Perhaps I ought to explain that Dick has rejoined the club, even though this is not really allowed by the constitution.
Turning to social matters. the 1967 Dinner was held in Selwyn and was a more sober affair than its counterpart of the previous year. General opinion was that it was all the more enjoyable and there was the additional advantage of being able to return to Selwyn in 1968. As usual a session of night climbing followed. After the start of the Foot and Mouth this became a popular activity along with pegging on the Cherryhinton tree.
An event has at last been found to replace the beer party. The Meets Secretary arranged a beer drinking contest against the Caving Club. As a hundred pints of bitter were stacked in front of them, the teams began to look a little apprehensive, but soon a merrier atmosphere pervaded the premises. Somewhat chaotically the honour of the club was upheld, and a thoroughly good evening was had by all.