President – Toby Kitching
Hi, my name is Toby (right in the photo) and I’m a third year Mech Eng student so in order to make my life slightly interesting I took up climbing properly when I started uni. You may recognise me as that annoying guy on Mondays that rounds everyone up for the pub and you’d be right!
Secretary – Kathryn Bell
Hi all! I have loved being your Welfare Sec this year; getting to know you all both on and off the wall, and witnessing your willingness to share your love of climbing with new and diverse groups has been nothing short of brilliant! I’m moving on to the role of secretary this year. I am a familiar face at NUCC, normally seen chatting about colourful shoelaces or breakfasts, and enjoy engaging with the wide diversity of experience levels within the club. As club membership grows, a committee which hears and accounts for the voices of all members is increasingly important. NUCC has provided so many great experiences for me – from my first outdoor climb in Freshers week to my first winter climb last year! I would love to support NUCC in continuing to be the exciting and supportive club it is.
Treasurer – George Rowley
whats up my dudes my name’s George and I’m your treasurer this year. I’m a third year computer scientist and have been climbing for 6ish years. nucc has pretty much been the best part of uni for me; the top class mates, the pub, the rad trips, all the stuff I’ve learnt, and of course most importantly, the pub. I’d love to continue getting people keen for climbing as well as encouraging them to get strong, which hopefully I can do despite Rona getting in the way this year!
Welfare Secretary – Heather Ball
Hi! My name’s Heather and I’m welfare sec this year. I’m a second year Modern Languages student and joined the club last September – probably one of the better decisions of fresher’s week! I’ve been blessed to have a trad dad so I’ve been climbing on and off since I was little, but I started climbing properly (trying not wimp out at the top) about two years ago. I hope I can be a friendly face to everyone on the club, I found it very welcoming and am keen to keep this up with lots of welfare events, obviously carrying on the legacy of Kathryn’s amazing welfare breakfast/all day board games sesh.
I love meeting new people and making fwends, and I’ll try and make sure you’re all well-fared for with plenty of snacks and sweet potato curry. I’d also like to do some more coaching sessions and general climbery fun times. If you’re lucky, I might try and wangle some welfare gear out of the budget – I know a nice set of cams would help us all feel so much better…
Stay shamazing y’all
Social Secretary – Urvi Thakkar and Nicola Henson
Hiya! My name is Urvi (left in the photo) and I’m a second year studying speech and language therapy. I joined the club last September and its hands down the best decision I’ve made. I can ensure you I’ll bring some spice to the role, as you all know me as being bubbly and spontaneous. I will definitely be putting this energetic hallmark into this year’s socials. My main focus around the socials is social integration and I’ll be happy to hear people’s ideas. For me, climbing is more than a sport, it’s a weird ass happy community filled with love and I have met some incredible people through the sport. Most importantly, I also promise to try and score a cheeky discount at the Cumberland Arms, to make them love us even more.
Peace and love xx
Hello! I’m Nicola (right in the photo) and for those of you who don’t know me, I’m a third-year student studying a wild degree of Geography, Business and Education. Roped into climbing by my brothers, I’ve been climbing for a number of years (on and off!!). After two year of being a member of the club, I can definitely confirm that the trips and socials are 100% my favourite part. What makes NUCC so amazing is the family of people, who are always so friendly. As a friendly and bubbly person myself, who loves to socialise, have a good laugh and party (with a secret skill for organising and ceilidh calling), I can’t wait to arrange a variety of socials this year to allow the family to continue growing.
Coaches – Matthew Beanland and Alastair Munnoch
Hi, my name is Matthew, but you’ll probably know me better as that long hair guy who’s always hanging around the valley or skulking around in the basement. I started climbing in my last year of school about 4½ years ago and I’ve never looked back. I’m a big fan of bouldering, but throughout my time at Newcastle I have begrudgingly taken part in roped and trad climbing and enjoyed it.
I’m a keen bean who loves a good bit of training, and I think you can be too! I want to help people who want to improve their climbing but aren’t quite sure how to start. This could be through coaching sessions that focus on technique and finding a climbing style that works for you, as well as some basic training to help you get a little stronger to help you to push into that next grade. I was planning for this to take place during the Monday bouldering meet, so people can save money on the entrance fee, but it can easily be on another day if that suits people better. Whatever the day it will occur regularly. Or if you’re a little more advanced, then I will be running training sessions based around more specialized training tools like the hangboards, campus board, and moon board. If you want to know how to get started with any of these, or just want to train in a group for extra motivation, then this could be perfect for you.
Let’s make it a year with lots of strong sends!
Hi I’m Alastair, I’m a rare species of Comp Sci that actually enjoys going outdoors and socialising with people. I’ve been climbing for about 10 years now and enjoy all aspects of climbing from trad to finger-boarding. I’ve managed to go on all three climbing trips and enjoyed giving people the experience of climbing outdoors. I always love meeting new people from the club whether it’s on a Monday climbing or after at the pub or on one of crazy socials.
After placing in BUCS the best possible position of 69th, I feel like I have accomplished all my life goals and would love to teach people the way. I’m always trying to give people tips and alternate betas to try and have also helped people with training plans, technique and teaching people to belay.
Media Secretary – Jayne Milburn
Hello lovely Climbers! My name is Jayne and I’m your media secretary for the year! I study law and have been a member of NUCC for 3 years. A self confessed lover of a self timer and large group pictures, I’ here to make sure there are glorious memories and candids taken of you awesome people throughout the year (yes even more than now). And just because I’m not one of the comp sci brothers, doesn’t mean I’m not a dab hand at photoshop. If you are mean to me however, I won’t be making you look like a wad, worse things can happen.
I’m also responsible for club merch so let me know if you have some cool stash ideas or want to rep the club while sending!
Namaste, keep sending and see you all at the ball!