Thursday, November 10, 2005
Thursday 3 Nov 05
Phonecall from St Marys Art Group.
Limerick Climbing and Crochet Club. 10pm Souths Pub.
I headed off with my instructions of where to find the club congregated in the bar but still felt slightly nearvous like i was heading off on a blind date with 20 people. I wasnt hard to spot them and they quickly gathered me into their fold proffering a pint and all.
The group was originally part of the Ul Climbing club but formed a break away group due to the constrains on a club within a college - no outings during exams or non term time etc.
About the name - well its actually more of a hiking club than climbing but some of the walks are steep or difficult (they range in difficuly so check before you decide to join one) the crochect bit came in as a tongue in cheek way to attract more lady members but its also a reference to a type of knot used in climbing.
There are plenty of ladies in the club now and a lot of members overall - some come regularly and some very infrequently. The reason they meet in a pub used to be to plan the next walk but now thats all done well in advance so now its more of a socail event and a way for new members to come along and find out about the club, ask questions and get to know some of the members. This I think is a great idea, there was another newbee their tonight who didnt know anyone in the club but was keen to join and I could see that the process really broke the ice and also allowed time to ask important questions about kit etc.
Kit is really important when in come to hiking, these guys are very keen of =n safetly and if your kit is not up to scratch you just arent going on a walk. Its fair both on the leaders who want to keep everyone in one piece, on you fellow walkers who want to enjoy their day out and on yourself - and jopur into a 5 hour walk you dont want to be suffering from blisters to you? let alone anthing more serious. So it can be an expensive hobby once youve gotten all the gear but one thing that really came throguh on speaking to people was that its a way of life and once you do get into it it can change the way you live or at least spend you weekends! It is easy to fall in love with the idea of tapsing up mountain the wind in your hair the fresh air in your lungs, getting out and experincing the country rahter than looking at it throught a window.
Limerick Climbing and Crochet Club. 10pm Souths Pub.
I headed off with my instructions of where to find the club congregated in the bar but still felt slightly nearvous like i was heading off on a blind date with 20 people. I wasnt hard to spot them and they quickly gathered me into their fold proffering a pint and all.
The group was originally part of the Ul Climbing club but formed a break away group due to the constrains on a club within a college - no outings during exams or non term time etc.
About the name - well its actually more of a hiking club than climbing but some of the walks are steep or difficult (they range in difficuly so check before you decide to join one) the crochect bit came in as a tongue in cheek way to attract more lady members but its also a reference to a type of knot used in climbing.
There are plenty of ladies in the club now and a lot of members overall - some come regularly and some very infrequently. The reason they meet in a pub used to be to plan the next walk but now thats all done well in advance so now its more of a socail event and a way for new members to come along and find out about the club, ask questions and get to know some of the members. This I think is a great idea, there was another newbee their tonight who didnt know anyone in the club but was keen to join and I could see that the process really broke the ice and also allowed time to ask important questions about kit etc.
Kit is really important when in come to hiking, these guys are very keen of =n safetly and if your kit is not up to scratch you just arent going on a walk. Its fair both on the leaders who want to keep everyone in one piece, on you fellow walkers who want to enjoy their day out and on yourself - and jopur into a 5 hour walk you dont want to be suffering from blisters to you? let alone anthing more serious. So it can be an expensive hobby once youve gotten all the gear but one thing that really came throguh on speaking to people was that its a way of life and once you do get into it it can change the way you live or at least spend you weekends! It is easy to fall in love with the idea of tapsing up mountain the wind in your hair the fresh air in your lungs, getting out and experincing the country rahter than looking at it throught a window.
# posted by Neva Elliott @ 11:32 AM 
