Wet in the Westmorland Dales

I figure if I keep using this new name it will slowly sink into my subconscious. So far not so much though.

Back in Cumbria and the sunshine has deserted us. I had a meeting of the Climbing Wall Manufacturers Association - at each meeting for a few years now Ive politely suggested that they wind it up, but they always decide to continue. They pay me a small retainer and we meet for coffee and cake twice a year - its an odd little organisation but they seem to value it. Today i had to pass on the sad news that the founder, the owner of the first ever commercial climbing wall building company in the world has closed the business down after over 40 years - he's 89 now and terminally ill.
Few will ever have heard of DR Climbing Walls - Don was never a seeker of fame, nor was he a known climber looking to support a lifestyle - 'simply' a physical education lecturer with a good engineering eye. Many of todays climbers owe him a debt of gratitude that they'll never know - when he first chipped and then shaped bricks in a corridor at Leeds University no-one could of foreseen the way that climbing would develop, that 4 decades later more people would climb indoors each week than outside - he probably did more to advance climbing performance standards than anyone else i can think of. A lovely gentleman.
I do very little for that retainer each month (& thats how they like it) but im more than pleased that today we decided to put together an article to record the significance of Don's achievements. I think they should be recorded for posterity and I'm honoured to be asked, hopefully I have enough contacts to make sure we get it published and Don gets a little recognition at the end of his days. Ive asked his daughter who thinks he'll be thrilled - being a Yorkshireman i doubt he'll show it.

Just for Jerra - I put my 'steps' on the last 4 days blips, and a few of you commented. Well today was 4k!!