CYHA News

Well here we are, Christmas already and another year almost complete. A time for reflecting on the year gone by and to look forward to all the things we have planned for the future. See the back page for a summary of our AGM, a review of 2006, and committee changes to take us into 2007. Please note you do not have to be on the committee to come to committee meetings and we are always open to new ideas for a trip or event you think the group would enjoy.

I’m also running a little short of volunteers to write something for the newsletter and some fresh blood would be welcome. Articles don’t have to be long: a paragraph about an interesting night down the pub is just as good as a detailed review of a weekend away. It can even be interesting if several people write about the same thing – variety is everything. So if you want to stop me wittering on every month: get those articles rolling in!

Ali

Weekend at Thurlby

Circumnavigation of Rutland Water

A sunny November weekend saw us renting Thurlby hostel in Lincolnshire. One of the main attractions nearby(ish) is Rutland Water, the “largest man made lake in Western Europe” (actually Kielder is the larger by volume, but Rutland is largest by surface area).

The leaflet for Rutland Water boasts 25 miles of cycle paths around the reservoir, so we took our bikes off to Whitwell to start the epic circumnavigation.

You’d think following the shore of a large body of water would present few navigational challenges, but we quickly lost most of the group after they took the wrong exit from the car park.  They caught up with us at Normanton church, a church partly buried when the reservoir was constructed, but the upper part now forms a museum jutting out into the water.

In afternoon, those who were beginning to feel the affects of their saddles completed the circumnavigation by the direct route, while the keenest cyclists extended the ride out to the Hambleton Peninsula, and I settled down at the roadside to repair a puncture. But by sunset we were all back  to enjoy the final magnificent views over the reservoir.

Desperate for Tea

Sunday saw us walking by the River Welland from Stamford. Stamford, “the Finest Stone Town in England”, makes a fine view from the meadows and surrounding countryside, but is not the easiest place to find a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon! Most had given up and left before we found a coffee shop just as it was closing. They must have seen the look of desperation on our faces, so they served us tea and cakes anyway, which was most welcome.

Dave P

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Pyrenees

Thanks to Mike and Tom for the gorgeous slideshow of their recent trip to the Pyrenees. The scenery was stunning with glaciers, soaring peaks and high passes, plus mountain huts nestling in the high valleys.

The evening was made all the more interesting with the addition of a few slides from Lorna (who also visited the Pyrenees this Summer) followed by a dip into the Dave Plummer archive for his pictures from the 1990 expedition. This was accompanied by cries of “but they look so young” as pictures of Dave, Nigel, Lorna and Charmian from 19 years ago flashed up on the screen. It appeared that time may have been kinder to some of the Pyrenean mountain huts, which still seemed recognisable from Tom’s 2006 slides, but Dave claimed they had probably been re-built in the meantime – not an option for our treasurer!

 

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Christmas Card from Trudi in the Land of the Long White Cloud

Seasons Greetings – and apologies for the lapse in communication. I’ve left my address book at home!

We have settled down into a travel rhythm and Susan is coping admirably with my eccentricities! We are meandering along in a ‘Microcamper’ van (basically an estate car with a canopy) which enables us to reach places “proper” camper vans can’t reach! Domestic arrangements are challenging but standards haven’t dropped too far (yet!!).

We do seem to be the only people travelling at a sensible pace – everyone else is hurling themselves into things, off things or through things! The scenery is sufficiently exciting for us! We have been – almost literally – blown away by it at times, though we haven’t even reached South Island yet. So we believe the best is yet to come. I have said I will never complain about Scottish weather again (or midges!), we’ve experienced extreme everything already. At least we’re missing the English winter.

I hope you have a great time in Exmoor and look forward to catching up in the spring.

Loads of love to everyone,

Trudi x. (New Zealand, 11^th November)

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A Look Back at the Year…

 

Here is a brief summary of the 2006 AGM, anyone wishing to see the full minutes should request them from our Secretary, Dave Julian.

There was a slight hitch this year as we were one body short of a quorum. Our club constitution says we need a minimum of 12 people to vote on any motions raised, so after some beard scratching we decided to carry on with the meeting and ratify the voting at a later date when more people are present. This was duly carried out at the Pyrenees slide show on November 15th.

As is traditional we started with the acceptance of the minutes from the 2005 AGM then moved on to Jim’s roundup of the year.

The Chairman’s report started with a review of all the trips we’ve done since the last AGM. This includes the spectacular visit to the 400^th anniversary Lewis fireworks, the infamous winter vomiting trip to Glenbrooke at New Year and the perishingly cold trips to Ridgeway and Boulogne. By spring we were ready for a warm-up, but had to make do with a soggy visit to the New Forest where we became acquainted with several of the local hostelleries! Easter at Rydal Hall in the Lakes was fabulous and many people remarked on the excellent location and weather, but as we can’t have a major trip without some kind of challenge, the gas had been cut off so we were cooking on camp stoves. By May the weather was really beginning to warm up, so we celebrated with a trip to Shropshire plus the traditional Scotland trip at the end of the month. In Scotland the weather was so good Dave J literally had the legs walked off him! The hottest weather was reserved for June/July and had us roasting in Portland as England crashed out of the World Cup, and trying to pedal fast enough to generate a cool breeze in Castle Hedingham. August bank holiday saw us walking from hostel to hostel in the Malham area, a popular pattern we are likely to follow again in the future.

The trip of the year has to be the incredibly successful Ivinghoe trip to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the founding of Chelmsford YHA. It was a great event, well attended and with the welcome addition of some of the founder members – all looking a lot younger and fitter than we will in 50 years time!

Jim also mentioned the recent communications from YHA: the scary YHA closures list, the enforced breakfasts, and the threat to ban the use of our name. All in all it’s been an active year for the Chairman and Jim announced his intention to stand down to give someone else a chance at the reigns.

Dave J gave his Secretary’s report, revealing that membership has stayed pretty steady with 6 new members and 7 lapsed.  There were two births with Ester Hawkins and Hollye Dinmore joining our ranks; one marriage with Colin and Asha’s exotic splicing; and sadly one death with Rachel Joiner.

It was noted that the average attendance on trips had gone up with about 20 on each trip.

Dave P rounded off the reports by telling us the state of the groups finances. It turns out we made a slight surplus on last year, mainly due some cautious pricing on the Malham and Ivinghoe trips, but still tiny when you look at 870 bed nights on 14 trips away. We don’t have records for all the last 50 years, but if you had been on every trip since 1968, you would have been away at least 404 times.

In the food stakes we’ve consumed some 217 loaves of bread, 230 cans of baked beans and 700 sausages in the last year. The sausage count is down on last year and this may be the last year of meaningful sausage statistics as more and more of the hostels we visit have breakfast included.

Last year we thought we might need to raise subs again, but we can keep the rate at £18 for now and review next year.

The 2005 accounts were approved by the appointed auditor and it was proposed Dave J should be appointed auditor for 2006 as well.

With Jim standing down as Chairman and John leaving the committee we had to make a couple of changes. Mike was persuaded to stand as Chairman, but unfortunately we couldn’t persuade any new blood to join the committee. The remainder of the committee were re-elected without change.

Lastly there was a vote of thanks for John and Jim for all their hard work.

Anyone wanting to “try before they buy” is welcome to join us at any committee meeting. All meetings are listed in the newsletter and everyone is welcome.