An Teallach Mountaineering Club, like many other clubs, it seems to have all started with a group of friends sharing a common interest in the hills. The one other thing that the “founding fathers” had in common is that they were all civil servants working for H.M. Customs and Excise, although that was never a condition of membership.

One or two groups of Customs folks had been climbing and walking with their colleagues for a number of years in the 1980s. They used to get access to Muir Cottage for meets. About the same time some folk from the Aberdeen and Edinburgh offices were organising annual charity walks up various hills. These events fired up others who joined in and before long it seemed that the thing to do was to form a club (which apart from anything else would give us access to the huts).

These things of course don’t just happen. There were a few guys, amongst them Joe Duffin, Alan Dryden and Willie Bain who provided experience, direction and vision. Aye, and they could argue as well.

The inaugural meet was held in Morvich on 29th September 1989. The booking was made with the National Trust for Scotland for the “no name” mountaineering club. Looking at the first meet report I note that there was one Irvine Butterfield in attendance. We then had to decide on a name; not easy. I quote from the club records, “A very hot debate then raged for three months on what the club should be called. Tempers rose, positions were taken, poses were struck. Finally a totally undemocratic decision was made in favour of An Teallach. The rationale was that An Teallach is a fine hill – in line with the high moral character of the membership – and the name sounds good.”

As we had no specific base, most members were from the big cities and as we had no particular desire to identify with H.M. Customs, the club was to be open to all. The name An Teallach Mountaineering Club seemed to fit the bill.

As new folk, and friends of friends joined, we found ourselves with members from a’ the airts. We have a substantial number from south of the border, including a couple of stalwarts from Northern Ireland. In fact, at times they put the locals to shame with their attendance record. We believe that this adds a great deal to the club although it has its drawbacks at times, e.g. for committee meetings – but that makes us think harder about whether we actually need them.

As time passed and folk moved on and new members came along, the original Customs members are now in the minority, although perhaps not vocally. Usually they are found sitting by the fire muttering into their beer and discussing failing parts of their anatomy.

Duncan Little