Letters
Ilkley
October 1995
Dear Editor,
I have read, with great interest, the article ‘Gaping Gill and the Mysterious Miss Booth June 1906’
I knew Miss Mary Booth quite well. Her father, Harry Blamires Booth, was a Bradford Wool Merchant who came from Ryhill, south-east of Wakefield and called his house in Ben Rhydding ‘Ryhill’.
Mary Booth, whilst somewhat eccentric, travelled the world and her house, which I visited, was stacked with papers, books and mementoes of her travels including Cambodia. She was about my age and could not possibly have made a descent of Gaping Gill in 1906, more than two years before I was born!
I am sure, therefore, that she can be eliminated from the enquiry.
Who was Mrs Boyes?
With kind regards,
Sincerely
Arnold N. Patchett
Dear Editor,
May I crave the hospitality of your columns to comment on John Barton’s letter.
There used to be a ‘Yorkshire Climbers Mountaineering Club’. Some of its members are now in the YRC, others joined YMC when it changed its title from ‘Junior Mountaineering Club of Yorkshire’. So why not call ourselves ‘The Yorkshire Ramblers Mountaineering Club”? We would still be the “Yorkshire Ramblers” but whenever the club’s name had to be written or cited at length our mountaineering aspect would be quite clearly conveyed. I feel for our cavers but to include caving or pot-holing in our name would in my submission make it too unwieldy. After all Craven Pothole Club mountaineers and Gritstone Club does, or did, explore caves and you don’t find many potholes in gritstone.
Of course, it might upset the YMC if we adopted my suggestion and here I had better come clean and admit that what I would really like to see, and not just because it would save me a subscription, is a merger. This would solve our name problem and mightily alleviate our demographic problem at a stroke. Unfortunately I can see two massive objections. First, it would be difficult to persuade the YMC to take on a club with so few assets. Second, it would mean bringing women into the new merged club, though it doesn’t seem to have done the Alpine Club any harm.
On the subject of ladies, I understand that the voting at the Special meeting was 60-40 against their admission. Would it not be equitable therefore to have 40% of the meets open?
Yours sincerely,
Bill Todd.