by Mike Anderson

Langdale, 29th September 1967: torrential rain, the road flooded in several places, the campsite very much the same. Hardly an auspicious first meet for a new Club, but one that is nevertheless still flourishing twenty one years later. All members of the Club have since experienced similar discomforts, with the additional attractions of cold, hail, sleet and snow. Now at last we can reveal where the responsibility lies.

Alec Barclay came from across the Border to seek satisfaction for causes long gone: at least that is what we put it down to when we were induced to go to Scotland and elsewhere to be tortured by long walks and hard climbs. Alec and his colleague Colin Mackie had first taken a small party of Sheffielders for a weekend in Glencoe in March 1967, followed by a further visit in July the same year. It was after these trips that the idea of forming a club came to Alec. Discussions back in Sheffield met with enthusiasm and convinced Alec that he had the nucleus for the formation of a viable club.

A nine strong meeting of stalwarts held at Ashley and Avril Turner’s house on Monday 25th September 1967 led directly to the founding of the Club. As all of them were “regulars” at The Castle Inn at Bradway it was natural and appropriate as they intended to meet there on their weekly club night that the Inn should lend its name to the Club. But what to call it? The Castle Climbing Club, or The Castle Mountaineering Club? After a long discussion it was decided to name it “The Castle Mountaineering Club”, in the belief that this title indicating the basic principle of putting one foot in front of the other to gain height would provide the widest possible base for the Club and give encouragement to prospective new members.

A proposal by Alec that the Club should exist to further the spirit of mountaineering on the one hand and to offer instruction in specific techniques on the other, was duly accepted. It was agreed that The Castle Inn should be the Club’s headquarters until suitable premises could be found. Alec himself would act as first Hon. Secretary and Colin Mackie as first President, a , committee was duly elected and a constitution adopted on 9th October 1967.

The success of The Castle Mountaineering Club owes a great deal to the decision taken in those early days to establish the Club as a “Mountaineering Club”. Members have been encouraged over the years to extend their mountaineering skills over a wide range of activities, be they climbing, hill walking, skiing or pot holing even pot holing: a little difficult to put one foot in front of the other underground and still gain height! Whatever the activity, the Club has always afforded opportunities for its members to acquire experience in all aspects of climbing and mountaineering.

Regular meets were held from the outset with climbing sessions every week on local Edges and an away meet each month to different parts of England, Wales and Scotland. The Club rapidly became something of a family with meetings in members’ houses and with slide shows and lectures in addition to the regular club nights at The Castle Inn.

THE FIRST STEPS HAD BEEN SUCCESSFULLY TAKEN.

But with growing membership, the need to find a clubroom which would fulfil one of The Castle’s ambitions soon became apparent. That saga, an epic in its own right, was about to begin.