Why should I join?
The 4Cs, founded in 1964, has a long history of welcoming climbers and cavers of all abilities, including mentoring complete beginners. We organise regular club trips to climbing and caving locations in the UK and overseas, as well as indoor climbing walls. As well as organised trips, you will be joining a friendly and welcoming community who regularly organise informal trips via the club’s WhatsApp community and email list, as well as social events locally.
In 2025 the club organised 12 UK climbing trips, 3 overseas climbing trips and 8 caving trips, and many other informal trips were organised among members – everything from day trips to the Peak District, to Alpine climbing overseas. Locally we had many wall trips, and also socials to climbing film nights in Cambridge. We expect this level of activity to continue in 2026.
If you want to meet and climb with members before joining, club members can be found at the Kelsey Kerridge wall on Wednesday evenings, and at Rainbow Rocket North on Thursday evenings. See the climbing page for more details.
Even before you’ve joined, you can still:
- Come and climb with us at indoor walls as often as you like (and go to the pub afterwards).
- Come and meet people at a club social.
- Go on your first caving trip.
- Join the club Facebook group.
- Go on unofficially organised climbing trips (assuming that the person organising it is happy to have you along).
The club is affiliated to both the BMC (British Mountaineering Council) and the BCA (British Caving Association) and covered by their liability insurance. The bulk of the membership fee is allocated to this, and so there are different tiers of membership, depending on which activities you want to be involved in. As well as insurance, BMC and BCA membership provides access to a large network of low-cost huts (which we often use for club trips), discounts in outdoor shops, access to subsidised training, as well as supporting the important crag and cave access and conservation work that these organisations do.
How much does it cost?
The full-year membership fees for 2026 are:
- Climbing only – £47
Climbing only members become Club Members of the BMC and also ‘non-caving’ members of the BCA, which enables them to try caving up to four times on supervised club trips. Existing BMC members who join the club can claim a refund on the duplicate membership from the BMC. - Caving & climbing – £65
Caving and climbing members are Club Members of both the BMC and the BCA and fully covered for both activities. As a joint club, the BMC and BCA rules don’t allow us to offer a caving only membership. - Caving and climbing (with existing BCA membership) – £37
A reduced rate for cavers who have existing membership of the BCA, either through another club or as individuals.
The club membership year runs from January to December, and we also offer a 50% membership fee if you join the club after June (i.e. July to December).
How do I sign up?
If you still have questions that aren’t answered on this website, contact secretary@thecccc.org.uk – or look out for the club T-shirts at Kelsey Kerridge (Wednesdays from 8pm) or Rainbow Rocket North (Thursdays from 6pm) and say hello.
If you’re ready to join, click on the relevant membership tier below:
This will take you to our club portal on SportMember. Please Create Profile, or Log In if you already have a SportMember account.
Once you have filled in your information, we’ll send a payment request for the relevant fee within a couple of days (check your junk mail folder just in case) and welcome you fully to the club. When your payment has been processed, you’ll be added to the club mailing list, and be invited to join the WhatsApp community.
Club Constitution
The current CCCC Constitution.