The BMC AGM took place on Saturday 25 April at Plas y Brenin in North Wales, where Rab Carrington became the new BMC President and Audrey Seguy joined the ranks as a Vice President.

Two strong candidates were in the running for the BMC presidential election – Rab Carrington and Doug Scott. Rab, who has been a Vice President for the last three years, won the vote by 639 votes to 281. The new President said that he looked forward to the next three years in office. Dr Charles Clarke finished his term as BMC President and was presented with a box of wine to thank him for all his hard work.

Audrey Seguy, nominated for incoming Vice President, showed that her performance as a speaker is as strong as her performance as a climber. The current British bouldering and lead climbing champion, introduced herself to the AGM audience and took on some questions before she was voted in by an overwhelming majority of 914 votes to 7. Audrey is Managing Director of the Castle Climbing Centre in London.

Pat Littlejohn and Rehan Siddiqui were re-elected as Vice Presidents and David Lancely was re-elected as Honorary Treasurer. Thanks go to Brian Griffiths who has retired as Joint Honorary Treasurer.  This year saw a high number of proxy and discretionary votes as BMC members who couldn’t be at the AGM still wanted their vote to count.

Download minutes of the 2009 BMC AGM

Prior to the AGM a National Open Forum meeting was held, to enable members to raise and discuss any issues not on the AGM agenda. 

Download a summary of the 2009 National Open Forum

Once the business of the day was over, 123 members and guests attended the annual dinner. BMC CEO Dave Turnbull welcomed an array of distinguished guests including: Dave Alcock (CEO, First Hydro); Eleanor Burnham (Assembly Member for North Wales); Mark Isherwood (Assembly Member, Welsh Conservatives); Elfyn Llwyd MP (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy); John Mann MP (Bassetlaw); Aneurin Phillips (CEO, Snowdonia National Park Authority); Helen Phillips (CEO, Natural England); and Alun Pugh (Director, Snowdonia Society). Alun Ffred Jones (Assembly Member, Minister for Heritage) and Roger Thomas (CEO, Countryside Council for Wales) were unfortunately unable to attend at the last minute and sent their apologies.

The BMC was also pleased to welcome BMC members who were attending the AGM for the first time, who had taken advantage of half price offer in Summit. The BMC would like to thank everyone involved in making this year’s AGM weekend a success, especially the Plas y Brenin staff, our guests and speakers - James McHaffie for his inspiring Friday night lecture and Jim Curran for his entertaining after dinner speech. Also thanks to The Balvenie for supporting the event and providing a wee dram or two of whisky.

Next year’s AGM will be held on 24 April 2010 and will probably be of a festival format similar to last year’s AGM weekend in Northumberland.

You can read a further report of the BMC AGM on UKClimbing.com

Earlier in the week, John Mann MP posed a question to Sport Minister Gerry Sutcliffe in the House of Commons where he mentions the BMC AGM. You can view this here.

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