GLOUCESTERSHIRE Mountaineering Club opens new facilities and encourages other local groups to use them. Gloucestershire Mountaineering Club (GMC) is celebrating the opening of its extended and refurbished facilities, which were partly funded by a £50,000 National Lottery grant from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Olympic and Paralympic legacy fund. 33 members attended a launch party at the hostel-style accommodation in Snowdonia, which provides Gloucestershire mountaineers with low cost accommodation in one of the key areas for the sport in the UK. The highlight of the event was a cake made and decorated by one of the members showing a map of Snowdonia with each mountain picked out – helping members to recall previous epic climbs and plan future activities!

During the project the living/dining area was extended into a former bunkroom and two new bunkrooms were built to maintain the same number of beds. The drying facilities for wet clothes and outdoor equipment were also improved – a key requirement given changeable mountain weather.

The changes make the facility suitable for groups which introduce young people to outdoor pursuits. GMC President David Pillow is keen to encourage other outdoor and youth groups in the county to take advantage of the refurbished accommodation and interested organisations can contact the club for more information by visiting www.thegmc.org.uk or emailing the bookings secretary hut@thegmc.org.uk. “When it began, mountaineering was only for the upper classes and facilities such as ours were set up to enable the rest of society to pursue the sport too,” explains David. “We bought the hut as a pair of tumbledown cottages 50 years ago and until now club members have carried out most of the maintenance and improvements in their spare time. “The Olympic legacy grant has enabled us to create a fantastic facility for the GMC and other groups to use as a base for exploring the mountains and to introduce new generations to mountaineering and outdoor pursuits. We really want to thank Sport England and the National Lottery for the investment that has made these improvements possible.”

The GMC’s hut is on the edge of the small village of Deiniolen, approximately 3 miles from Llanberis. It sleeps 18, although smaller bookings are also welcomed, and there is often availability at short notice.