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News about GOC

This page is to tell you news about GOC and our activities - visit here regularly to see what's new.

GOC’s Annual General Meeting will be held at Nethy Bridge on Saturday 29 May and we now invite members to submit nominations and resolutions. The club’s committee is elected in full at the AGM each year, and any club member is entitled to stand for election. Any club member can propose a resolution for debate at the AGM, as long as he or she also has the support of eight other members.

Full details of the AGM and how to submit a nomination or resolution are at www.goc.org.uk/events/aog/agm.

Every GOC member is entitled, and encouraged, to get involved in the club in some way - by leading an event, helping to run a group or serving on the national committee. You can read about how you could help in the 'Get Involved' page under 'About Us' in the main menu.

In particular we are looking for members to fill two vacancies which will come up on the committee at the AGM and are the Secretary and the Events Officer. Details of those posts are at www.goc.org.uk/about/involvement/vacancies.

The annual report for 2009 has now been published in Outdoors and online - Members can read this at www.goc.org.uk/information/report2009.

As a member's club we endeavour to give every member a full account of what is happening in your club. That includes the club finances which are currently being inspected by an accountant and will be published as soon as they are finalised.

The Annual Outdoor Gathering is our largest event of the year, at which members from around the country meet up for a weekend of outdoor activities and socialising. The 2010 AOG will take place at Nethy Bridge in the Scottish Highlands between Friday evening 28th May and Tuesday morning 1st June (Spring Bank Holiday).

The village of Nethy Bridge is situated in the Cairngorms National Park which offers superb opportunities for walking of all grades, wonderful cycling (both on and off road), and other activities such as rafting or canyoning. It is likely that many people will stay in the area for an extended period to enjoy all the attractions and the accommodation will be available for that.

Bookings are now open and are limited to 100 people – in previous years about 200 have attended so spaces will fill up quickly and prompt booking is recommended. Further details are at www.goc.org.uk/events/aog.

BBC presenter Clare Balding recently went on a walk with the North Wales group and recorded a programme for the Radio 4 programme Ramblings. This was the result of a lot of hard work by Pete Burling and a good crowd of GOC members turned up on a cold and wet day to walk a beautiful part of the Anglesey coast. The programme resulting from this visit, containing interviews with many of the members, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February. To read about the event, see photos of it and listen to it, go to www.goc.org.uk/groups/northwales/ramblings.

In September Martin Walker and David Bassi celebrated the conquering of their last Munro - Ben Lomond.

"It's taken seven years and for our last summit we were joined by friends and family. They helped us celebrate this achievement - and appropriately our 25th anniversary - with champagne and whisky."

Martin and David will carry on though - exploring the islands, other hills and perhaps revisiting some of their favourite Munros on really fine days.

The Munros are the peaks in Scotland above 3,000 feet (about 1,000 metres). Anyone who ascends all of them is known as a Munroist; many GOC members have achieved that, including our patron Lord Smith.