Lilian Bray
Lilian Bray was a founder member of the Pinnacle Club and already a very experienced climber in 1921. She was the daughter of a judge and was known for being forthright and a bit terrifying on first acquaintance. She was passionate about everything the club stood for and generous in sharing her knowledge and skills. She was a sound climber and an excellent leader, possessing great strength in her hands and arms, as evidenced in her stoic understatement in her account of the first attempt on the Cuillin Ridge by a Pinnacle team in 1927:
“We made very fair progress till we reached the Thearliach Dubh Gap. Here, for the only time during the climb, I was somewhat disturbed from my usual equanimity and showed, I fear, some slight annoyance. I had thought we were to abseil down the perpendicular side, and had even cut off a piece of my rope for a sling; but when I had placed the rope and made all arrangements my three companions announced their intention of climbing down as they were not used to abseiling. Probably I should not have felt any annoyance at all if there had not been a terrific snow and hail storm at the moment; but I confess my patience was tried as I sat on the top exposed to the full blast of the storm, while I let one after the other slowly (very slowly) down the steep face of rock, and ended by abseiling down myself. The climb up the other side was led by Biddy, the hail storm still raging, and the rest of us with frozen fingers were glad of the rope above.” — Heat and Cold on the Cuillin Ridge, Pinnacle Club Journal no. 3, 1927-28.
They came back the following year and were successful.
Rounding the Nose on Pillar, Bray 1926.
Lilian served the club as President, Secretary and Journal Editor and documented her adventures in several humorous articles. She was also a pianist for club events (if a piano was to hand), a sketch writer and actor. As she became older she still adventured far afield, while gently bemoaning her more restricted options:
“Foot slogging in the Pyrenees, how dull and unenterprising compared to climbing; but then Corbett and I have reached a stage in our lives when we say, in the words of the song, 'I'm not a climber now,' and we have both learnt that there are other joys in life besides scrambling up rocks, wading through snow, trembling on ice steps, or even conquering great peaks. There is the joy of walking over high passes in the early summer when paths are obliterated, where maps are inadequate, and where travellers there are none; of passing backwards and forwards from one country to another by such unfrequented ways that there are no Customs, and they do not even ask for passports.” — Foot Slogging in the Pyrenees, Pinnacle Club Journal no. 5, 1932-34.
> Read the journal article (PDF - opens in a new window).
When she was over seventy she traversed the Snowdon Horseshoe and when she had descended Crib Goch she remarked as she showed her hands, "Look, my hands have not lost their cunning!"
Apart from climbing, ‘Bray,’ as she was always known, gave great service to the community. In the first World War she trained as a masseuse and spent some time in hospitals in France. During the second World War she hosted evacuee children in the manor house in Shere where she then lived, was employed by the L.C.C. as a Welfare Adviser at a rest centre, worked for a year in a factory and helped with the A.R.P. in Shere. Latterly she organised an anti-litter campaign in Surrey and served for many years on the Shere Parish Council.
In June 1966 she celebrated her 90th birthday and attended a meet in Swaledale in September that year. Lilian died peacefully in her sleep on November 24th 1966.
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