The election for the FMC President and Executive closed at 5pm on Wednesday 24 May 2023.

74 clubs voted out of 99 clubs eligible to vote (74.7%). One club abstained.
129 votes were cast out of 157 votes available (82.2%).

President

Congratulations to Megan Dimozantos on being elected FMC President for the year 2023 / 24. Megan is joining Vice-President Allan Brent in our organization’s leadership team. Robin McNeill is Immediate Past President ex officio.

The votes received by each candidate are:

Megan Dimozantos  77
Neil Silverwood       52

Megan also received 111 votes in the Executive election, but is dropping out of the latter on being elected President.

Executive

The names of the candidates who stood in the Executive election are reported in alphabetical order below, followed by the number of votes they received in brackets.

Elected

Mick Abbott (74), Judith Bogle (85), Jan Finlayson (74), Raymond Ford (93), Rob Frost (89), Stu Gray (93), Emma Gregg (89), Lauren Kelley (71), Paul McCredie (82), Paul McGahan (70), Rob Mitchell (55), Neil Silverwood (74), Tony Walton (89)

Not Elected

Keith Morfett (33), David Round (30)

Hutt Valley’s Jamie Stewart is a passionate, creative and hands-on access activist. Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission, recently recognised Stewart’s contributions with an Outdoor Access Champion award.

Read more on the Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa website.

Jamie has been part of FMC since 2014, first as Executive Officer (until 2018), then as a member of the Executive (until 2021), and lastly as Special Vice President in charge of our Recreation Transition campaign.

Jamie is stepping down from the latter position when the new Executive for the year 2023/24 takes office. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Jamie for the sterling work he has done for FMC during the last decade, and congratulate him on a well deserved award.

We are delighted to be able to announce the 12^th edition of Safety in the Mountains. This edition is updated to reflect tramping today and includes the latest in communications, an introduction to snow and alpine techniques and an updated medical section informed by experts in wilderness medicine. The illustrations have also been carefully updated. Thank you to editor Robin McNeill and your team.

Safety in the Mountains is FMC's flagship publication and was first published in 1937. It is designed to be carried in a pack, being no heavier than a block of Whittakers chocolate. The 12^th edition is available from the FMC online shop or clubs can email administrator@fmc.org.nz to place an order.

From Te Manu Whititua, April 2023

Working with Pākeke and Kaitorotoro (nee Bushcrews) the location for transitional shelters will be Waikare Junction and Nahiramai. A Waimana location is also being negotiated. Deployment is scheduled for 15-16 May. Finishing build works will be completed in the next few days, followed by water services, decking over the next two weeks. New transitional shelters will enable Kaitoro to continue their mahi, also sharing with manuhiri access. These portacom design buildings can sleep six inside with kitchen facilities outside under covered decking.

Remember to get your club competition going this year! A perfect thing to do on a club night during the long cold winter evenings... 

If you haven't run a competition before, there is still time to give it a try and we have put together resources to help you run your club's photo competition.

The winning images of a club's competition are eligible to be entered by the club in the FMC competition.  FMC individual supporters can also enter and are pre-judged by FMC with the top shots gaining entry to the overall competition.

Information on how to enter is on our website. This page also includes tips on how to run a photo competition for your club, both in person and online.

Entries close on 1 September 2023 for individual supporters and 15 September 2023 for clubs.  If you have any questions, please contact photocomp@fmc.org.nz.

Congratulations to David Vass, recipient of the Nankervis/Bamford NZ Mountain Book of the Year for 2023 for his book Not Set in Stone.  Congratulations also to Heritage Award winner, Gavin Lang, for Seeking the Light and Narrative Award winner, Brian Hall with High Risk: Climbing to Extinction.  Both Not Set in Stone and Seeking the Light were published with support from a FMC Mountain and Forest Trust book grant. 

Tickets and festival passes for the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival are now on sale.

Did you know FMC clubs can host a local film screening during the National Tour? These film screenings are a fantastic way of fundraising for your club, as well as a chance to promote your club locally.

Find out how easy it is to organise your own NZMFF film screening on Wilderlife.

Are you involved in training young people in outdoor skills through a school, scout group or other youth organisation? Join FMC as NZ Youth Leader, and help young people access FMC benefits like our Youth Award grant through your FMC membership.

The FMC Youth Award grant supports candidates of Youth Awards on their Expeditions and Adventurous Journeys, and can be used for trip expenses such as travel costs, hut fees, food purchase and gear hire.

This grant has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Maerewhenua Trust. There are four funding rounds each year, with the next round closing on 15 June.

Congratulations to Hutt Valley Tramping Club who celebrated 100 years since their first tramp with a day of tramping.  About 100 gathered at Belmont Regional Park, heading off on four different walks.  Their trips may have been more modest than the inaugural trip a century ago, but club members past and present still got into the outdoors, stretched their legs and had some wonderful conversations with good friends.

The club has further celebrations planned for the weekend 3-5 November 2023.

Photo: Group at Belmont Trig, Jan Arts, Hutt Valley Tramping Club 

Our next club 'Good Practice' topic is centred around filling club officer and committee positions.  We are looking for any stories, anecdotes or anything you can share about how you fill your committee roles, including the hard-to-fill ones, and what are the benefits to being part of your club committee.  If you can help, email development@fmc.org.nz. 

Check out the Outdoor Community page of Wilderlife to see all the past topics that have been covered, including insurance, communications, archiving, food on club trips and many more. If there is a topic you would like covered, let us know.