Ronnie Hillbagger wrote:but you have to question whether or not that is a good PR position for a Scottish charity that receives all the benefits that you mention? I would say it is not, and I only hope that the MBA distances itself completely
On the other hand, is it good PR that an organisation has charitable status but only benefits a few 'in the know'? I gather the MBA may have been wrestling with that a bit over the years. Whether the book is required to iron that out is a different matter (and I was a little wary of it initially). However it is a well produced book and I think the MBA may have decided that in the scheme of things, getting more younger people interested in bothying and able to take on maintenance duties in the future outweighed the risk of increasing mis-use. Seems fair enough - bothies have been shut in the past allegedly from over and misuse, and probably will in the future. There are also new projects appearing all the time - the bothy list isn't static. I'm not sure that partial closure of a bothy, possibly due to a book, proves that they were wrong.
It'd be a shame if An Cladach ends up being closed or restricted as it's a great spot, but I'd still say that on the whole the book is probably a positive thing.