Outdoor Focus Spring 2018 | Page 3

News New members Tom Richardson After a Scottish and Alpine apprenticeship, Tom Richardson began climbing in the Himalaya in 1979. Since that time he has climbed extensively around the world and has been on twice as many trips to the Greater Ranges as his age. This includes seven expeditions to 8000m peaks across the Himalaya and Karakoram, both leading commercial groups and climbing with friends. His favourite trip is, he says, usually the one he has just come back from, irrespective of whether it is from a remote corner of Mongolia or Pakistan or leading a commercial group on a Trekking Peak in Nepal. Tom is married to Janet and lives in Sheffi eld, England. John Sutcliff e I was born in Doncaster in 1944 and spent most of my childhood in the Yorkshire railway village of Hellifi eld. My freedom to roam alone from the age of nine or ten, and my love of the countryside that developed in those early years was a big infl uence in my later life. I studied geology at the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, London. This led to a career as an exploration geologist in the minerals industry mainly running copper and gold-silver exploration projects in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. In more recent years my work has focused on the Andean countries of South America. I am now ‘semi- retired’ in the Yorkshire Dales, wondering what to do next. . . .   David Clarke It was not until early retirement that walking became more than just stress relief and a move to the south coast gave me the opportunity to discover and explore South East England. After a visit to Battle Abbey the germ of an idea began to grow - to follow King Harold II’s route from London to the Battle of Hastings – and ‘1066 Harold’s Way’ was born and it kick started a new walking, talking and writing ‘career’. This year, 1066HW is being re-walked and revised for a proposed updated second edition. My aim is to encourage and inspire walkers to explore and discover the South-East of England. www.1066haroldsway.co.uk AGM weekend 2018 Keep the weekend of 12-15 October free for this year’s OWPG AGM weekend. It’s the turn of the South West of England to host the event this year. Centred around the Simonsbath House Hotel, there will be a choice of hostel or hotel accommodation. More details, including booking information, to follow. www.simonsbathhouse.co.uk spring 2018 | Outdoor focus 3