Meet Report: 19-21 November 2021 at the Falcon Manor Hotel, Settle

Last year’s Annual Dinner was cancelled because of Covid-19 restrictions. The Falcon Manor rolled over the booking to 2021 but a year on the Committee noted the daily new case rate of 20 to 30 thousand and thought it prudent to restrict numbers to just 50 attending.  The AGM usually precedes the Dinner but given the attendance restriction the Club’s Committee decided to run the AGM virtually the following weekend using Zoom software.  Those arriving at Lowstern on Friday evening were soon surprised by the arrival of a small party from the London area. There had been a booking mix-up. They were accommodated overnight but chose to depart the following morning.  A further complication was the intended Principal Guest, Adele Pennington, finding at ten-days notice that she would be unavailable due to a revised guiding commitment.  Hasty enquiries among the Club’s most experienced and well-connected cavers conjured up a replacement within a day, and what a replacement… read on.

Thirty-eight members, two prospective members and thirteen guests arrived late Saturday afternoon for the hastily arranged lecture “A Journey into the Danakil” about an exploratory visit to the Afar triangle, Ethiopia, given by Principal Guest, Tony Waltham: caver, photographer, geologist, writer and lecturer. The Danakil is a seismically active rift depression, way below sea level. Edged with the Djibouti volcanoes it is  a rocky desert trimmed with lava flows. No place for green pastoral scenes but Tony’s photographs of the people going about their daily round, and the stunning volcanic landscapes held his audience. Adding his quick-fire commentary, human interest stories, explanations of the geology and entertaining anecdotes about his YRC companions, the Middletons, made for the most engaging and informative lecture we have heard in a generation.

After a few years of members leaving the lecture and having to walk along Settle’s Main Street to the Falcon Manor and the Dinner, we were again back to the much better arrangement of being under one roof for both events.  The combination of Covid and Brexit resulted in the hotel struggling with staffing and service was slower than usual at the meal though the food was as good as ever.  

The meal was followed by the loyal toast, absent friends and the President, John Brown’s encouraging speech ending with the toast to the kindred Clubs and Guests. Tony Waltham then entertained us in proposing the toast to the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club. The evening’s official proceedings ended with the singing of Barran, Slingsby and Calvert’s 1909 ‘Yorkshire’ led by Hick, Crowther, Wilkinson, and two Salmons.

However, that was not all. Trevor Salmon recalled the Dinner entertainments of the 1970s illustrated by excerpts from mountaineering songs and pastiches of G&S.

The several members and guests gathered for the Sunday walk were joined by four additions for a chilly but sunny round of the Ribble, Cleatop Park, Lambert Lane, Victoria Cave for lunch, and back to Settle via Jubilee Cave. A small group broke off to Attermire Cave where Tim’s exploration was halted before a crawl through six inches of water would have soaked him for the rest of the round.

Besides the organised activities, several members extended the weekend with other excursions. These were varied and included: two parties by the Leeds-Liverpool canal near Gargrave; a traverse of Pen-y-Ghent and Plover Hill; along from Rylstone to Grassington via the cross, obelisk and Elbolton Hill; Settle’s Folly Museum and Langcliffe’s Hoffman Kiln; and, riding the Embsay and Bolton Abbey railway aboard a restored 1903 NER railcar. Our archivist was busy recoating John Lovett’s chair with Danish oil, sorting out some journals, and walking from Lowstern.

Thanks go to all in Michael Smith’s team of a dozen members who put together the photograph and video displays, cater at Lowstern, and organise the tables, keyboard and choir. 

Attending the Dinner

David Booker-Smith  

Fiona Booker-Smith   

John Brown    

Ros Brown      G

Aaron Campion         

Ged Campion

Ian Crowther 

Robert Crowther       

Ann Dover       G

Anne Dover     G

Paul Dover     

Richard Dover

Karen Dyer      G

Andy Eavis     

Lilian Eavis      G

Richard Gowing         

Dorothy Heaton        

Jason Humphreys      

Christine Marriott      G

Rebecca Humphreys 

Suki Humphreys         G

John Jenkin    

Tim Josephy   

David Large    

Geraldine Lally G

Alan Linford   

Angie Linford  G

Harvey Lomas

David Hick      

John Middleton         

Valerie MiddletonG

Alan Palmer   

Arthur Salmon

Barbara Salmon         

Trevor Salmon

Ann Salmon G

Richard Sealey

Helen Smith   

Michael Smith

Richard Smith

Felicity Roberts          

Rod Smith      

Yayoi Smith    

David Spencer PM

Tom Spencer  

Richard Taylor

Martyn Trasler           

Tony Waltham G

Jan Waltham  G

Frank Wilkinson        

Joining for the Sunday Walk

Mick Borroff  

Fiona Burnett PM

John Sutcliffe 

Conrad Tetley