Welcome to SHOT's fifth year of existence!
News
There's another SHOT baby on the way: it was announced on the New Year trip that Karen Waddington is expecting, and the baby is due in August. Congratulations Karen and Mark!
The SHOT website (http:// www.mds.qmw.ac.uk/ medicine/inter/shot - or you can find it by doing a search for "Salford Hiking") has been revamped, so have a look at it if you get a chance. There are even some pictures from the New Year trip. Mark Hows has asked me to remind you that he'll be happy to take any inputs that anybody has for the website, whether it's announcements, pictures or whatever.
Recent events
Since the last newsletter we've had two weekends away, a Christmas dinner and the New Year trip. The first weekend was the SHOT trip to the Brecon Beacons at the beginning of October. We were lucky with the weather and had some excellent walks on the Saturday. On the Sunday a large contingent of us went to Hay-on-Wye, where some people hired canoes and paddled down the river for a couple of hours. While doing this, Steve somehow managed to dislocate his shoulder (again) and had to be airlifted to hospital!
Penny's farewell bash took place at Much Wenlock in mid-November. Penny has now departed to southern Africa, where I think she's planning on staying for a year or until her money runs out. We stayed in Stokes Barn, which has been much improved since SUHC went there a few years back. The walking was very muddy, but again we had good weather on the Saturday. Our youngest member - Emily Whelan, then aged about 6 months - joined the trip on the Sunday, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy being the centre of attention.
A select few of us returned to our Salford roots in mid-December for the CONTACT Christmas dinner, followed by a nostalgia session at the Pav. The place has changed quite a bit since 1993! Everyone who attended agreed that it was a good evening (although admittedly it might have been even better with a few more participants) and we may well go back again this Christmas. Maybe we can swell the ranks a bit more next time!
The New Year trip to Loch Tay - organised by Neil - was a great success, with some outstanding fancy dress efforts on New Year's Eve. A motley assortment of superheroes and cartoon characters ended up gatecrashing a ceilidh in a local hotel, but nobody there seemed to mind. Tom Gibbs (ex-SUHC but not currently a SHOT member) came along and was unfortunate enough to break his leg on the first day; he spent the next three days in hospital in Perth before rejoining us when they threw him out on New Year's Eve. It remains to be seen whether he will join SHOT!
Forthcoming events
The next SHOT weekend is 6th-8th March and is to the West End Outdoor Centre, 2 miles NW of Blubberhouses in the Washburn Valley (west of Harrogate), grid ref. 145575 on Explorer 27 map. The usual arrangements: a #5 deposit to Gustav secures a bed (25 places available). The total cost will be around #12 per person. We'll be meeting in the pub in Blubberhouses, on the A59 mid-way between Harrogate and Skipton (GR 178554). This will also be Darren's farewell bash before he departs for another year in Japan.
Then we have a joint birthday bash for Chris T., Percy and Neil, over the first weekend in April. We'll be staying at the Miners Arms, Nenthead, near Alston in Cumbria - and also near Hadrian's Wall. There are around 20-25 places, with the first 12 people staying in a bunkbarn and any overspill in the pub. The cost will be #10 per night for B&B. Chris was the one who called me with the details, so I suppose he's the best one to get in touch with if you want to go along.
My next dirty weekend is 15th-17th May and is to Fountains Abbey, near Ripon in North Yorkshire. It's a fantastic place, well worth a visit even if you have to pay a fiver to get in (which we won't, and we've been promised a guided tour too). We'll be staying in Whitefields basecamp, a very comfortable bunkhouse on the edge of the deer park, and will be doing 1 days' voluntary work for the National Trust. Maximum 14 places. Accommodation free, food #10 to cover the whole weekend from Friday supper through to Sunday lunch. Contact me if you're interested.
Tim is organising a midsummer weekend at the Barclays Bank outdoor centre, next to the Old Dungeon Ghyll pub in Langdale (southern Lake District). More details on that one in the May newsletter.
Does anyone fancy a balti night in Birmingham one Saturday in mid/late March? I can do either the 14th or the 28th. Free (but possibly slightly crowded) accommodation will be available at Hotel Baldwins Lane for anyone who wants it.
Other items
Andrea is looking for someone to spend a couple of months over February/March/possibly April working on her farm in the Swiss Alps (I believe the extra help is needed because the farmer is going into hospital). Please contact her direct, ASAP, if you're interested.
Mike Ashton has volunteered to organise the next New Year trip, which looks like being to Nethybridge, near Aviemore. We stayed at the Nethy House Hostel for New Year 1993, if I remember rightly, and it was one of the best ones we've been to. Dave Steed has offered to organise the following year's trip (the millennium one), but I don't know whether a venue for that one has been selected yet.
As I've already mentioned, 1998 is SHOT's fifth anniversary year. This raises two issues:
1. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can make the October SHOT weekend - our anniversary trip - "special"?
2. It's been requested that we get some SHOT T-shirts/sweatshirts printed this year, so I need to find out whether there is sufficient demand for us to place an order. I envisage that we'll go for the same kind of approach as the SUHC ones, with club name and some kind of logo on the front and a list of trips on the back. Is everyone happy with this, or would you prefer something else - for example front printing only, and/or a small chest logo rather than a big "full-frontal" one? I'm currently investigating possible sources, and the best deal I've found so far is for heavyweight white XL T-shirts printed in 2 colours front and back for around #9-#10 apiece, depending on how many we order (minimum order 10). If you want coloured T-shirts - 19 colours to choose from - the price is around #10-#16, and sweatshirts (in 9 colours) range from around #17 to #26, depending on size of order and whether we have them printed in one colour or two. Please let me know if you're likely to order one. It will help if you can tell me whether you'd prefer: white T-shirts coloured T-shirts sweatshirts large or small logo printing front and back or front only any other particular preferences
In order to get ourselves some T-shirts we need a design for the front, so how about putting pencil to paper and coming up with one? Get your artwork to me by 18th April and I'll publish all the entries (anonymously) in the May newsletter so that we can take a vote on the best one. The winner gets a free T-shirt! By the time of the next newsletter I hope I'll also have had enough feedback to let you know which style(s) of apparel we're going to opt for. I'll be asking for orders in May too, and should be able to get them printed by the time of the midsummer weekend.
As SHOT and its members mature, and the flow of new graduates joining us lessens, there seems to be a feeling that we should review the membership rules and let in non-ex-SUHC members - via routes other than marriage! There are people (like Alan, for example) who've been on numerous trips and would be delighted to be allowed to become fully paid-up SHOT members, but the current membership criteria don't permit this. Maybe we should relax the rules so that "outsiders" who've been on, say, one or two SHOT-related trips (basically any trips advertised in this newsletter) become eligible for membership. There was some discussion on this subject at New Year and everybody appeared to be in favour, so unless there are any violent objections we'll go ahead and change the rules as from this September. Any comments?
One more thing: Hilary at the Alumni office (tel. 0161 295 5144) has asked me to let you all know that if anyone wants to place an announcement or "in search of" ad in the next issue of CONTACT, the deadline is this Friday, 6th February.
That's all for this edition,
Lynne