Event Report – RHSoc AGM & Dinner, Wellington Hotel, Brecon 6th June 2026

For the last few years the AGM and Dinner has been held in Scotland, this year a welcome return to Wales led us to Brecon and the Wellington hotel. Despite a damp forecast 72 members and guests were present with a relatively short journey for our southern based members but many of the northern contingents took the opportunity to extend the visit for a few days. With many parties meeting on the hills as they all independently bagged the hills.

Barry Smith arranged for access to the Marilyn, Myarth (292m) with Glanusk Estate with a party of 18 directed to parking on a forest track by the estate manager before waving us off as we progressed in the damp to reach the overgrown cairn in a wooded area. The summit was the site of an Iron Age fort.
The AGM at 1700 was well attended and all routine business completed in 40 minutes. The current committee were all re-elected. Tony Jenkins joined the committee as understudy to Nicola Howarth our Treasurer.

Whilst the room was swiftly transformed into the dining hall members enjoyed a chat in the adjacent bar areas. The kitchen and catering served us an excellent meal with members taking the time between courses to complete the entertaining quiz compiled by David Jamieson. The theme being of course hills but with other ‘diverse’ subjects.

Following the meal Simon Edwardes, the originator and owner of the recent upgrade to the popular Hillbagging.com web site, presented a short history of the sites origins, rapid uptake by our community and challenges in keeping abreast of the underlying technology and demands placed in hosting such an ambitious venture. Dave Chaffey and Denise McLellan explained how part of the recently formed working group to support the site had led to the mobile app and the work required to support the main site.

Annual awards followed with Jenny Hatfield the recipient of the well deserved RHSoc Lifetime Achievement award. Jenny has many impressive accomplishments including first female Marilyn completist and services to RHSoc (multiple annual dinner organisations, bagger meets and Membership Secretary for 3 years).

A close competition for the 2026 Mad Bagger of the year saw David Jamieson out in front with rapid progression through many hill lists.