Dundee University Rucksack Club

Minutes of Meeting 28/09/06, 8pm to 10pm

 

 

Present

 

Mhairi Martin

Julia Capper

Andrew McKenzie

Jon Bowyer

Sarah Brotherstone

Alan McCulloch

Miriam Brown

 

 

President’s Report

 

1.1  Munro Society

 

The club has received a letter from the Munro Society regarding a planned tribute to Sir Hugh Munro.  The 150th anniversary of his birth is on the 16th October, and they are hoping to celebrate this by asking climbers in Scotland to ascend a Munro between the 14th and 16th October 2006.  A transcript of this letter will be sent to club members by Miriam.

 

1.2  Motor Insurance

 

Queries have arisen regarding the Zurich Municipal policy held by the sports union, part of which states that the buses aren’t insured “while the vehicle is let on hire.” Mhairi will look into the matter. If drivers are not insured for this weekend Enterprise Insurance will be taken out. 

 

1.3  Membership

 

We have a very healthy membership so far this year, we will have to be careful not to go over our limit of 30% non-university members because there’s been a lot of interest in that sector. 

 

There have been some delays in getting all of the new members signed up to the forums, however, Jon is dealing with this as quickly as possible. Most paid-up members should now have been subscribed. Others can subscribe themselves by following the instructions on the website.

 

1.4  E-mails

 

Some people who are subscribed by e-mail to the forums have said that they have only received some of the messages that have been posted. There can be different reasons for this, such as:

 

a. Members may not be signed up to both DURC-chat and DURC-announce.

 

b. Members may have been signed up to both DURC-chat and DURC-announce but may have their personal options set to receive only the DURC-announce messages by email. This is the default setting for all new members except those who subscribed manually themselves. Members can change their subscription options by following the  instructions on the DURC website - see bottom of http://tinyurl.com/q3zxs)

 

c. Junk Mail and Spam filters can block out DURC messages believing them to be spam. This includes the Groupwise system (the university e-mail service). This can be fixed by members configuring their spam filters to allow DURC messages.

 

If anyone is having trouble they should contact Jon (there is a webmaster contact form on the site in case anyone needs to get in touch who doesn't know his email address). He will then be able to follow up specific queries   individually

 

1.5  Fuel

 

Confusion appears to reign supreme as to how much fuel should be put back into union minibuses and why.  Mhairi will look into this.

 

1.6  One-Outdoors

 

We have been asked to put a link to this website on our own and we shall do this.  It won’t do us any harm and may be useful for people looking for gear.

 

 

Vice-President’s Report

 

2.1 Gear Night

 

A gear night at Craigdon has been organized for Friday 20/10/06.  Members will get 20% off everything as long as we send a full minibus of people.  (One feels Julia’s determination to organize this is not entirely altruistic.)

 

2.2 Mountain Rescue

 

Mountain rescue will give a lecture on 22/11/06

 

2.3 Safety and Good Practice Seminar

 

The club will subsidise this so that it’s not extortionate for members on the assumption that people will be camping.  Anyone who wants to make use of the plush facilities can pay £20 a night for B and B.

 

Meets Secretary

 

3.1 E-mail

 

An e-mail was sent this morning regarding the weekend’s trip but no-one seems to have received it.  (It is the opinion of some that Andrew may have forgotten to press the send button.)

 

3.2 Strawberry Cottage

 

Andrew had an interesting conversation with the ranger of Strawberry Cottage who think we’re not coming (but we are because we have the keys, and the confirmation letter and our cheque has been cashed.) 

 

The ranger was rather assertive about where people should walk for two reasons.  Firstly, there will be deer stalking on Saturday and it would be unfortunate if someone got shot.  Secondly, he doesn’t want the deer to be chased away for Monday.  So… we can walk on the North and Eastern hills but not South or West.

 

3.3 Route Co-ordinators

 

The Fresher’s trip was very successful and (in a somewhat pompous and VERY official manner); the committee would like to thank all those who co-ordinated routes, this was much appreciated.

 

3.4 Buses/Climbing

 

As we have idle buses every second Saturday and many eager climbers in the club it is proposed that semi-official climbing trips are organised.  These would be to places like the Glasgow Climbing Centre.

 

Treasurer’s Report

 

4.1 Grant

 

We have been allocated a grant of £1300. Mhairi and Jon are working with the SU to try and get this paid directly into our account rather than us having to claim individual expenses from it.

 

4.2 Members

 

There is dubiety as to whether or not two members have paid their subscriptions, this is being sorted.

 

4.3 Cheques

 

Some cheques need to be signed, this will happen after the meeting.

 

Webmaster’s Report

 

5.1 Moderation of E-mail

 

Mhairi, Julia and Jon are moderators, if people abuse the system they will be removed from it.

 

5.2 Wallcharts

 

Drouthys can no longer get these printed for us free of charge so Jon will get 1 black and white, and 1 colour chart printed this will be shown to members who will order what they want.

 

Gear Secretary

 

6.1 Audit

 

The audit has been received from Alexei as of today!  Alan will look through this.

 

6.2 Rucksack

 

Alexei feels he is due £30 for a rucksack, purchased by him in replacement for one lost by a previous member.  The situation is somewhat complicated and it was felt that Katherine Fishwick perhaps knows a little bit more about it than the current committee members.  Therefore, Alan will talk to Katherine to attempt to clarify the situation. 

 

6.3 Gear Shortages

 

Alan suggested that 4/5 day sacks, 2/3 pairs of Waterproof Trousers and Jackets and several helmets would be a good addition to the gear store.   Mhairi will look into Tiso donating these things.  Tiso may also give us some dry-flo t-shirts for a possible bouldering team.

 

6.4 Fife person with kit

 

A generous person from Fife wants to donate rather a lot of kit to the gear store as he now no longer needs it.  We will look at it in the next committee meeting and only take things that won’t be dangerous (e.g. not climbing harnesses).

 

Social Secretary’s Report

 

7.1 Ceilidh Tickets

 

We will advertise on Hermes, Mhairi will ask the climbing wall people if they want to go.  Sarah will firm up with the band.

 

7.2 T-Shirts

 

Sarah will ring Image Scotland on Monday

 

7.3 Christmas Dinner

 

Lots of places have been consulted, we might even have an Indian this year!  Bar Rio seems the best place.

 

AOB

 

8.1 Drouthy’s Money

 

Sarah will speak to the manager as we still don’t have it.

 

8.2 Introduction to Climbing

 

Dates will be 11th, 19th and 25th October, Bob seems to be having some problems with e-mails so we’ll make sure he’s signed up to both forums.  Perhaps the lack of interest is partly due to hiccoughs with e-mailing.  All new members should soon be added so we can see if this makes a difference.

 

Date and time of next meeting: 7:30pm Tuesday 24th October 2006, Linden Lodge (Upper Flat) 24 Strawberry Bank.