Following a strong reaction to our rebranding announcement in July, and after a period of consultation with members, the BMC has now made the decision not to rebrand as Climb Britain.
During the first three weeks of September the BMC held twelve consultation meetings across England and Wales to explain the thinking behind Climb Britain and listen to members’ views and concerns. Each meeting was attended by at least one senior BMC official or staff member (president, director, CEO or Deputy CEO), and our National Council met on 17 September to review the feedback; written comments from individuals and clubs were also taken into account in this process.
A strong consensus emerged in the meetings and as a result we can now confirm that National Council has formally decided that the BMC will not be rebranding as Climb Britain. During the consultation process there was also general support for the idea of Climb Britain being put to some other use within the BMC, e.g. as a promotional campaign or marketing initiative; over the next two months we will be assessing the options before reporting back to National Council in December.
We have learnt some very important lessons from this experience – not least that members feel a strong sense of ownership in the BMC and want to be actively involved with major organisational decisions. The BMC is an unusually diverse organisation with a rich heritage and a dedicated workforce of staff and volunteers. We remain strong and healthy and will continue to do our utmost to represent the wide range of activities within our overall ‘mountaineering’ remit – be it hill walking, bouldering, competition climbing, ski mountaineering, indoor climbing, traditional or sport climbing and all aspects of winter mountaineering and ice climbing.
With special thanks to all those who have contributed their thoughts and opinions over the past two months.
Best regards
Redan Siddiqui – BMC President
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