PyB – A Pig in a Government Poke or, the Mountain Trough.
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
May 21, 2010: ‘The new government made-up of Conservative and Liberal Democrats have just announced a £65million saving by dismantling Quangos. Sport England and UK Sport are among the list of British quangos. Sport England of course, created the rolling con-tract for the cobbled together MTT / BMC at Plas-y-Brenin, NorthWales in 1996 (against the requirements set-out in an EU Directive) along with £450,000of subsidies with which to compete on the open market for outdoor pursuit courses. The dismantling of quangos was first mooted in 2001 after the investigation into Sport England (2001) who were under scrutiny after the Wimbledon Stadium fiasco.
In the mid 1980′s while the BMC ‘were reacting’ to complaints by the Association of British Mountain Guides (BMG) regarding ‘bogus mountain guides’ , the BMG played host to a climber and UIAGM guide with past, Nazi connections, at Plas y Brenin… There was no reaction to this visiting climber from the – BMC…
‘PyB- A Pig in a Government Poke or, the Mountain Trough’: ‘Faced with a loss of moral the Advisory Committee of Plas y Brenin lobbied the government in order to block the transfer of PyB to – Glendale Leisure…’: Dirty Tricks in High Places. ‘As a centre of sporting excellence Plas-y-Brenin is a failure. For the Sports Council to class it as a centre of excellence, was a piece of bureaucratic stupidity.’, so wrote Chris Mellor, in his article (OTE April, 1995): ‘PyB – a Pig in a Government Poke.’ He went on to write: ‘The Sports Council ran the place at a tremendous loss – £450,000 a year…’ What he did not write; mention, was that PyB at the time of those substantial losses, was in fact, already run by members of the Association of British Mountain Guides (!) – BMG (a succession of them). The Sports Council were so ‘pleased with a some what tremendous loss’, apparently, that it decided to award the same BMG / and now bolt loving BMC (MTT Date of Incorporation – 17/09/1996) with a rolling contract (means keep changing the goal-posts) that includes a annual grant of £450,000 per annum of taxpayers money – plus a English Sports grant of £234,000 to ‘improve accommodation’ in 2005 and another £274,000 for ‘work’ on the – accommodation block in 2008.
And yet, the original adverts (in 1995) from the then Sports Council were quite specific: ‘The Sports Council is tendering a management lease for the operation of Plas y Brenin. Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced operators for inclusion on the select list of tenders to manage the Centre. The lease will be for a fixed period from the – 1st April, 1996. Operators should apply in writing by 12 noon September 1995. The lease will be let in accordance with EC Directive 92/50 (CPC reference number 96413). Financial tenders must be submitted in pounds sterling.’ The BMC’s first application was turned down, amongst others, in favour of – Glendale Leisure.
‘Top Tips on Bolts’: http://www.pyb.co.uk/information/top-tips/top-tips-lowering.phpPyB’s, the MTT’s involvement; contribution to the insidious practise of bolting a practise that flies in the face of the centre’s – Enviro Diary…
This meant that contrary to the normal safeguards required when dishing-out government con-tracts, apparently, no rigorous checks were made into the cobbled-together Mountain Training Trust (MMT) to ensure that the British tax-payer’s were getting value for their money (nothing new there then).
And yet, Plas-y-Brenin still went on to publish: ‘A New Beginning for PyB. On the 1st of January 1997 (two years late), the Sports Council awarded the management contract for PyB (originally to Glendale Leisure in 1995) to the Mountain Training Trust (MMT). MMT is a registered charity (of course) set up by the pro bolting British Mountaineering Council, the Mountain Leader Training Board and the United Kingdom Mountain Training Board. For the first time ever (?) the National Mountain Training Centre is under the direct management of the key National Representative Bodies (but would be governing) involved at Plas-y-Brenin. This is our first full brochure since we took over and I hope that you agree that we have continued where the Sports Council left of…’ !?
Fifteen years previously the then General Secretary of the British Mountaineering Council, Dennis Gray wrote: ‘PyB was a needless waste of money that could well be spent elsewhere. People learning to climb did not need such palatial premises from which to train.’ He went on to talk about vested interests etc., etc.
The way in which the contract was awarded is curious and yet typical. In 1995, the PyB contract was advertised to the highest bidder in pounds sterling, the deadline, September, 1995. The BMC / BMG failed to meet the requirements needed and the contract lease, was awarded to – Glendale Leisure. But then ‘something happened’. That ‘something’ cut right across the EC Directive: ‘Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced operators for – inclusion on the select list of tenders to manage the centre.’ The Mountain Training Trust, the final (somehow new) management at PyB was made up of individuals who had been ‘managing’ the centre for the previous twenty years at least – at a tremendous loss… People in the climbing Establishment were told to ‘shut up (one magazine states: by Ian MacNaught Davis)’ whilst ‘delicate negotiation’s were taking place – no, not between The Sports Council and Glendale Leisure (the preferred bidder initially) but, the now cobbled together, Mountain Training Trust (BMC / BMG / MLTB: ‘Faced with a loss of moral at Plas y Brenin, the Advisory Committee of PyB took the step of lobbying the government in order to block the transfer to – Glendale Leisure (page 50 of the booklet: ‘This Splendid Enterprise’)’. You couldn’t make it-up. The Sports Council advert was originally offered under the guidance of an EC Directive when in fact, it was a farce… Nothing new there then. The PyB booklet also ironically, makes reference to: ‘less scrupulous operators’ and ‘weeding out the unscrupulous’…blah, blah, blah. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
There is of course another version of events – the 69 page booklet: ‘This Splendid Enterprise’ – The First Fifty Years of Plas-y-Brenin The (so-called) National Mountain Centre”, by Lyndsay King (2006) ISBN 978-0-9554675-0-9. Publishers: The Mountain Training Trust er, Plas y Brenin. Price: £9:99p. PyB, This Splendid Enterprise, sponsors the bolting of UK cliffs and crags under the guise of: http://www.safercliffs.org/code/photos.html Yes, the BMC and the MTT are both – Charities: ‘Just what does the Charity Commission (not another quango) do with the 30m pound sterling – plus it receives each year from the government presiding as it does, over a £39m sector of 190,000 charities surely requires a strict watchdog to protect all those ‘well-meant’ donations – financial shenanigans might suggest otherwise.’ Private Eye, issue 1161, 23 June, 2006, issue 1161…
‘Learn to climb through your letterbox.’?
Learning to climb through your own letterbox may not have occurred to potential clients of the Association of British Mountain Guides (BMG) and their latest PyB advert, but it may well have whetted their appetite. Some kind of dietary instruction prior to this climbing course is obviously essential. Similar misleading full and half page (PyB need to waste £27,000 on advertising in order to survive on an annual grant of £450,000) advertising has emanated from PyB in recent years certainly since it was given £450,000 (£6,000,000 since 1996) to waste annually.
‘We liked the place (PYB) so much – we bought it’?, was another misleading half page advert in specialist magazines at the time. The advert is not true! PyB, was given away for nil consideration (the Sports Council maintained – via letter – that the Mountain Trust’s bid was almost as high as Glendale Leisure’s – the amount, if this is true, has never been published to the public – the taxpayer) by the then Sports Council. Potential clients considering taking a climbing course at PyB (that Pillar of learning) might be interested in some of the back ground to the multi-million pound centre. Some principled people, may not wish to be trained by a centre that does not have a perfect safety record. Certainly, you may be interested in the attitude of the people who acquired the management lease of PyB in 1997 (as usual through the back door)and how they accomplished it.
In 1984, Dennis Gray the then general Secretary of the British Mountaineering Council criticised the waste, the disproportional spending of public resources which would have been better and more need fully employed elsewhere than on PyB. Fifteen years later, that waste of public money is still being accepted by – step forward – the British Mountaineering Council now a member of the newly and hastily formed Mountain Training Trust (MTT). Today, the public contributes, and the MMT takes, £450,000 towards supposed subsidised training courses at PyB. In 1985, the then Sports Council stated on more than one occasion: that it did not support the ‘commercial activities’ of the BMC and the supposedly autonomous – BMG.
In 1985, Plas y Brenin played host (invited by the Association of British Guides) to the ex-Nazi climber and UIAGM guide who was on the first ascent of the North face of the Eiger along with another Nazi climber Heinrich Harrar both – sponsored by the German Nazi regime in 1938 (all Jewish climbers had by this time been banned from German / Austrian climbing clubs).
Dennis Gray: “The socio-enconomic groups which chiefly make use of PyB are middle-class; comfortably off, there are also people who have a vested interest – who work at PyB (members of the BMG and members of that other commercial organisation the Association of British Mountaineering Instructors (AMI) and those who have enjoyed their subsidised holiday at the place, will defend the status quo.” He also thought PyB to be a very extravagant, large, unwieldy institution which catered for far beyond what is necessary; a centre that goes against the whole background of climbing. He, like many others, knew that people wishing to learn to climb did not/do not need to have subsidised, state-sponsored instruction from luxury accommodation.
According to the BMC’s 1976 ‘Future Policy Document’: ‘…it is inappropriate for the BMC as a supposed, representative (but-would-be-governing-body) to actively seek increased participation in the sport.’ And yet, the Sports Council and the BMC almost immediately, started to advertise; enticing young people to (PyB) participate (thus deliberately creating a multi million pound market – for themselves) in a potentially dangerous sport. It mattered not, that young people would die prematurely. Even after the introduction of the Young Persons Safety Act in 1995, that enticement continues.
After a court-case in 1999 it was effectively held by the judge that those bodies who govern sport must take full responsibility for the safety of that sports participants. The fact that is was a non-profit making organisation did not absolve that organisation from responsibility (Law Gazette). On the 14 Dec, 2002, The Daily Mail highlighted the multi million pound compensation claim against the Welsh Rugby Union by an injured player.
In the BMC’s book: ‘The First Fifty Year’s, on page 77, the BMC quite clearly considered itself to be just that (the sports governing body): ‘The plan was presented to the Sports Council in early 1990 at a time when grants to governing bodies were supposedly being cut back, we considered ourselves fortunate to be offered (another) £110.000 (of taxpayers money) for the next four years…’ Since 1990, far too many young climbers have been killed and seriously injured both members and none members of the BMC alike. Included in that number (the true number may be never be known due to a wall-of-silence) are numerous mountain clients four of whom, were killed in a multiple BMG fatality (the guide of course and as usual – survived) under a Scottish avalanche on the 28 December, 1998.
Regardless of Dennis Gray’s supposed view of PyB, it became quite obvious in 1995 that the BMC had been watching PyB with envious eyes… How did the BMC, who thought that PyB was a needless waste of public money that could be more need fully spent elsewhere, finally manage to acquire it? How did a BMG guide; an ex Director of Plas-y-Brenin, manage to loose three clients in an avoidable mountaineering accident in 1992? Many questions – but no answers.
In 1995, the Management Lease for PyB was advertised in several specialist magazines. The tender, was offered under an EC Directive and Tenders were supposed to lodged by a certain date and in – £ Sterling. The initial ‘tender’ from the British Mountaineering Council was rejected. By the designated time, The Sports Council had chosen – Glendale Leisure of Preston, Lancashire. It was then that the BMC’s ‘dirty tricks’ started (a page of other dirty tricks is being compiled) against Glendale. Glendale Leisure was castigated in print – they did not have enough experience. A perfect safety record but, not enough experience. So why did the Sports Council originally choose them? Once again questions but – no answers.
An article in High Mountain Sport included comments from – Roger Payne (BMG – of course) the then General Secretary of the BMC: ‘What we seem to be getting (Glendale Leisure managing PyB) is a company with experience in gardening and running gymnasia’.’ The same Roger Payne, who after being involved in ruining Glendale’s chance of running PyB along with£450,000 of governments grants, has since left the BMC and, furthering his own – career, has become the first Sports and Development Director of the UIAA. Glendale Leisure were treated with total disregard as have many other organisations offering services to – climbers. This pattern of BMC officers ruining; interfering in, damaging other peoples prospects; careers, whilst ‘feathering their own nest’s is typical of the BMC and the BMG who run PyB with government assistance -
to the tune of at least £450,000 anually, £6,000,000 since 1996.
Plas-y-Brenin’s/BMC’s commercial, financial assistance was improved upon at the English / Sports Council’s, 6th September, 1999 meeting where, the members discussed and then approved – a rolling contract until the year – 2006 for the Mountain Training Trust. No doubt, this has since been extended thus allowing PyB to compete quite nicely in the outdoor pursuit industry for the foreseeable future.
That elderly people are dying on hospital trolley’s, severely disabled people are not receiving proper care and attention, their care cut and carers being allowed to become prematurely ill and die and the government, via a quango, (cancer sufferers being denied life saving drugs – according to NICE – they are too expensive) can ensure that the MTT – will receive at least, £450,000 anually…beggars belief!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plas_y_Brenin
The July 2009 issue of Private Eye looks into the financial problems facing another mountain project financed through an EC Directive, the Cairngorm Mountain Railway (the BMC and others tried to get; lobbied strongly for the project to fail calling it, a White Elephant) mentions that an ex-President of the BMC was in fact involved, Alan Blackshaw apparently, eventually resigned over the affair. Because the scheme was not set-up properly in 1999 the EC are asking for their money back. I wonder if the same committee will look at the Plas y Brenin take over in 1996 under a similar – EC Directive and ask – for its money back?
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