Christmas Hut Meet 2013
Oggie Mountain Rescue telling us about their year
Saturday was a busy and varied day – groups were out doing sport climbing in the quarries, trad climbing on the classic Amphitheatre Buttress, scrambling, walking and high-roping on a surprisingly dry and nice day.
Anthony cooked us up a fantastic feast, including three meats and two vege options. He’d been slaving away each evening in the run up to the weekend, and then again all day in the hut, aided by Laura. They also greeted us in the hut with big steaming vats of mulled wine, and again later with special spirits. Simply superb. And in a first for mass mountaineering cooking everywhere, his timing was impeccable: he said it’d be ready to serve at 7pm and it was!
Anthony happy that he only needs to cook beans for breakfast…
Pauline from Ogwen Mountain Rescue came along again for dinner. It was great that she made time for us as she was also busy overseeing two rescue teams that were still out on the hill. She took us through some of the key events of their year, including Sooty the dog and owner (who had an elephant tatoo, but not like Big Rich’s) which hit the headlines earlier in the year. Thanks mainly to Claire’s efforts we were able to handover a cheque of £720 pounds, which when combined with £240 earlier in the year, and gift aid, takes us over the £1000 again. Well done!
A good turnout, with several faces not often seen on meet nowadays, including Tom, Big Rich, Helen, Ben and Louise. Not quite sure who ‘Disco Jason’ and his red-trousered men were, but they were very welcome and Bramble certainly enjoyed the cupcake off Jason’s face!
Tom and Paul had a “van off”. Whilst Paul’s is more homely in every way, Tom pulled out his ace in the form of a climbing girls calendar, made entirely respectable due to its charitable nature. However, Nuttall’s earlier question about “notches in the bulkhead” went uninvestigated…
There were a few early casualties, such as Colin (too much cider) and John (not enough cider). Lee put in a personal best. Tom and Andy had a “drink off” in the wee hours. The light of morning revealed that no man was left standing and no bottle was left undrunk. Even the oversized teapot of Nuttall-concocted mojito was empty.
A small sample of the large number of empties
Sunday seemed a bit tame in comparison. Big Rich wanted to go extreme and get to Pete’s Eats and V12. Catherine and Ollie rescued a sheep, before going on to conquer the Pinaccle Cafe sofas. Bramble went paddling in the river. And there was a mass outing up a hill no-one’s ever heard of – blame the Couplands’.
All in all, another excellent meet, and thanks again to those who made it happen.
If you missed it, make sure you attend the Guildford Christmas party on 21st Dec, Waterside Centre. Anthony is cooking a magnificent buffet as his final act as Social Sec, and there will be many forms of entertainment. Traditional to wear black tie/LBD, but wear what you want, or indeed wear nothing at all…