Of Book Deals, Evangelists and an Unclubbable Man
benefit of belonging Norman Hadley
Seasonal Images
Showcase your photography in Outdoor Focus! Submit your seasonal images to feature in the magazine.
A selection of the best images appropriate to the season submitted each quarter will be featured in the magazine, with the cover photo selected from the submissions.
Don’ t miss the opportunity to feature; submit yours to editor @ owpg. org. uk
Thanks to Allan Hartley for submitting this evocative seasonal image from a snow-shoe tour of Cinque Torri in the Dolomites. Slightly too low resolution for the cover unfortuantely, but definately something to wet our collective appetite for the season ahead!
‘ Then & now’- share yours!
What changes have been prominent or poignant in your outdoor adventures over the years?
It might be access, opportunity, equipment, or clothing. Perhaps it’ s introspective- how have you changed?
Keep it positive, and submit yours to editor @ owpg. org. uk
600 words & 2-4 images
Thanks too to Ralph Storer for this photograph of himself in the throes of a classic abseil into the Thearlaich Gap on Skye in the 1960s. With the image taken by his mate Colin, it shows the kind of gear( and technical clothing) they‘ didn’ t’ have in those days. Ralph would no doubt have been greatful for one of Tony Howard’ s creations. On p6 Tony recalls his early experiments with belts, that later became the climbing harnesses we know today.
Of Book Deals, Evangelists and an Unclubbable Man
Norman Hadley considers the benefit of belonging
The vast majority of my hill runs are solitary. Often they are up unfashionable hills from obscure directions in ludicrous weather at inconvenient hours of the day, which tends to pare down the number of willing companions. When I started writing in the outdoor press, it seemed natural to be the Cat That Types By Himself as well.
Sure, I was a member of a club at university, back in the time known to historians as the late eighties. But though I still have many friends from those days, I confess I often used meets as a literal vehicle to go on solo bagging adventures. Picture a battered Transit thundering down the side of Loch Iubhair on a black Friday night with snow-dusted spruce picked out in the headlights:“ Just drop me off here, guys. I’ ll work my way over a few Munros and see you in the Clachaig on Sunday.”
Fast forward a few decades and I find myself living in the same small town as Jon Sparks. Hearing of my foray into outdoor writing, Jon mentioned something called a Guild. I demurred: I couldn’ t see myself sporting a tweed jacket in an oak-panelled committee room. I’ ve never smoked a pipe nor grown sideburns. I’ ve never aspired to augustness. Another year went by and Jon mentioned it again. No, still not for me. I am a rock, I am an I-I-Island.
But a year later, Jon the Evangelist’ s persistence paid off. I signed up and, surprise surprise, discovered it’ s not stuffy at all. Scanning from face to face in the Zoom meetings, hardly anyone smoked a pipe or bristled with explorer’ s muttonchops. Nobody was called Sir Montague Fotherington-Smythe. I entered one of my articles in a competition and, to my amazement, it won an award.
But what happened next was an order of magnitude more surprising: one of the award judges got in touch. She works at Very Fancy London Publisher Limited, which also goes by the name Bloomsbury. She liked my writing and would I consider writing a book? So now I find myself in the surprising situation of having an actual contract to write an actual book. Just typing that out feels quietly magnificent.
Now I promise I’ m not here to toot my own kazoo. Not yet, anyway- there will be deafening quantities of that when the time comes. But that requires me actually writing a manuscript, whilst holding down the day job. For now, the moral of the story is the value of Maslow’ s third human need: belonging. If it hadn’ t been for the Guild, and Jon’ s tenacity, Bloomsbury would never have heard of me and this opportunity would never have arisen. Such a tale might tempt anyone swithering at the entrance.
4 OUTDOOR FOCUS Winter 2025