OUSGG’s Winter Walking™. A week long institution full of faffing, Thomas’ porridge, crossword solving, frequent insults and overuse of the word ‘random’. Oh, I believe we did some walking as well. "But what’s it REALLY all about?" I hear you ask. Well, my curious (and slightly patronising) friend, let me tell you:

Sunday: OUSGG arrive at a small bunkhouse in Nant Peris, Stephen having driven some 600 miles en route. Widespread annoyance on finding we haven’t brought a stereo with us. Presently, Matthew hits on the solution of going to Argos, buying a cheap stereo, and then returning it at the end of the week, for a full refund. Although we think his morals are slightly dubious, he does this, and we have music for the rest of the week.

Monday: Jo wakes up and immediately says "Katrina’s just reminded me of something horrible," creating a fair amount of disbelief among those of us who think Katrina looks lovely first thing in the morning. Luckily, it transpires that Jo was just talking about the fact that she had just been reminded to brush her hair. The short-walk group is a popular choice. Our forest walk around Betws-y-Coed is turned into something of a scramble when David’s "stop at every junction and work out which way to turn" navigation technique gives way to Stephen’s "just find a nearby path and follow it" after lunch.

Tuesday: The long-walk group decided to scale Snowdon, dashed up to the summit, and were home for 2:30. The short-walkers ran into driving hail, wind, and walking across hills sideways (thanks Katrina!), and returned closer to 5pm. The Aber Falls are pretty stunning though.

Wednesday: OUSGG, in an unusual co-operative mood, went for a short, very soggy, tramp down a RUPP (ask David) near Capel Curig. Despite protests from Hugh, most of us insisted on stopping for lunch. Afterwards, Gareth found a gear-shop and promptly vanished for a few hours. Alison mentioned that she likes men in uniform; I wonder if there’s a Naval Outfitters nearby....

Thursday: While the long-walk group attacked the Glyders, the short-walkers set off with the aim of climbing about two-thirds of Snowdon. Due to an untimely bout of very good weather (sun!), they made it all the way to the top. Richard and I were sneered at for being touristy for the day, but visited Sygun copper mines and Llanfair-pwllgynngyllgogerychwrbndrobwllllantysilio-gogogoch (Japanese people can’t say this) anyway.

New Year’s celebrations followed an excellent meal at the pub down the road. They were typically fun, and culminated in one hardcore group taking an impromtu walk, and Mike attempting the stupidest climb in existence.

Friday: Hangovers were dominant, and the weather was foul, so we set off in three different cars to do some random driving. No-one actually walked any further than the distance between the car park and the tea-shop.

Saturday: Everyone except Jo, Gareth and Richard (who were later found huddled together in the drying room how queer!) opted for the long-walk. A scenic and fun ramble from Rhyd-Ddu to Beddgelert was diverted only by Thomas insisting on climbing peaks, and Mike walking through water-pipes. Hugh won the comedy-falling-over competition with seven out of ten, although Matthew’s accident with a stile and a wire fence should result in some enforced celibacy. Spirited singing towards the end of the route failed to dampen our spirits, and we hit Beddgelert during the late afternoon.

Sunday: The majority of us left early, and missed the beautiful weather that always follows the departure of hikers and climbers. There was even snow on the peaks that day.

Thomas tries a spot of climbing in Cwm Cneitio

Chair’s Address

Dear All,

Welcome back and a Happy New year to you all! I hope that those of you who went on Winter Walking™ had a great time, and those of us who didn’t never regretted not going... Wow! This is scary - I’ve never, ever, written anything for Postscript before, always running in the opposite direction whenever Matthew has dropped hints on the subject. Oh well! He got me now... even if this is after the deadline as I got a bit stressed about Collections... and the termcard... silly me!

Sorting out what activities the group will be doing this term has been fun, especially when I didn’t know whether some of them would even be possible the day before the termcard went to print, or even a few days after that! [I know the feeling - Ed.] Hopefully you’ll all enjoy what I’ve got planned. Starting with the tea-tasting, we’ll be trying some new ideas and old favourites - well, we can’t forget Erik’s birthday, can we? The 1500^th meeting is in 6^th week and should be the highlight of the term - once the planning stage is completed. :-) Phantom in 8^th week should also be good as we have good, cheap seats - but we’ll have to wait and see whether this proves to be true or not.

Vicki

News of Forthcoming Activities:

SSAGO Rally - End of 6th Week

Of the replies to Chris’ email about trips, nearly all said "I’ll go to the rally if other people are going." Honestly, you're like primary school children. Right, well I'm going, since I’m meeting other people there. So stop listening to people who’ve never even been on a rally being negative about it, and read on.

So what’s this rally then?
Well SSAGO, in case you've forgotten, is the Student Scout and Guide Organisation, the nationwide version of OUSGG. So the SSAGO Rally is a chance to meet up with other student scouts and guides, from university clubs and also individual members. It’s a weekend event held every term, but due to clashes with other trips and general apathy, we've not gone for a while.

What will be happening?
We’ll go on Friday evening, which is just a social evening, though other events may be organised then. There is a variety of activities on the Saturday, I’ll let you know what they’ll be later. In the past there’s been pretty much everything, climbing to crafts, archery to ‘cultural trips’, or maybe walking in the area. It’s been said that OUSGG trips can be restricted to those people who like climbing hills, but not this one, there should be something for everyone. The main Saturday evening event is a barn dance (if you've never done it, it’s more fun than it sounds), followed by a campfire. On Sunday morning, there's an optional Scout & Guide's Own, then ‘Silly Games’ before the closing ceremony.

I’ve been to Scout Rallies before, what’s different about this one?
Nothing I hope! OK, so I’ve not been to SSAGO rallies before, so I can only assume it’s similar to the Ventures’ yearly Cheshire Gathering. That’s always a very popular event, and a chance to meet old and new friends. I’m intending to go to the rally anyway this time, since there are friends from elsewhere I’m meeting, but I’d far rather there was a group of us.

How much will it cost?
That'll depend on how we get there, which depends on who’s going! It’s in Sheffield this year, so it’s not too far to travel. Catering is done centrally, so that's part of the rally cost. It should be about the same as a normal weekend trip, say £20. I’m not asking for money yet, just numbers. More details will be coming soon.

Joanne Miller, Wadham College
(SSAGO Representative)

Eclipse ‘99

You will doubtless have heard that there will be a total eclipse of the sun on 11^th August 1999. The path of the eclipse umbra will pass through part of the British Isles, namely Cornwall and south Devon, giving a total eclipse in these areas and a partial eclipse over much of the Britain. This may be an amazing site to behold, with night in the day, the sun's plume like corona and an all round sunset for a few minutes, alternatively (about 50-50 chance) it will be overcast and will just bring back a fleeting memory of short winter days. Many OUSGG members might be interested in seeing the eclipse and enjoying a break in the southwest, with lots of eclipse parties and events planned. Hence a trip might be a good idea. BUT...

1. Getting into and out of Cornwall will be very difficult, within the eclipse week expect to take 24hrs min by car!, trains are sparse.
2. Facilities are going to be at full stretch so the water/sewerage supplies may run out in some areas.
3. Movement by road within the area will be difficult.
4. Decent campsites have been booked up already.
5. Normal tourist activities/facilities will be overburdened with excess people.
6. Troubles increase further west, nearer the centre of totality (maximum length of eclipse).

These difficulties could be overcome but it would mean at least a week-long stay in non-ideal conditions, so alternatives include:

1. Doing just that, in the Newquay area. Probably minimum £80cost, exc. transport.
2. Going to Plymouth area, which is much easier to get to and still gets 1min 39sec of Eclipse.
3. Going to Iraq, centre of totality and unlikely to be flooded with visitors!

Editorial

This issue, the seventh I have produced, marks the half-way point in my year-and-a-bit as editor. You may well have noticed that the length of my editorials has been gradually decreasing, so I have decided to do something about that and rectify the situation. I was tempted to start including a couple of paragraphs from my dissertation in each issue, but there are easier ways of getting kicked out of office, such as borrowing large sums of money from the Paymaster General. Fortunately I decided the better of it.

In the past there has been a tradition that the first editorial of Hilary Term contains something of a controversial nature with the intention of ensuring a steady supply of letters to the editor for the next few issues. You might have to look back a couple of years to find evidence of this, but I’m not making it up!

Now, not being one to put the cat among the pigeons, I had a bit of trouble coming up with a suitable topic. A number of possibilities spring to mind: should we undertake activities, such as difficult walks in extremely poor weather conditions, which may prove to be beyond the capabilities of the participants? How involved should OUSGG be with local Scouts and Guides? Is the World Wide Web purely a means of disseminating textual information primarily for academics, or is it the creative medium for the 21^st century, with potential as a powerful marketing tool? Should we sell OUSGG as primarily a group that does outdoor activities or do we admit to doing things like line dancing occasionally? Is it safe to let people travel in Ben’s car?

Unfortunately, nearly all of these have been done to death already. Whilst thinking about this issue, however, I remembered a conversation with Hugh, Mike and Thomas one day during Winter Walking™, when we ware talking about the OU Rambling and Hill Walking Club, newly renamed the OU Walking Club, and the fact that they have something like a couple of hundred members.

By comparison we are quite small. We also have substantially fewer members than, for example, CUSAGC. Does this matter? Each year we make a concerted effort to recruit as many freshers as possible, each year worrying that no-one will join, but usually ending up with a reasonable number of committed members. One of the distinguishing features of OUSGG is that it really is what the members make it: whether it be primarily a walking club or, as it was (thankfully) many years ago, a Scottish dancing society. This is most evident in the fact that our diverse programme is chosen each term by one of our members reflecting his or her own interests. Would this work with a much larger group?

A group like OUWC exists, basically, to provide a minibus somewhere every weekend and occasionally to organise a larger trip, acting effectively as a travel agent. I may of course be wrong, never having been involved with OUWC apart from going on a freshers’ walk once upon a time, but I suspect I’m not too far off the mark. Fortunately, the rather clichéd phrase "fun for all, friends for life" has now been gracefully retired from our advertising, but despite its uncanny resemblance with the Beaver motto it does sort of sum up the ‘something extra’ which we might claim to have over larger societies.

Although I’m not usually one for asserting our superiority over the Tabs, this magazine itself is an example that ‘size doesn’t matter’. Postscript is produced three times a term, whereas CUSAGC only manage one issue per term of their magazine Sky Blue. This is a reflection not just of the editors’ hard work (!) but also of how active the group is and the willingness (notwithstanding the letter below) of people to write articles.

Over the last couple of years our ‘marketing strategy’ has undergone something of a facelift, and despite what I’ve said about numbers not being everything, I think a high quality recruitment campaign is vitally important - not so that we can have a group the size of OUWC (or even CUSAGC), but rather to ensure that the people who share our ethos and should join do actually end up joining.

At the risk of being controversial I would say that this is where the emphasis - probably in Scouting and Guiding in general, as well as in OUSGG - should lie. Provided enough people join to keep the group going (and enough membership subscriptions come in to keep it afloat financially!), it is better to have a smaller group with a common ethos than a much larger group where this may not be the case. Opinions to be sent to the Editor!

Perhaps you’d prefer some maths next time.

Letters

Dear Sir,

I was most upset not to be able to attend this year's Winter Walking, and feel I should explain my reasons to the group. As you know, I have been living with Sarah since the beginning of Michaelmas term, and since she was not going on the trip, I was hoping to be able to travel with another member. Unfortunately, I found myself completely forgotten about, and with no means of reaching Snowdonia. Virgin railways, you understand, are particularly strict about pandas travelling alone. Would you believe they would have made me go in the guard's van? I thought of travelling by post, but I didn't like the idea of having stamps stuck all over me. Hitchhiking was obviously too dangerous for a lone panda, so I finally resigned myself to celebrating New Year away from OUSGG. I can only hope that in future my term-time hosts will be going to all the trips, and I will be able to go too.

On a more cheerful note, I see that this term's rally, in Sheffield, will be in 6th week, so shouldn't clash with a mid-term trip. It'll be a good opportunity for me to meet up with old friends. Katrina will be along with Durham's SSAGO club, and of course there'll be all the others, Bath, Bristol, Manchester and so on, not forgetting the Tabs. It's not far to travel, so I hope lots of you will come with me, and if we don't like the activities we can always go walking in the Peaks.

Just before that is my birthday, and Vicki's promised to organise a party for me. It'll be near pancake day, so we'll have lots of lovely food, and all OUSGG's invited of course!

Yours faithfully,

Dear Sir,

Damn you. When aren't there articles due in?

Jo

The OUSGG Style Guide

Those at Winter Walking™ will remember evenings spent in the bunkhouse wearing all the jumpers you had. You may find it hard to believe that those same people, who committed such a terrible fashion faux pas every evening, became real style gurus the following morning. But, according to those in the know, a complete transformation took place every morning as those out-dated garments were discarded in favour of clothing at the cutting edge of fashion... yes, we're talking walking clothes!

(Left: OUSGG proudly displays its own unique stile)
It seems that the late 1990s have heralded an era when walking clothes are, all of a sudden, fashionable. Go down into any high street nowadays and you see the youths- about-town wearing many-pocketed walking trousers (or combat trousers). Fleeces are also to be found in excess. Everyone seems to have a fleece now, from the trendy young clubber to your own granny! Chances are though that a large percentage of those fleeces (particularly those in shades of yellow and orange) have never even been seen on a hill. It is even possible to trace a trend for hiking boots. A few years ago big, clompy shoes were all the rage (and to an extent they still are). The large, brown, lace-up varieties were particularly reminiscent of hiking boots, but I doubt that they came with a free sachet of G-Wax!

It should really come as no surprise to you all that OUSGG is in fact such a trend setting group. Members of the group have always felt that they should conform to the OUSGG fashion policy, to the extent that certain members have the same rucksacks, hiking boots, trousers, multi-purpose shoes, gloves etc. etc. And then of course there's all those group members that choose the same style and design (and even same colour) of sweatshirt! How long before we see the OUSGG sweatshirt on the catwalks of Paris and New York?

1.

2.

1. View along the Llanberis valley. 2. Descending from Bwlch Tryfan, with Tryfan in the back-ground.

© 1999 Oxford University Scout and Guide Group