THE FUTURE OF THE OAC A message from Jack Williams, President of the Open Air Club: Following our Emergency General Meeting on the 21st January 2012 some pretty big decisions were discussed regarding the club’s future which I shall outline below. I apologise for what is probably unnecessary waffle, but I want to be clear to members on how we came to the decisions that we did. Emergency General Meeting After our meeting with the Guild on Thursday 19th January we were presented with two possible means in which the Open Air Club could continue running: 1) Amalgamate with Liverpool University Mountaineering Club (LUMC). This had been discussed previously in a meeting with Sport Liverpool (who run the LUMC) and the Guild, to which Sport Liverpool raised no objections. The possibility of us becoming our own separate Sport Liverpool club was dismissed on the grounds that we were non-competitive. 2) To set up our own internal test for potential leaders on trips. This would ensure the Guild could be confident that people leading trips had suitable experience and skills. This would also involve reviewing our risk assessment and all leaders gaining first aid qualifications. However this was still subject to being passed by the Board of Trustees at the Guild at their next meeting in March. Discussion of Options Both these options were debated at the EGM on 21st January. Also present at this meeting were the Captain (Tom Davis) and Secretary (Steve Hicks) of the LUMC. They stated how the LUMC also had no objections to a possible merger of the two clubs and welcomed the idea, thinking that both clubs would benefit. We explained to Tom and Steve our reservations in joining LUMC; namely the extra cost for membership (from £15 to £30 to allow for membership to Athletics Union) and that as a smaller club we were concerned that hill walking as an activity would not be properly represented. To this Tom outlined how the extra membership cost went straight to the club and how this was then invested in training and equipment. Being a Sport Liverpool club also allows for trips to be run at a reduced cost (approx. £20-£30 for a weekend as opposed to £45/£12 for a day as opposed to £15) and with more comprehensive insurance cover. Tom also suggested that as two combined clubs we would be in a stronger position to get more involved with activities such as winter walking in Scotland. The club would be in a better financial position to invest money into winter walking equipment and training etc. On the issue of representation within the club Steve assured us that representation would be guaranteed through hill walking specific committee positions within the club. There would also be distinct climbing and hill walking trips (with the possibility of combined weekends away). In terms of the possibility of the OAC setting up its own internal testing system and staying with the Guild it was recognised that this had no guarantee of being passed by the Board of Trustees. It has worked at other university hill-walking clubs and would allow the club to run along similar lines as it has for many years. However the club are growing increasingly frustrated with working with the Guild and feel it was no longer possible to maintain a positive working relationship with them. We listened in envy as the LUMC talked of their generally beneficial relationship with Sport Liverpool. On the issue of compulsory Mountain Leader Awards (MLs) the Guild are unrelenting as ever. This is a matter to do purely with their reputation if we were to have an accident on one of our trips. We clearly explained that if, in the unlikely chance that this was to happen, you would have the BMC’s support and that having an ML does not guard against the chance of having an accident. Furthermore, if you are worried about your reputation, in the eyes of the club and many other students your reputation is now in tatters following your recent actions. At no point did they consult the British Mountaineering Council on this matter despite our continual pressure for them to do so. Nor have they allowed us to represent ourselves at Board of Trustee meetings where these decisions were made, or even get the minutes from these meetings. It is increasingly the feeling of the club that the Guild no longer want us a society as we are so out of place with other societies which are typically religious, political etc. As they told us there is no longer anyone working in the Guild who has experience running “high risk” societies such as the OAC, unlike Sport Liverpool which supports such clubs on a daily basis. On the back of these issues the OAC committee no longer have any confidence in working with the Guild. The Vote With these points in mind a vote was taken of the members present on whether to amalgamate with the LUMC or push on with coming up with our own internal testing system despite this having no guarantee of being passed by the Guild Board of Trustees. The result of this was a majority vote to amalgamate with the LUMC. I want to ensure all members, both past and present, that this was not a decision taken lightly and the members present fully recognise the rich history of the club. In hearing of the support that we have had in the past few months from ex-members, we are fully aware of the enduring impact that the club has had on people for many years. This is a decision made with a lot of reluctance however we feel we have little choice. We have done everything possible to put on as much pressure as possible on the Guild to reverse their position including a petition with nearly 300 signatures. We have also gained the support of the BMC, Mountain Rescue and other university hill walking clubs across the country in the view that leadership awards are not compulsory. The Guild now actually recognises that this is not feasible, but they still will not back down. Even though the Guild should be there to represent students it has now come to the point that this is clearly not the case. Furthermore we feel this has the potential to be a beneficial move for both clubs. Students will have a more comprehensive experience of mountaineering as a whole with more scope to go both walking and climbing. At the end of the day the Open Air Club is about the activity of hill walking and it is the opinion of the members that this is the best way of ensuring that this activity is allowed to continue. Many of the details of this merger are still to be arranged and we will let you know as soon as possible once they’re outlined (a meeting has been arranged between the OAC, Sport Liverpool, and LUMC for 20th February). We will try to ensure that all fully paid members of the OAC are allowed to automatically become members of the newly merged Mountaineering Club or can get full refund on their membership for this year. If anyone wants to view their feelings on this, then by all means let us know (my email address is president@luoac.co.uk). We intend to be honest and open about any changes that occur (unlike the Guild). **** In early November The Liverpool Guild of Students (LGoS) carried out a review of "high-risk" society groups, a category which included the Open Air Club. We do not know the reason behind this review, indeed we can't think of any reason to question the safety of the OAC as we have an exemplary record. We are unsure as to who exactly is behind the decision process or what they based their recommendations on, and we find it hard to understand why they didn't consult us or take British Mountaineering Council advice. This isn't an issue solely of the OAC either, many other activity clubs are facing closure due to new requirements being imposed upon them by LGoS. On 22nd November we were told by LGoS that they think the activity that we do as a club is "fantastic" and that they wanted us to continue with it. However they also gave us three requirements that we had to satisfy before they would sanction any future OAC trips: To revise our risk assessment To have a qualified first aider on every trip To have a qualified instructor on every trip We don't know the rationale behind these new requirements, as our practice hasn't changed over the last few years and so we can't think of any reason why safety should be an issue. We maintain that what we do has always been safe. However we have agreed to amend our risk assessment and arrange first aid training for our walk leaders, for which the Guild has promised us funding. Our current issue regards the requirement to have a qualified instructor on every trip. The British Mountaineering Council (BMC), the national representative body for hill walking, climbing and mountaineering in England and Wales, are explicitly clear in "seeing compulsory leadership awards as inappropriate for clubs". Our club is a BMC affiliated student club and all of our members are covered by their liability insurance policy. Nearly all other student mountaineering clubs do not have this requirement, in-line with BMC recommendations. We therefore feel this requirement is completely unnecessary for our club, and we would be unable to implement it anyway as a course costs at least £1000 per person. We have taken advice from the BMC on this matter who fully support our position that we don't need leadership qualifications. There seems to be no appreciation for the value of experience that our leaders currently have and we cannot see why LGoS is insistent on us having these qualifications. We have met with the Student Activities Manager at LGoS since these requirements were given to us. We explained the BMC's position and we told them that our members are insured through the BMC policy, and so this shouldn't be of concern to the Guild. We have also urged them to contact the BMC directly, although we are still waiting to see if this happens. We were told that the requirements would stay as they were, but would be discussed at another internal Guild meeting, to which we aren't permitted to attend, in the near future. We are therefore asking you to sign a petition calling for LGoS to remove this restriction. A lot of people support the OAC and hopefully if we can show to the Guild how popular the club is we can persuade them that they are most clearly not acting in the best interests of our members. We would be grateful if you could sign this petition in support of the Open Air Club, in the hope that we can get this requirement removed and can once again run our activities, as we have done for the last 75 years!