2013's

Id like to read you a poem in the style of dan wood But I cant really promise itll be quite as good Ill certainly try the best that I can But it wont be the same as I don’t live in a van

Good evening to you all, my fellow hiking friends And lets not forget our pals unable to attend Thankyou to our social secs who have organised tonight This wonderful event of annual dinner, where we once a year reunite

But let us go back in time to this time last year We travelled to Buxton to drink lots and lots…..and lots of beer Where gregs anatomy book was defaced by rob With the masterpiece being one giant huge knob

During the summer we went all over the place The scotish mozzies were a bugger, you should have seen my face But a poor bunch of hikers got stuck in the lakes When the bus broke down due to a gear stick with the shakes

We returned from our travels and the new semester began in September we were fully booked for hikes, everyone wanting to become a member They wanted a ‘ticket’ and to be part of the club Who could refuse, we did not give them the snub

We’ve hiked and scrambled, then drunk beer in a pub And then returned to OP for some tasty grub Committee would giggle at the back of the bus And the monday meetings we’d have a lot to discuss

the great british weather lived upto its reputation and a game of monopoly was our only salvation when we got washed away in langdale with white water and cloud and later, the legendary braithewaite did us proud

in winter we had early starts saving us from hiking back in the dark new walkie talkies provided entertainment on the hills through which zheylo would demonstrate his singing skills

we all had fun on these Sunday hikes and andy got excited by the langdale pikes we took 60 or more hikers to hebden bridge and made another traverse of the helvellyn ridge

cadair idris was full of bright faced newbs and greg failed to cook after drinking too much booze in Yorkshire we jumped over bogs at the 3 peaks event and had an awesome time in aberfeldy, we were pretty content

Another great nethy came and went And many of us made a macdui ascent Although the snow was being shy The bar, luckily, did not run dry

The bunkhouse was fun and the major was drunk In the early hours of the morning wed climb into a bunk Zheylos antics amused us all And the masks were exotic, thanks to paul

The didsbury dozen became a half And markus drank too much which made him barf The spoon game was played at the Christmas time And we went to MCC and had a climb the agm lived upto its reputation A drunken night filled with much elation I cant remember parts of what happened that night But seeing topless photos the next day gave me quite a fright

At easter it was torridon, well, what can I say we were really remote just like tom hanks in castaway we were on a mission climbing munro after munro and it was really cold, felt like 20 below

the wind was fierce and nearly blew us away and the shitloads of snow, we could’ve done with a sleigh. it was very sunny and the views were immense but steep slopes and exposed ridges were pretty intense

then things got exciting when on the 3rd day charlotte had an epic that made us want to pray she took a big slide down the hill only stopped by a rock, it was quite a thrill

the boombox, lazer and smoke were fun but it was on the road where the excitement begun the a standoff with an old lady was like in a cowboy movie it all ended in swearing, she looked pretty gloomy

we then travelled to wales to attempt the welsh 3’s which involved constant pounding on the knees the sun shone bright and the air was still and the hikers trekked to reach every hill

I hope you have enjoyed you food And that its got you in the mood To have a dance and party all night long And on the coach home have a good old UMHC singsong

Despite being the end of another great year Lets not shed one single tear As I hope you will all agree with me We love hiking, and UMHC

Anita Wilczynska (Retired hike sec and new old git)