JMCS Centenary Dinner, Carrbridge Hotel, 15 November 2025
Niel Craig.
Attending – Too many to mention by name but 169 individuals representing Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, London and Lochaber as well as guests ain’t too shabby.
This meet was years in the planning and 100 years in the making. It’s not every year a club attains it’s centenary and this event was marked by a remarkable turn out from all the Sections along with friends of the Club and some special guests. The JMCS now stands shoulder to shoulder with only 3 other Scottish mountaineering clubs that can boast a similar pedigree – the Cairngorm Club, the SMC and the LSCC. We are now in a small, select group that have achieved this monumental milestone.
The last time the Club gathered in such numbers was in 1975 at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow where 152 met to celebrate the Club’s Jubilee where they were entertained with speeches from Bill Donaldson, Ben Humble, Bill Murray and Alex Small, with the dinner being chaired by the then Glasgow President Bill Duncan and founders Archie Hutchison and Dick Rutherfurd standing to take a toast to the Guests.
The centenary meet started a day early for me with a Friday pm dash to Raeburn’s with a couple of pals. I’d arranged to get to the hotel early on Saturday to meet my co-organiser from the Edinburgh Section to make sure everything was tickety boo for the main event. Two other members turned up unexpectedly at the hut, keen to check out the conditions in the Northern Corries and we spent a pleasant evening in their company.
I was deposited at the hotel mid-morning, the following day while my companions sped off to bag a hill while I checked in and caught up with some of those who had spent the Friday night at the hotel. A surprisingly large number considering some of those enjoying the hotel hospitality would normally prefer to spend their hard-earned cash on hard liquor rather than waste it on soft hotel beds. My co-organiser duly arrived and we set about checking the venue. All was in order and we relaxed a bit as attendees arrived in dribs and drabs. Some of us even managed a short walk in the woods. The Club roadies arrived and set up the PA and the rolling slide show that featured images from the Club over the past 100 years.
By 6ish there was a real buzz about the place as many had arrived by then and my nerves were getting the better of me. Most were in their finery, and the assembled ranks looked splendid in various tartans, tweeds and silk dresses. And that was just the guys! One or 2 still thought fleece was appropriate for such an event which was a bit disappointing considering the ample communications that had been sent out regarding dress code beforehand! Or photographer arrived at 6pm, as arranged, and got set up for smaller group shots and the big one of all the attendees. Chaos reigned for about an hour and then utter bedlam as our very patient, and now hoarse photographer tried to coax the group into some semblance of order. It does not surprise me that some members get lost on routes and the hill as many did not seem to know their right from their left. Maybe it was just the excitement of the evening.
When I first asked Roddy if he could do a group photo of 170 odds, he boasted that he once took a photo of 488 golden retrievers and didn’t think this job would be any harder. I now wonder if he will, in future, boast to would-be clients about the night he had to herd the JMCS into some semblance of order.
After the photographs were taken, the masses were encouraged to their seats and the top table was piped in by the Glasgow Section’s resident piper. We were fortunate to have had two guest speakers at the top table, both from clubs that had already attained their century, clubs that had, over the years, strong links with the JMCS. Our speakers were from the Ladies Scottish Climbing Club and the Scottish Mountaineering Club. We also had representatives from all the Sections and 2 special guests along with some of their family members. The latter forming a direct link to our founders back in 1925. When I started researching material for the JMCS Anthology I was fortunate to be able to track down the daughters of Dick Rutherfurd and Archie Hutchison, two of our founders. Living in Kirkcudbright, Dick’s daughter and Archie’s daughter were very helpful in providing material that fleshed out the early history of the Club. I was delighted that they both agreed to take part in the celebrations and join us at the top table. It was particularly fitting given that Dick and Archie were guests at the 50th anniversary celebrations and proposed a toast to the Club back then.
We were wined and dined and I think most were happy with the choices, quantity and quality of the food. For some reason I’d lost my appetite as I had the small matter of addressing an audience of 168 looming. Fortunately, it was a friendly and receptive audience, there was little, if any heckling from the floor and I’d done my homework. With my main event over, we were entertained by a talk about LSCC/JMCS connections over the years and an amusing tale of camels, donkeys, horses and dodgy river crossings in far flung regions.
All that was left was for me to thank the attendees, the guests and everyone else who made the night a success and to leave the last words to out 2 VIP guests who proposed toasts to the Club. Archie’s daughter a poem written by her father and Dick’s daughter closed the evening with the following words –
“100 years ago, my father, Dick Rutherfurd, and his cousin Archie Hutchison, joined their friend Arthur Rusk to found the Junior Mountaineering Club of Scotland. They loved their climbing. I still have a vivid memory of my father, years later (as a Kirkcudbright doctor after the war) setting off on one of their climbing trips in winter weather and thick clothes with a determined expression on his face – my mother slightly anxiously waving goodbye. It is also a proud memory, so now I raise a toast to those days – in anticipation of the NEXT 100 years.”
And that was just about it for the next 100 years. Drinks were drunk, new friends made and plans were hatched for joint meets (there was a lot of talk about this once we realised that members from the other Sections didn’t have two heads and had the same interests as us).
All in all, it was a successful evening, everyone enjoyed themselves and there were no major cockups. What else could you ask for after 100 years?