# Around the Groups

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## Bromley

With the worst of the COVID pandemic behind us and with a long spell of warm, dry weather in the spring and summer, 2022 has been a fine time to be out walking in the countryside. Our walks programme reflected this and we have had some glorious walks. I continue to be amazed by how our leaders manage to keep finding new routes to walk in areas I thought I knew quite well, all within striking distance of our base in Bromley.

Our membership has held up well and it has been great to see a steady flow of new members not just joining but becoming regulars on group walks. We continue to work on new ways to encourage people to come and discover the joys of walking. With our email communication systems improved, plus the use of Facebook, WhatsApp and Meetup, we are doing what we can. We have also found putting on 'starter' walks especially for prospective or new members to be productive and to reach people who might not otherwise have come on a regular walk.

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We put on a couple of group walking holidays during the year, one in the Peak District and one in southern Spain. The Peak District one in May was unfortunately cut down from a week to four nights, as the holiday company could not find sufficient staff to cover the week, but we still managed to cram a lot into our time there. The Spanish one had originally been planned for March 2021 but had had to be postponed twice due to COVID restrictions. However, it was third time lucky and those who went had a wonderful time sweating up and down some steep routes in the sierras in Andalusia.

Our November 2022 AGM provided an opportunity for the wider membership to consider and discuss future directions for the group, which the committee had been considering for some time. The challenges remain the same as in recent years and the same as for many groups: how best to recruit new members; how to find new walk leaders to replace old, worn-out ones; and how to involve more people in the running of the group. It is also a time of renewal for the group, with a change of both group chair and group secretary at the AGM bound to provide some new perspectives. We look forward with some confidence to another year of evolution and innovation.

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## Dartford & Gravesham

2022 saw D&G Ramblers celebrate its 30th anniversary. We marked the occasion in style with a weekend of events including something for everyone — both active walkers and those who have been with the group for 30 years and are now not able to join in the walks.

On Friday 2 September members filled a coach to Eastbourne where three walks (9, 6 and 4 miles) were enjoyed by those who wanted to stretch their legs while others investigated what the seaside had to offer (fish and chips I do believe was high on the agenda!).

On Saturday 3 September we held a bring your own picnic in Dartford Park where we were delighted to see Doris Ripper our founder member who had come up from Devon for the occasion. It is with great sadness however that we have to report that Doris died very suddenly in early November and our hearts go out to Bill for his great loss.

On Sunday 4 September Bill Ripper led a version of the very first D&G walk from Penshurst and a longer version was led by Christine Raynsford. Afterwards everyone got together for refreshments and a good old chat. And the weather was fine for the whole weekend!

Although our celebrations were a great success, it would be wrong to imply that everything in D&G's garden is roses. Our walks programme has never really recovered to its pre-Covid level and we are struggling to get walks leaders. All our walks are led by the dedicated few and trying to get new people to come forward is proving very difficult. We can but keep trying. Having said that, our walks are delightful and greatly enjoyed by those who participate and we remain, as ever, a welcoming and friendly group. Do join us sometime soon.

## Canterbury: QR Signs for Kent Ramblers

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We're a cool crowd in Canterbury Ramblers. Up with all the latest technology of course. Well, some of us anyway. As a technologically challenged Boomer who struggles to send a text to the right person, I have been amazed and delighted to discover the wonders of QR codes. During lockdown, they wouldn't let us into a pub without registering with one of these weird looking things. The only way to get my pint at the end of a long walk was to grit my teeth and give it a go. It was amazingly easy — just point your QR enabled smartphone camera at it, touch the link and Bob's your uncle. Since then, I have been spotting these things everywhere. Even in the Kent countryside where they are being used on country park trails to provide information about history and nature. It's a brilliant way to get the younger generation involved, informed and most important, out walking.

As a Canterbury Rambler, I have been asked to help design a Heritage Trail around my home town of Fordwich, and decided to investigate the use of QR signs. I discovered that even a technological chump like me can generate the codes and link them to a website from which a map can be downloaded. Photos and historical information can be added and — wait for it — the whole shebang downloaded to a smartphone and then added to your digital GPX mapping. I use OS maps which is brilliant. The route appears on your phone and the wonders of GPS allow you to follow the walk without getting lost unless, like me, you have forgotten to charge your device before setting out! Nothing's fool proof sadly but QRs are about as good as it gets.

## Sevenoaks

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Sevenoaks Ramblers gradually returned to business as usual as we came out of the Covid era. It was an opportune time for us to take the views of our members on the mix of walks that we offer, to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of both existing and indeed new members. We therefore undertook a poll of members in late 2021, asking for preferences in regard to factors such as walk length, how far people are happy to travel and which days and start times they prefer. We had excellent response levels and were able to report the results back to our members in December. The responses largely validated the approach we had been taking but also enabled us to schedule some variations, such as summer evening walks.

In addition to our normal programme of walks, in late June 2022 we also put on a programme of nine walks as part of the two week Sevenoaks Summer Festival, itself re-emerging after having been cancelled for the previous two years due to Covid. In September we again participated in the Shoreham Heavy Horse Show, promoting Ramblers generally. Brisk sales of the Kent Area walk guides were reported!

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Our walks programmes continued throughout the year offering a blend of long and short walks. We participated in joint walks with neighbouring Ramblers groups. Social activities re-commenced, including a Christmas meal, pub nights and a summer party. We were delighted to put on a map reading course led by our former Chairman Mike Cursons. Finally our programme of stile replacements continued — in the past year we funded the replacement of three awkward stiles with gates, working in concert with Kent County Council.

## White Cliffs

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As we move to learning to live with Covid the Group has continued to thrive and benefits from the strength in depth of its volunteers. Our wonderful walks coordinators, Tony and Anne, have put on 116 group walks involving 41 different leaders in the year. After 10 years of excellent service, they have decided to step down from the walks coordinator role and have passed the baton to their successor, Deborah Quow.

In January we were invited by Sarah Thornton from BBC South East to take part in their Winter Walks series. John Pye, our Chair, led the walk from the White Cliffs of Dover to showcase our stunning area. John did a great job and the recording was shown on BBC South East. A great advert for our group and the Ramblers as a whole.

To commemorate Les Preston, we ran a Photo Competition in recognition of his long-dedicated service. A trophy was awarded to the winner at our AGM and we used the 12 best pictures to produce a calendar for 2023.

Our highly regarded White Cliffs Walking Festival was held over 6 days at the end of August. The 34 walks were enjoyed by over 600, mostly non-Ramblers, with people attending from all over the UK and Europe. Sadly, during the preparations for the Festival, Kevin Joyce, who had taken over as the web editor and graphic designer, unexpectedly passed away. It was a tragic and sad loss, but the strength in depth of White Cliffs came to the fore to recover the situation and the Festival was able to go ahead as intended.

We have a thriving Group Facebook page, and our group membership numbers are stable. Thanks to all our volunteers. Onward and upwards for 2023.

## North West Kent

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The Group ran 150 long, medium and short, guided walks during the year covering every grade of ability. Most were on Wednesdays, with some on weekends. Despite the hottest summer on record, most went ahead, though one or two were cancelled owing to concerns about heat exhaustion and heat strokes. This year it was our pleasure to lead the annual joint walk with Sevenoaks Group, but rail strikes disrupted several walks including a series of Saturday walks along the Jubilee Walkway.

In October thirteen headed to South Wales for a five day trip to explore the hills and valleys around Crickhowell. It proved a good opportunity to check on the condition of their hill-climbing muscles and, on one morning, the condition of their waterproofs! We don't know what the record is for the most rainbows seen on a single walk but the group must have come close to breaking that on the hills south of Llangattock. Nevertheless, they failed to find the pots of gold! The holiday was a great success thanks to the winning combination of good walks, good food and drink, and good company.

The annual picnic at Lullingstone Country Park in July was another great success with the giant Jenga game. The bi-monthly lunches at the Sidney Arms remain as popular as ever. Ramblers Head Office's insistence on leaders completing written risk assessments led us to call a special meeting where leaders agreed the least burdensome approach. The Group has enjoyed a steady influx of new members and ladies now often outnumber men on our ever popular guided walks.

*Stuart Booth, Group Chairman*

## West Kent Walking Group

One of the few bonuses of the Covid lockdown last year was to remind us all of the benefits of walking. It's not only the physical exercise in the countryside together with like-minded people, but the mental health benefits of getting away for a few hours accompanied by shared conversations with fellow walkers that often turn into friendships. We started the first full year of 'normality' with added vigour and an aim to make the most of our walks and socials together.

**Walks:** In common with many other groups, having enough walk leaders is always a challenge for us. We have encouraged members to 'have a go' by formalising our 'Buddy' system and linking experienced walk leaders with the new leaders. We also ran a map reading course focusing on paper maps and the ever-useful OS Maps App. In total we ran 99 walks over the year with 32 different walk leaders and covered 1,003 miles. With an average of c. 22 walkers per walk, we clocked up a very healthy 21,756 miles. I am reliably told this is 311 laps of the Isle of Wight! Our new walk leaders also brought variety to our program with increased summer evening walks, several London walks and even a few night-time walks.

**Holidays and weekends away:** It was great to be able to restart our holidays. For our longer breaks we went to the Cotswolds and Somerset. We also trialled weekend mini breaks in the South East; a little closer to home in Lewes and Rye.

**Socials:** As a Ramblers group with a younger than average profile, we have an unenviable reputation to maintain. From the cerebral Quiz night successes, to the gastronomic 'Meals around the World', the Bacchanalian pub crawl around Greenwich and the hedonistic dancing at the Christmas Party and at 'The Volunteer' in Lewes, I think we almost achieved it!

## East Kent Walking Group

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EKWG has had a good, regular varied walks programme travelling across the county (one even included a trip on the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch railway) and we've welcomed new walkers. Most of our members work during the week so our walks tend to be on Sundays. We also had some shorter evening walks in the summer including a Summer Solstice walk on Wye Downs.

We've had several fun socials throughout the year including meals out, music events and a London trip. We also had a great walking weekend in May in the Peak District, based in Bakewell which included climbing Kinder Scout, Mam Tor and walking some of the Monsal Trail. We are planning another weekend away in April 2023 in Swanage.

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At the end of 2020 we sadly lost a long time EKWG member, Nicky Ratcliff. Her husband, Mike, still leads many walks for EKWG and in May we installed a stile at the top of Cobbs Hill near Farthing Common in her memory. It was lovely to have a gathering there with Mike, some of Nicky's family and members of EKWG to remember Nicky.

We said goodbye to our Chairperson, Kerry O'Grady, after over 16 years carrying out different EKWG committee roles. Nobody volunteered to take on the role of chairperson so kindly Malcolm Wills and Nick Barrett have been covering this in addition to their other committee positions. Our Co-Chairperson, Nick Barrett, has put a vast amount of effort into developing our EKWG website over the years. This year, he has relaunched it to reflect the new Ramblers' branding, making the site look great on mobile phones and allowing the site content to be managed by anyone on the committee without needing technical skills. He would be happy to help any Kent groups that are interested in relaunching their websites using the framework he has developed. See our new site on https://www.ekwg.co.uk

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## Tunbridge Wells

It seems hard to believe that another year has flown by and we are fast approaching the winter months. We have managed to put on a fairly full programme of walks this year despite problems recruiting new walk leaders. For the first time we were forced to cancel a Sunday morning walk because of an extreme heat warning, something we never thought would happen, but given the situation regarding climate change something we might see more of in the future.

We continue to support the Hospice in the Weald by inviting the current mayor of Tunbridge Wells and an ambassador from the Hospice to say a few words of encouragement at the start of the Hospice walk. Unfortunately, our numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels but we do have a loyal group of walkers that attend regularly. We managed to hold a few evening walks this summer but again attendance was low. We intend to try introducing some mid-week walks over the winter months to gauge popularity. We look forward to another year of walking and hope that the weather is kind to us in the coming months.

*Lawrence McLean, Chairman*

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## Maidstone

Our group has just had our AGM causing me to reflect on events of the past year, some of which have been very exciting indeed. We finally managed to go to Scarborough in April. This was the holiday which had been booked and paid for early in 2020 just before lockdown. We prayed that our holiday company would not go under as all our money would have been lost. Our patience was rewarded and our original booking was honoured at no extra cost to us. Our luck held out and the weather was beautiful, just perfect for walking.

Something wonderful was born during the holiday: a new romance. This continues to flourish and the happy couple is wished much joy from the rest of the group. Long live love!

More excitement occurred when a long-standing fellow rambler took to the skies in a Spitfire looping the loop and defying the ground. Later, I learned he had also flown in a Tiger Moth and a Harvard, the two planes used for training a Spitfire pilot.

Once again members of our group have tackled a long-distance walk. This time the aim was to complete the Greensand Way. Officially the length is 108 miles but due to various difficulties the total mileage covered was 121 miles over six days: a great achievement.

## Ashford

After the difficulties of 2020 & 2021, when the whole World seemed to stop for the pandemic, 2022 saw a bit of normality return with Group walks well attended throughout the year, without the need for any restrictions. Unfortunately however we were unable to fill every weekend due to lack of walk leaders and going forward we currently have only three active walk leaders.

We did have to cancel two walks at the 11th hour when the walk leader went down with covid, but thankfully via our Facebook page the message got posted to stop anyone turning up and finding that there wasn't a walk leader. We were also unable to fill all the committee positions at our AGM in October. While we of course wish outgoing Chairman & Secretary Rob Lane and his wife Julia all the best in their move to Cumbria, his departure is an added blow since he was also a walk leader. There was even a suggestion the Group — which formed in 1971 — may have had to fold, but thankfully with a bit of guidance from Area Chairman Colin Sefton we are very much continuing into 2023.

*Kevin Hall*