25.05.23
Renovations at The Church
Phase one of renovations to The Church will start this summer.
REOPENING UPDATE We had hoped to have the centre reopened in full on Mon 4 September, but we're not quite there. All courses and classes commencing from Mon 4 September will proceed as normal but general access for all other climbers will be from Fri 8 September.
Upgrades commence
Closed during August
For a long time we have wanted to upgrade various elements of The Church. The pandemic slowed progress somewhat, but we are now getting back on track.
From Mon 31 July, The Church will close entirely as we replace panels on the arch at the far end of the main climbing area. This includes panels either side of the arch (around The Mezz) including the slab. The Church is scheduled to reopen on Mon 4 September. If progress is faster, we will open sooner. The safety of visitors is the reasons we are closing completely.
This is phase 1 of what we hope will be a more complete upgrade. Progress on this phase will help to guide future plans. The new panels have been manufactured by Ben West’s southwest based company Climbing Collective. Ben started his climbing journey at UCR (AKA The Church) back in the day so it’s great that we can work closely with him on this project. Phase 1 will not see a redesign of the angles, but future areas may evolve.
Book now
Outdoor courses
August is our quietest month as many of you enjoy climbing outdoors. Our outdoor courses will continue, in fact we plan to run even more. So if you fancy learning a new skill, in the great outdoors in the company of our experienced coaches, you can book online. We run Outdoor Tasters and Intro to Sport Climbing sessions.
Your options
Pass-holders
1. Use your pass to climb at other TCA centres. In the Southwest, The Arc (Chippenham) offers indoor and outdoor roped climbing, auto belays and bouldering and The Mothership (Bristol) has 2 floors of bouldering. This could be a great opportunity to go on a TCA tour. Our centres in Glasgow, if you happen to be up there, are primarily bouldering, but The Prop Store also has some roped lines and auto belays.
2. Freeze your pass by visiting My TCA. For both single month and EFT customers, please email your preferred freeze start and end dates to us via My TCA.
PLEASE NOTE Freezes will not happen automatically, so don’t forget to request a freeze via My TCA.
Would you like
Free scrap panels?
There will be lots of old t-nutted ply panels being removed from The Church. We are giving these away for free, first-come-first-served. You can take as many of you like. Sizes, shapes and condition will vary. We cannot provide a list of sizes in advance, but you can pop along and choose those that suit your needs.
If you think that you would have a use for these scrap panels, please email Alan Cassidy to join our invite list. They will be available to collect in the first 2 weeks of August. Beware, they will have accrued many years of dust on the back, so bring an appropriate vehicle for transportation, Maybe not your mum’s new car.
Business as usual
Kids classes bookings
Although the centre will be closed, sales of kids classes will proceed on our usual timescale. Reminder emails will go out to current participants.
