The agenda and draft minutes of the previous AGM are now on the Cambrian website:
As notified to member clubs and bodies during the consultation exercise last summer and autumn, this is the AGM where there will be motions to change the name of the organisation from Cambrian Caving Council / Cynghor Ogofeydd Cymreig to Caving Wales / Ogofa Cymru, and to modernise the constitution. Those of you with some knowledge of Welsh will realise that plurals ending -eydd are largely an archaic form and the Cymreig means "pertaining to Wales or Welshness" whereas Ogofa really is the word for Caving in Welsh and Cymru is the country. A correct translation of the old name is thus Welsh Caves Council.
The problem had become that "council" is a bit 1960s for the name of a national sports representative body, and almost all the other sports have adopted names in the format "Sport Nation" or "Nation Sport", for example "Swim Wales" or "England Hockey", which is what is expected nowadays. As C&A officer for Wales, I am getting fed up of explaining what our purpose is when my opposite number across the table thinks Cambrian Caving Council is just another small caving club acting for its own internal benefit.
As to "Cambrian", it's not the latin word for Wales, being coined in the 12th century to describe Wales and the then border area in the days of the Marcher Lords who in effect ruled the vague hinterland linking England and Wales. So we're going for Wales / Cymu in our new name, and letting the new constitution provide the clarification that it also includes the areas just over the border (where it is in this century) which are geologically related to Wales, like the Forest of Dean and parts of Shropshire.
As an aside, the meeting is at the visitor centre of the Rheidol Power Station not in the mechanical bit. Nearby is the beautiful Rheidol National Nature Reserve with waterfalls and wild swimming (!) plus all the mining heritage and underground trips in Cwm Ystwyth etc if people would like to make a weekend of it.
