This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
Well it’s nice to hand over the keyboard to Alison Stevenson after 3 years on the committee in various roles and to have a bit more time up my sleeves to focus on a few other things this year. Alison has been a great contributor this past year with some fantastic photo's to accompany the odd trip report.
She heads back to the UK in October, so if you’re keen to help out from October 05 to April 06, you haven't missed your chance to be the WTMC newsletter editor!
Congratulations to all those who stepped up to the mark and become our new committee. You all seem like a fresh new energetic bunch which will make any work relatively effortless. For those members who haven't yet managed to help the club out - by leading trips, helping on the door, or haven't yet been on committee...give some thought to how you can help these committee members in everyday club running — its your club too! I led a trip into the Fenella/Cobb valley over Easter — a large, potentially unlucky for some number of 13. The Thursday night was a shocker and we opted to take up Lindsay Fletcher's offer of his floor. I reckon we put the medium trip on the Next Summer/Autumn Schedule as Fletchers Floor -1 hut ticket required as it was the second Easter running that he has played hut warden. Thanks Lindsay! However Friday morning we were off and the roads were OK despite the heavy rain the night before. As a trip leader you are always worried about the public perception of us monopolizing huts, sO we are prepared to pitch the fly or take the floor in a crowded hut even if we are the first ones to the hut. -
Salisbury lodge was fairly full Friday night and with a kitchen working area the size of a small broom closet, our group did the normal thing in letting everyone else cook first, offering thermarests/mattresses to latecomers and ensuring we moved from tables once eaten to share facilities. What's unusual about that you say? My question exactly, but apparently it is not the norm by many others who use the DOC Hut system and perhaps why there are complaints about overcrowding and monopolisation. A member of a foursome from an over 40’s CHCH tramping group pulled me aside the next day on the track as we passed them, to thank us explicitly for being so great to share the hut with. They were a bit worried when they saw 13 of us arrive, but were surprised that we were so accommodating, fun, polite and courteous of others. Well done clubbies!
Continue your support to Alison with all those trip reports, snippets, jokes, photos etc See you in the hills..... Lee-Ann All contributions & suggestions welcome newsletter@wtme.org.nz Or snail mail!