Yorkshire Mountaineering Club marks another milestone as popularity increases

It went on to become the Yorkshire Mountaineering Club (YMC) and that was made official in 1952, yet this year for YMC also marks another anniversary.

It is that of the acquisition of four derelict former miners’ cottages in the Coppermines Valley, Coniston which would eventually be turned into a welcome and warming shelter for walkers, school and scout groups over the last 50 years.

The club, today has more than 200 members and will hold an event this year to mark its latest anniversary but its message is still the same as it was back when it started.

Derek Fields has been a member for 50 years and recalls the purchase of the buildings in 1972.

They had been rented previously by another mountaineering club but after being battered by storms which caused a lot of damage the club gave them up.

YMC took them on.

"We thought we can do something with these”, recalled My Field. “We were made of sterner stuff.”

When YMC acquired the ‘one up, one down’ cottages, which they now refer to as The Hut, there was no roof, no electricity and no toilet other than an outside one.

YMC used a grant from the Sports Council for £1300 to buy the buildings then members had to fundraise themselves to pay for a roof and eventually internal alterations which included building a septic tank for an inside toilet and screwing a wash basin to the side of it.

At one point because they couldn’t afford carpet, the club acquired some material used for till conveyor belts – it lasted for years, recalls Mr Field, a retired BT technician.

Nowadays, the cottages have been converted and split into two with their own separate entrances.

One side is for members and their guests and the other is for members, groups and clubs sleeping up to 20 people. It boasts a solid fuel fire, binks, kitchen facilities and toilets a shower and a drying room.

The idea, like when the club started following the war where people had a desire to get out and about, is still the same.

YMC wants to make it possible for more young people to get outdoors, enjoy the environment and learn skills.

Mr Field added: “The basic policy was to introduce young people to outdoor life and that is still our policy now.”

YMC has also recently teamed up with other northern clubs – Northumbrian Mountaineering Club, Red Rose Definitives and the Cleveland Mountaineering Club – to produce “Northern Rock”, a new guidebook to the best traditional climbing, sport climbing and bouldering in Yorkshire , Northumberland, Lancashire and the North York Moors.