A humbling week.
18th Feb 2013
A week or so back I had a pretty humbling time and I thought I’d write a few words about it. First off Lissa and I met with David Rutley MP at his constituency in Macclesfield. It’s not every day you get to chat with an MP. We were discussing various Macclesfield based event ideas. David is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Outdoor Activities, also helping to spearhead the Britain On Foot campaign and a thoroughly nice chap. Coincidentally the APPG met a few days after our meeting with David and Buxton’s Andrew Bingham MP discussed, in Parliament no less, the Buxton Adventure Festival. It was a proud moment for us both (Lissa and I) to get a bone fide mention in the big green room. Initially I didn’t think much to it, but when Dave Mycroft of MyOutdoors posted a short video of the relevant bit online and I watched it with my wife, who jumped up and down in excitement, I felt quite proud. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, I was invited up to the Lake District to sit in on the annual Nick Estcourt Award trustee meeting where Sir Chris Bonington, Doug Scott, Paul Braithwaite, Carolyn Estcourt, Tom Estcourt, Mick Fowler, John Peck, Doug Scott, Martin Wragg decide which of the applicants is the worthy winner of the annual award of £1,500. Alas Tom and Paul were absent due to illness, but the rest of the esteemed group were there. I was invited because some time ago now I built the award a website, and have since then, administered the applications as they trickle in, sent out press releases, and generally supported the cause. Suffice to say it was a very enjoyable evening, despite the fact that I was late thanks to a wrong turn on the dreaded M61. Chris is a remarkable fellow, At 79 he’s was up and down from the table serving food and replenishing drinks (the meeting was hosted in his lovely house), involved in all the conversations going on, and an absolute natural leader when it came to chairing the meeting and making some decisions. When he asked what we planned to do the following day – we had decided to make it a family weekend away – I said we were planning on taking the boys for a walk and asked for his recommendation. He suggested an ascent of Catbells just outside Keswick where we were staying, which proved to be the perfect outing for a 4 and a 6 year old. A rather nice weekend to finish of a pretty cool week.