First Ever GMC Meet

The club celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. Well actually I only found out two days beforehand, and that was by coincidence via non-related correspondence with one of our life members (thanks Brian Dunt!), so perhaps not as much active celebrating as should have been the case. Anyways, I have secured a few photos from that first ever GMC meet, which wasn’t to Southern Sandstone, as you might have expected, but instead to the Isle of Arran.

I am trying to get more of the backstory to the meet as important questions remain, such as:

• How many members attended?
• Did they all fill out their introductory form beforehand?
• How come it was sunny, given it’s Scotland after all?
• Was any rock climbed?
• Was it climbed in flares and full ‘Saturday Night Fever’ attire?
• Was any beer drunk, and if so just what was the price of a pint back then?
• What level of GMC faff was there – and has it increased or declined over the years?
• What were our current members doing on Easter 1973 so that they missed the meet?
• What exactly happened on the Isle of Arran so that the club has, to my knowledge, never been back?!

If you have the answers, please get in touch. Meanwhile enjoy these historical, and indeed stunning photos…