Proceedings Of The Club
The Committee in presenting their 11th ANNUAL REPORT (for the year 1902-3) announced that the Club consisted of 10 honorary and 71 ordinary members. During the year seven General and nine Committee meetings were held, and the Winter Session Lectures had been well attended. The Committee gratefully acknowledged gifts of books, club publications and photographs, and a new reading lamp given by Mr. J. M. Nicol.
Although no programme of out-door excursions had been formally arranged, a number were made both for climbing and pot-holing.
The 11th Annual Meet, on September 26th and 27th, 1903, at Thornton-in-Lonsdale, was attended by 10 members and friends. High Douk Cave and Mere Gill were explored, and the party also made the descent of Rowten Pot, as far as the waterfall below the bridge. The usual social pleasures of our meets were fully sustained.
The second Annual Club Dinner was held at the Hotel Metropole, Leeds, on 13th of February, 1904. The new President, Mr. Alfred Barran, was in the chair, and over sixty members and friends were present. The event was a great success. We here reproduce the very appropriate and artistic design by Mr. G. T. Lowe, which appeared on the front page of the menu card.
The toast of “The King,” which was proposed by the President, was followed by that of “The Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club,” by Dr. Inglis Clark of the Scottish Mountaineering Club, in an eloquent and charming oration. He specially complimented the club on the series of lectures which constitute so valuable a feature of each winter’s session. He said lectures on mountaineering had been given by members of the Scottish Mountaineering Club with the object of popularising the sport – he himself had delivered some twenty-four, but up to the present these had been of an unofficial nature, the club not having yet identified itself with this admirable departure. He hoped that our example might be followed by other clubs.
He spoke in graceful terms of the enduring friendships formed and fostered on the mountains in fair weather and foul, and of the bonds which unite the members not only of a club but of kindred clubs, and expressed his high opinion of the value of such societies. He assured the Yorkshire Ramblers of the esteem and friendship which the Scottish Mountaineering Club accorded to them, and expressed his pleasure in being able to be present to act as their mouthpiece.
The Vice-President, Mr. W. Parsons, in responding to the toast, said:- our club was in some ways unique in the scope of its objects and work – cave and pot-hole exploration, for instance, were a distinct feature. The name of the club somewhat implied – though erroneously – a limitation both in its sphere of operations and membership; but though it was the creation of Yorkshiremen, its field of work was the world, and while its home was in Yorkshire its membership was nowise limited to Yorkshiremen, but was open to mountain lovers of any county or country who could show the necessary qualifications. He thought that in no other club did the members know each other so intimately – he counted most of his fellow-members as personal friends, and this intimacy made for excellence in the ungrudging labours of all the officers of the club.
The new President then proposed the health of Mr. Wm. Cecil Slingsby, who was retiring from the Presidency of the club, an office which he had held for the past ten years, and asked his acceptance of three framed photo: enlargements of mountains with which his name will always be associated – Store Skagastölstind, Scafell, and the Aiguilles of Mont Blanc – the Blaitiere and Du Plan from the Grand Charmoz.
The gift was a small token of the esteem and affection which Mr. Slingsby had won from all the members of the Club, and particularly from those who in one capacity or another had worked with him for its advancement during his long but all too short (from his fellow members’ point of view) period of office. These present and past office-bearers could not let his retirement from the Presidency pass without offering some slight acknowledgment of the great debt the Club owes to his unselfish work, and of their appreciation of his invaluable counsel and the high example which he has always shown in the pursuit of his mountaineering pleasures.
Neither in Yorkshire nor in the whole of the North of England was there a man whose election as our president could have been so well justified as that of Mr. Slingsby. When he first came to us he was a young man, he is still a young man, and he always will be a young man. He had been to all of us an example not only in the skill with which he had climbed, but in the prudence which governed his climbing. His exploits had not been limited to the Alps and the British hills, for in Norway his name is a household word, and his recently published book on that country – “The Northern Playground” – shows how many and great have been his achievements there.
Great and lasting as are the friendships amongst mountaineers, none ranks higher in the minds of Yorkshire Ramblers than that of William Cecil Slingsby.
In response to the toast Mr. Slingsby said:-
“When I look around and see the kind faces of all the old friends – more than friends – I feel that the days of sentiment are not yet over.
The Yorkshire Ramblers are the best keepers of a secret I ever knew! I had not an inkling that it was in your minds to do this honour to me, but I do most cordially thank you for this and for every other kindness that you have shown to me.
When asked ten years ago to accept the Presidency of the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club, I did so with considerable diffidence, well feeling the responsibility, for I at that time gauged the leaning of the members, and foresaw that the Club would ultimately become, in the main, a mountaineering one, and though, when I first appeared among you as your president I came into the room with a halt and a limp, through having recently been knocked over by a piece of falling ice on an Italian mountain, this did not deter you from following in my steps.
So let me now, to my appreciative disciples, sing the praises of mountaineering! There is nothing so elevating to the mind – and body – or so good for one’s physical development as this sport, and it would be well indeed if the thousands who go to football matches as spectators – I do not refer to the players of that fine game – were prompted by the healthier desire to ramble over our moors and fells, even if not to climb the crags. By fostering a growth of the love of the open country such clubs as ours are doing a good work.
It must not be thought that by accepting the Presidency of the Climbers’ Club I am transferring my affections from the Ramblers. My deep interest in you will abide as long as I live. Still more, it is my desire that all climbing clubs should be united, as far as possible, and it will be a pleasure to me to feel that I am acting as a binding link between the two.
During my presidency the club has been most loyally supported by every member, and has been most fortunate in its choice of officers to manage its affairs.
Gentlemen, you have had ten years of me, during which I trust it will be remembered of me that I have always tried to instil prudence in all things appertaining to the sports we love, and my last word as retiring president shall be to urge the same upon you. On the mountains, or in the pot-holes and caves, let prudent thought and remembrance of those at home govern your daring. It is always hard to turn back, but if ever to go forward is to court an unjustifiable danger, show that moral courage which is greater than physical. The increase in the number of fatal accidents on the mountains, not only abroad but also at home, is a very serious matter, and it is to be feared that rashness is responsible for not a few of them.
Now, looking again at these beautiful photographs, let me say from the bottom of my heart I thank you, and I repeat that my long association with the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club will always be a memory very dear to me.”
The next toast, that of “Kindred Clubs,” was proposed by the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Lewis Moore, as follows :-
“Mr. President and Gentlemen, in the absence of the Rev. L. S. Calvert, who is unfortunately ill and unable to be present this evening, I have the honour to propose the next toast, “Kindred Clubs,” whose representatives we Yorkshire Ramblers heartily welcome. It will be necessary for me to mention them in detail, and first must come the Alpine Club, that great institution of which all British Mountaineers and Ramblers are so justly proud. The Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club has received at the hands of some of its most famous members many great kindnesses, and we all are, I am sure, anxious to recognise our deep indebtedness to them and the club they so worthily represent. If the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club has attained any reputation or any position it is largely due to the splendid example the Alpine Club has set before it, to the generous encouragement of its members and to the wholesome and kindly advice of those members whom it has been our privilege to welcome as visitors or to enrol as Yorkshire Ramblers.
The second club is The Scottish Mountaineering Club, whose president, Dr. Inglis Clark, has been good enough to come here to-night and say so many nice things about us. All Yorkshire Ramblers must feel great pride in the good fellowship which exists between these two North British Clubs, and they will, I am sure, feel the more pride when they reflect upon the Scottish Mountaineering Club’s splendid record of work done. Its members have not only come here and lectured for us, but they have cordially invited us to visit them, to climb with them those beautiful mountains with romantic and unpronounceable Gaelic names. Some of us have been there and will go again, others will follow, and we hope in the future to induce them to return the compliment and give us an opportunity of showing them something of mountaineering reversed, in our Yorkshire Pot-holes.
The third club is the Climbers’ Club. How can I better commend it to you than by reminding you that its first president was Mr. C. E. Mathews? His is a name to conjure with. We shall never forget the great occasions of his visits to us. He has been one of our great friends, and we know and feel that the Climbers’ Club and the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club are, and will continue great friends. We have similar interests in a great sport, and we are this year giving them of our best, our President for the past ten years, Mr. W. Cecil Slingsby, to be their new President. Our hearts go with him. We feel that present sorrow will be future joy, and that goodwill and good sportsmanship will bring the two clubs still more closely together in the bonds of mutual regard and respect.
The fourth club is the Kyndwr Club, a club which has devoted much time and energy to the exploration of Derbyshire Caves and Holes, and of whose work the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club have had an opportunity of hearing from Mr. E. A. Baker, who gave us a memorable lecture during the past session. The members of the Kyndwr Club have given ample proof of their pluck and endurance, and we are glad to welcome them and to most heartily wish them ‘Good Luck.’
The fifth and last is the Rucksack Club – last by birth, but not least. Wisely started with a dinner, the Rucksack Club has prospered, and it will prosper. Lancashire and Yorkshire have ever been rivals; once opposing powers in a great war, now friendly rivals in the arts of peace and the field of sport. It was my privilege to represent the Yorkshire Ramblers’ Club at their last annual dinner, and it was a great pleasure to find old friends of ours amongst its members and to realize that the two clubs would become good neighbours and good friends.”
Mr. A. W. Bairstow proposed the health of The Visitors, to which Dr. Forsyth replied:-
“He grieved that now-a-days he had to be content with looking up at the mountains instead of climbing them, as he used to do; but it was to him a great pleasure to spend an evening in the society of those who shared with him in so fine a degree that deep love for the moors and fells which had been evinced in the speeches to which he had listened. He referred to the pleasures of memory, and how in the midst of one’s work in town the mental picture of some wind-swept expanse would flash through one’s mind, bringing with it a sweetness and freshness that put new life into one and strengthened one for the daily task.”
The Annual General Meeting was held at the Club Rooms on Tuesday, October 25th, 1904, when the Committee presented their 12th Annual Report.
The club now consists of 10 honorary and 77 ordinary members, being an increase of 6 ordinary members since the last Report.
During the year, seven general and ten committee meetings have been held. Six lectures have been given, as follows:-
1903
November 11th. “Winter Mountaineering in 1888,” by Mrs. E. P. Jackson.
November 25th. “Cave-work in Derbyshire and Somersetshire,” by Mr. E. A. Baker.
1904
January 19th, “The Engadine,” by Mr. R. K. Parr.
January 26th. “Walks in the Bernese Oberland,” by Mr. Gilbert Middleton.
February 9th. “The Underground Waters of Ingleborough,” by Mr. A. R. Dwerryhouse.
March 8th. “Ascents of Rulten and other Peaks in Lofoten,” by Mr. W. Cecil Slingsby.
The attendance at all the lectures was good. The Committee wish to acknowledge further gifts of books, also a name-plate generously provided by Mr. Chas. Scriven for the entrance door to the Club Rooms. At the invitations of the Climbers’ Club and the Rucksack Club representatives of our Club attended their Annual Dinners and were cordially received. Two Meets were held during the year: one in the spring, on April 30th, at Horton-in-Ribblesdale; and one in the autumn, on September 24th and 25th, at Brough in Westmorland. Both meets were well attended.
During the year first descents of two new pot-holes have been accomplished, and various members have been further afield climbing in Norway and the Lofoten Islands, Switzerland, Wales, and the English Lake District.
Two of the Rules were amended as follows:-
Rule VI.
The election of Members shall be in the hands of the Committee. Every Candidate for admission shall be proposed and seconded by members of the Club, and his name shall be posted to every member of the Club at least seven days before his election. A nomination paper stating the name of the candidate for election, together with his qualifications, address, and occupation, and signed by his proposer and seconder, to be submitted to the Committee prior to his election. The election shall be by ballot, two black balls to exclude.
Rule VIII.
The Club year shall commence 1st November, the Annual General Meeting, of which not less than ten days notice in writing must be given to the members, being held upon the last Tuesday in October for the transaction of business and the election of officers for the ensuing year. The proposer and seconder of any gentleman (other than a retiring member) as a member of the Committee or for any office in the Club, shall give notice thereof in writing to the Honorary Secretary at least seven days previous to the Annual General Meeting. The election shall be by ballot.
New Members
The following New Members have been elected since the last issue:-
Benson, Claude E. 5, Elvaston Place, Queen’s Gate, London, W.C.
Hood, Leslie, 30, Guildford Street, Russel Square, London, W.C.
Hood, Noel L., Castlegate House, York.
Hood, W. Wells, Castlegate House, York.
Horsell, Frank, Hazlehurst, Park Villas, Roundhay, Leeds.
Hudson, G. Louis, 10, Blenheim Mount, Manningham, Bradford.
Lamb, Percy H., The Vicarage, Clapham, near Lancaster.
Porter, Dr. A. E., 3, Hollin Lane, Headingley, Leeds.
Taylor, Robert, 27, Cumberland Road, Headingley, Leeds.
Ullën, Erik, The University, Upsala, Sweden.
Unwin, S. Philip, Hall Royd, Shipley.
Watson, J. Falshaw, 15, Shaw Lane, Headingley, Leeds.
Wynne-Edwards, Rev. R., The Grammar School, Leeds.