Problems at BMC

[Badlad]

It is a fascinating set of problems facing the BMC. These are problems caving will likely never face and the two organisations remain poles and oceans apart. If only caving could have a just fraction of what the BMC has in it C&A locker....

The majority of BMC membership comes from the trad climbing and hillwalking side which has traditionally focused on maintaining access and has been very successful in that, hence 85,000 supporters perhaps.

A big part of the problem of membership recruitment lies in the fact that many are introduced to climbing on artificial walls and a lot don't progress from there. There is little need to join BMC if that is what you do. In the last decade this has developed into sport climbing and an Olympic event. Sport England offers a ton of money if a Brit has a chance of winning. I think the BMC are obliged to contribute a percentage of the funding but it is not something to turn away easily. I suspect the reality has crept up on the BMC slowly and the backlash was seen a few years ago with the vote of no confidence. The man at the top was from an elite sports background and not a climber and this might have been good for the sport side but there was clearly a lack of understanding of where the sport came from and who BMC is. The projected growth was plain unrealistic.

I understand a recent council meeting said that the redundancies in C&A where not as severe as first reported. However, one feeling amongst my BMC member mates is that the organisation should split, with the competitive sport side moving away from the traditional organisation. We'll see.

 

[ChrisB]

British Canoeing has for many years had the same conflict between grant funded competition and recreational paddling. It leads to the recreational members feeling poorly supported, and the trend toward 'professional' executives and coaches tends to demotivate volunteers, eg, "why should I do this free of charge when they're earning a good salary?"

The difficulty is that if you split the organisation, the recreational side is no longer the government recognised official body, which makes it less credible in access negotiations, etc.

 

[mikem]

Update from BMC:

NEWS: BMC Release Updated Statement on Restructure

The British Mountaineering Council has released a further statement and video response on the organisation's restructure. Last week, we published an article titled 'Redundancies,...

www.ukclimbing.com

 

[mikem]

Now offering half price membership renewals to those who haven't, to try & get numbers up

 

[mikem]

& they've appointed a kayaker:

NEWS: BMC Appoints Paul Ratcliffe as New CEO

The British Mountaineering Council has announced the appointment of a new CEO. Paul Ratcliffe, a former performance director at British Canoeing, Olympic silver medallist and keen climber, will begin...

www.ukclimbing.com

 

[wellyjen]

British Canoeing has for many years had the same conflict between grant funded competition and recreational paddling. It leads to the recreational members feeling poorly supported, and the trend toward 'professional' executives and coaches tends to demotivate volunteers, eg, "why should I do this free of charge when they're earning a good salary?"

The difficulty is that if you split the organisation, the recreational side is no longer the government recognised official body, which makes it less credible in access negotiations, etc.

British Cycling claims to represent both sporting and recreational/transport cycling, but in practice is entirely sport focussed. Cycling UK, formerly Cycle Touring Club, is leisure and transport focussed and has the long standing contacts in officialdom to help get things done that a newly split off recreation wing of BMC, or Canoeing would lack.

 

[Fjell]

The BMC has got itself into a situation where public funding is entirely geared to a few hundred indoor athletes rather than the millions who wander around hills with various degrees of difficulty.

A further icky issue is that touring the country doing competition climbing is just another middle class activity that realistically costs £10k+ a year for teenagers to pursue, funded entirely or mostly by parents cash and time. However glam it seems, it really should not be the main focus for a national organisation that is supposed to be about the great outdoors for the many, which is still mostly an access issue.

The UK has a tendency to rack up medals in sports that cost a lot of money to get to a high level in. Sailing, rowing, shooting, track cycling, pony girls etc etc. It’s just medal farming.

 

[mikem]

& mostly sitting down

The big grants are only available for Olympic hopefuls, but still more gets through than the £15,000 BMC put into competitions back in 2009:

Sport England confirms funding for BMC and partners

thebmc.co.uk

British Canoeing have a cricketer as their CEO, who was previously with British Weightlifting:

Board Member Profiles

Meet the British Canoeing Board.

www.britishcanoeing.org.uk

 

[cavemanmike]

Jobs for the boy’s if you ask me

 

[mikem]

If that were the case they'd be coming from within the sport...

Several NGBs are even recruiting & retraining athletes from other events

 

[ChrisB]

The BMC has got itself into a situation where public funding is entirely geared to a few hundred indoor athletes rather than the millions who wander around hills with various degrees of difficulty.

But before competition climbing was enough of a thing to attract public funding, the BMC didn't get any all. Provided the recreational side isn't subsidising the competition, it shouldn't be a problem for the organisation. Whether funding of competitive sport is a good use of our taxes, and why Government doesn't also fund recreational sport is a different question.

 

[Fjell]

But before competition climbing was enough of a thing to attract public funding, the BMC didn't get any all. Provided the recreational side isn't subsidising the competition, it shouldn't be a problem for the organisation. Whether funding of competitive sport is a good use of our taxes, and why Government doesn't also fund recreational sport is a different question.

I think the problem was they messed it up and it did affect the rest. Ignoring that, the point is they have hired as CEO someone whose primary skill is subsidy farming for competitive sport, not (for instance) legislation on access.

 

[mikem]

It's the general state of government subsidies for most projects - available for set up but not maintenance

​

They have a separate Head of Access, Conservation & Environmental Sustainability

BMC Staff - The British Mountaineering Council

www.thebmc.co.uk

 

[cavemanmike]

I’m referring to the nepotism within the world of CEO’s. They claim to change the world while taking a big salary just to move on to the next big ceo job in the meantime they are building up their sv

 

[AR]

I’m referring to the nepotism within the world of CEO’s. They claim to change the world while taking a big salary just to move on to the next big ceo job in the meantime they are building up their sv

"Seagull management" - fly in from afar, sit on top of things and make a lot of noise, then fly away leaving a load of shit behind for someone else to clean up...

 

[mrodoc]

I find caving very hard to classify as it combines so many sciences added to physical skills. It is probably unique, the nearest comparison being scuba diving although in my experience most divers do very little exploration or even seem that interested in marine life. Interestingly the advent of the digital camera has probably improved that aspect as it has brought underwater photography to the masses by making it relatively cheap. It has also highlighted changes in the marine environment such as the return of the crawfish to the south west.

 

[mikem]

For completeness, here is previous resignation:

NEWS: British Mountaineering Council CEO Paul Davies Resigns

British Mountaineering Council CEO Paul Davies has resigned after three years in the role.

www.ukclimbing.com

He also came from Olympic sports:

Paul Davies appointed new BMC CEO

www.thebmc.co.uk