Many of you will appreciate Gillian Price’s knowledge and love of the Italian mountains and their flowers and wildlife, so it was no surprise to hear that she had been elected as a councillor to the Venice branch of the Italian Alpine Club. As with many of our authors, she’s modest about her achievements, but below are her words…
I’m very honoured! I think I’m the second female since the branch was founded in 1890 but there’s no way of knowing more for the time being until someone goes and hunts through the archives! Our website is www.caivenezia.it and there are 1324 members.
I was invited to be a candidate – two positions were vacated and just two of us were standing. The big issue at present is fund raising as we’ve purchased new premises but have a huge debt and probably won’t be able to start renovation for a few years. Venice is one of the oldest CAI branches in Italy. After being evicted some years back from our club premises near St Mark’s we’ve been in cramped temporary premises (low-rent thanks to the council) but desperately need space for all the climbing, skiing, photography, walking etc courses and group meetings. We also have two libraries – one ‘normal’ and the other an amazing treasure trove of old antique books donated and acquired over the years, currently boxed up in our president’s attic.
We were really delighted to see so many people crowding into ‘The Glade’ Theatre at the show. Thanks to everyone who came along! There were good crowds for nearly all the talks and seminars, particularly Kev Reynolds’ seminars on Alpine walking and trekking, and of course Paddy Dillon’s seminar on packing a lightweight rucksack – what a show!
