The Sustainable Volunteer

Let’s start at the beginning – how did you get involved with the BMC?

Back in 1980, when we founded our club, Red Rope, I went the Area Meetings in London & South East. Somehow I became an Area Rep on the Management Committee, and since then the BMC has opened many doors of opportunity to me. I’ve been very lucky.

You’re a trad climber, aren’t you…but the IFSC is all about competitions!

Yes, on both counts! But I don’t see a contradiction. I first got involved at the request of the BMC Board; the aim was to see if we (BMC) could help build bridges between UIAA and IFSC – there was a danger of friction which could have led to damaging stuff happening. Along the way it turned out that the BMC needed to send a delegate to the IFSC General Assembly, so I went off to the GA and starting making links with other country’s delegates.

OK, so there you were at the IFSC Plenary Assembly. What happened next?

It became strikingly obvious that the European national federations were not working well together on competition matters. The Events Calendar was a mess. Then Europe’s Secretary-General resigned and the BMC proposed me. What followed was three years hard work as a member of the European Board getting the administration in shape. Along the way we had to deal with the impact of COVID, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both of which massively affected competitions. I’m proud of the work we did then – if you look at the Events Calendar for 2025 it is now almost perfect.

Were member federations encouraged to run region-level, second-tier comps for athletes just below elite standard?

This idea has been floated for some time. There are too many athletes wanting to compete at the top European level. With the ranking system now firmly in place, it is entirely feasible to split Europe into a number of zones. It would be a bit more environmentally sustainable too, as travel distances would be shorter for athletes and officials. The challenge is, and will remain – how can such comps be funded? Of course the same question arises about Para comps.

How was the question of comps the impact of climate change tackled?

I’d been concerned about sustainability issues for some time – and I’m pleased to say, so has the BMC. I proposed to the European Board that we form a working party to see what could be done to make comps more sustainable. That working party created the Sustainability Award, which nowadays all IFSC Europe competitions must participate in. The working party then developed into the Sustainability Commission.

Of course, by comparison with the world’s annual production of concrete, the carbon footprint of all the world’s sporting activities pales into insignificance. However, this doesn’t stop us taking a clear-eyed view of what we doing and running comps in the most responsible way possible.

Many people equate sustainability with environmental impact. IFSC Europe is entirely aligned with the view of the IOC, that sustainability rest on three legs – optimising the balance between economic, social and environmental sustainability. Our Sustainability Award requires comps organisers to check against 45 criteria – not just questions about recycling and energy sources used during the comp, but also treatment of volunteers, access for disabled, and the financial viability of the comp itself.

Year on year – the Award has now completed its fourth year – we have seen a marked improvement in the sustainability of our Europe-level comps. Whilst I am very proud of our achievement, I want to see this taken further – to be adopted by IFSC world-wide and for IFSC to strongly suggest to member federations that they take up some similar kind of scheme for national-level comps.

What are the next steps for the Sustainability Commission?

What we have been working on is a Sustainability Charter – the concept is that each National Federation will pledge to meet sustainability targets, which will be measured every year, and as they reach those targets, to come forward with new ambitions for further sustainability improvements.

You might expect us to push a general sustainability charter, but we disagreed with that idea. Each country in Europe is in a different economic, social and environmental situation, so, to achieve genuine progress, having a specialised agreement that fits that country’s situation makes more sense. Yes, you are right, it will be harder work.

Why did you decide to retire from the role?

I’ve had a very long-running activist involvement in the Avon Gorge – a decade ago I was the Chair of the ClimbBristol project, when, with Martin Crocker as Project Officer, we did a huge amount of rock scaling and re-equipping on the Bristol side of the Gorge. Once the project ended, I carried on those activities on a smaller scale, also from time to time adding in a new route wherever I could find a worthwhile gap. Recently the Climbers Club approached me to ask if I could a supplement to the current Avon Guide – of course that is work in progress.

So when the Area Chair role came up it seemed natural to take that on. On the other hand, being a local activist and doing European stuff at the same time was perhaps a little bit too ambitious. Some excellent new people joined the Sustainability Commission, so that was a good time to step back.

We have a lot of challenges in the South West – access, aged fixed gear, finding committed volunteers, balancing the need for access for climbing and walking with that of nature and conservation. It’s great to move from one set of challenges to another.

In retrospect, how do well do you think the IFSC is doing?

If I was the long-running current IFSC President, Marco Scolaris, I would feel immensely proud that IFSC had managed to establish competition climbing as an Olympic Sport. What has been achieved since IFSC was founded in 2007 is immense, and the sport is growing popularity across the world – look at what has been achieved in Indonesia with two recent Speed Climbing world record holders.

Nevertheless, I think a change at the top has been long overdue. There needs to be a change in the structure so that the IFSC Board does strategy, and the staff are trusted as the Executive. Comms with both national federations and the climbing public need to improve massively. Sustainability needs to be taken on board as a serious strategic necessity. This is why I think we should be backing Tijl Smitz, current IFSC Europe President, to become the new IFSC President for the next term.

Do you have any other involvements?

Do you mean, apart from being a Parish Councillor? Yes, for many years I’ve been highly privileged to work with bird ringers who ring peregrine and raven chicks. I, and other local climbers, use our ropework skills to gain access to their nests when the chicks are at the optimum age for ringing. We bring the chicks to the ringers and put them back again. I'm busy throughout the Spring – first locating nests, then monitoring progress, before deciding with the ringers whether to try to ring or not. This is my contribution to Citizen Science and I love it.

Any final thoughts?

Volunteers! The BMC needs volunteers. We need volunteers of all sorts – to participate in scrub clearance, re-equipping or path work; act as local representatives in working with landowners; in specialist roles advising on our many committees; as members’ representatives on Members Council or the Board.

Over 40+ years as a volunteer, I can say that the BMC has been great for me – my ambition to get stuff done as a volunteer has forced me to learn new skills, go to new places, meet lovely committed people I would otherwise never have met, and take part in discussions that have the shaped the future for climbing world.

The challenges are not over for me – there is still so much more to do in the south-west – only the other day we have started a Community Interest Company to raise funds for re-equipping our climbing venues across the South-West.

If being a BMC volunteer appeals, get stuck in – you’ll love it!