Len Stubbs: August 1922 - 28 June 2007, Founder Member of KMC
By Jim Gregson
There must now be quite a few Club members who perhaps don't know a great deal about the lifelong influence of Len Stubbs on the KMC, and the foresight he and the other nine founder members showed in getting the Karabiner Mountaineering Club down the slipway to its launch on 11 November 1944. Now that Len has died we can reflect on the central role he played in those wartime and after years, and how he led the resistance to forming a new Manchester section of the Sheffield-based Peak Climbing Club, in favour of an autonomous body in no way subservient to any White Rose influence.
For younger and newer members the Club's 50th Anniversary Journal will reveal a lot of information on the early period of KMC life, but until last June Len was 'living history' and could always provide a good yarn over a cup of tea or pint of beer. Like some others, I used to pop in to see him when passing through the Peak and spent much time in Len's company, talking of mountain and crag deeds and swapping news of other members. Even in his last years Len was always eager to know about the KMC, able to express trenchant views (a great KMC tradition - spades are after all spades!), and occasionally regret the apparent dearth of Club interest in really challenging walks.
Back in 2002 I went to visit Len with the purpose of making a tape-recorded conversation cum interview with him, which I still have here. I hadn't quite anticipated the number of hours this would take, but it was fascinating to talk with and listen to Len and to go through his photo collection and some of his diary entries from years ago. I will just indulge you with a few random selections. Just after the war, outdoor equipment was hard to come by. Len told me of a chap called Jim Widdicombe, whose name you will see in the list of Honorary Members in your handbook. According to Len, he was a frequent source of simple items like Primus stoves or climbing boot nails and the like, all given to Len and his pals to help them into the hills.
With his friends, Len also aimed high for the KMC with its dinner guests and presidents. Just now I have here letters to Len from Eric Shipton and John Hunt in reply to KMC invitations. The first half of the KMC's Presidents list also shows Len & co mixing with some of the mountaineering world's illustrious names. "Did the KMC ever consider offering the presidency to Don Whillans?" I asked Len. A sharp intake of breath - "Not on your life. We knew trouble when we saw it!" The famed 'club of pals' - Len and one other turned up for a meet at Laddow after a Saturday morning at work. No one else appeared. A short while later another member of the time passed along the top of the crag having taken a walk over from Greenfield. "Oh, didn't you know, Len. They've all gone down to the Roaches". Len and his mate then, immediately, set off to WALK from Laddow to the Roaches, to have it out with the others about last-minute unofficial changes to the Outdoor Meets list!
The KMC and dogs - Len himself used to take a dog along on some meets. At Glen Brittle, Len and his mates wished to climb up to Sgurr Dearg via the Window Buttress and go on to the Inaccessible Pinnacle. The dog was given into the care of a lady member with strict instructions to keep it on lead until Len's group was off up the hill and well out of sight, so it wouldn't follow them. Just after finishing Window Buttress, the dog appeared all on its own. Cursing the lady member, Len's pals insisted that in order to avoid problems (and being the owner!), Len should carry the dog in his rucksack. He then described to me the awkwardness of climbing the Inn Pinn with the dog licking the back of his neck and knocking his cap down over his eyes at each tricky move on the climb.
"Len, you resigned from the Rucksack Clup when they started to let women join. How does that square with being a founder member of a club that had mixed membership from the word go?" "Ah, well - there were nine of us plus Plum's wife, Robbie. We used to meet round at Plum's house and Robbie (a keen mountaineer in her own right - JG.) used to feed us and provide pots of tea. Ye didn't dare tell her she couldn't join!"
There's a lot more like this: competitive walks with the Rucksack Club; epic journeys to Scotland; close calls; early trips abroad. Of course I remember the result of being at Len's place, first at Hardy Green Cottage and later at Paddock Close. You came away kippered with fag smoke, awash with tea, but mostly chuckling with laughter. Len was always interested in where you'd been. John Hunt used for his autobiography title the phrase "Life is Meeting". If you met Len Stubbs and spent time with him, you came to realise that you'd been in the company of someone special, and in KMC terms, someone unique. I'm sure some of you who have been members longer than me also have a few tales to tell of time with Len; you should share them with us. Len Stubbs, R.I.P. We will miss you, but we'll laugh long and loud when we speak about you.
