It has been a year of change and fluidity for Bromley Ramblers not only with me as a new chairman but also the impact of the Central Office changes to the website and the walks manager.
It's often easy to discount what committees such as Bromley Ramblers group do. However, in my new role I soon learnt that there was much more going on than just turning up at meetings or arranging walks!
This year we succeeded in putting on a reasonable number of walks spread over Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. Wednesday and Sunday short walks have been put on more regularly than Saturday and all-day Sunday walks. We would like to run more walks, but fewer walk leaders mean fewer walks.
We have provided a variety of walks in different areas, and over different distances, throughout Bromley Borough, Kent, Surrey and even in London, each of which has its own special attractions. We are getting better at posting pictures and news on Facebook and WhatsApp, which do attract members.
Our membership secretary has arranged two introductory walks this year and has changed the format. With a colleague leading, she can circulate and talk to participants, which works better and has led to five new members.
In May we ran a Walk Leaders event to introduce the new walks manager. We had a good turnout and despite some technical difficulties, we did seem to get the message across. Getting the walk leaders together was very positive and something we hope to do again next year.
From a social point of view, we had a very successful picnic in September, enabling members to meet others from different walking days. It was particularly appreciated by members who had been unable to walk for a while because of illness and as a way of re-connecting old friends who now walk with different sub-groups.
A group of our walkers went on a walking holiday to the Brecon Beacons, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Further holidays are being planned for 2024.
Maureen Franklin
At the start of the year our programme of walks was pretty sparse but things are definitely looking up as we head into the Autumn/Winter with the November programme having 9 walks. A better number than this time last year but it still feels low compared with the old days. There is no getting away from it, if we want more walks, we need more leaders. Where have we heard that before? We have 220 members and only 21 authorised walks leaders. A BIG thank you to those who do lead walks -- we do appreciate you!
The social side of the club is doing well. The Social Committee of Christine Raynsford, Val Dean, Terry Palmer and Liz Stratton has done a great job in arranging very successful holidays, coach trips and a Christmas lunch. First holiday of the year was to Warners Cricket St Thomas in March where snow added to the beauty of the area but didn't stop us walking. Next, in April was a non-walking trip with Jewels Tours to Scarborough (what a fantastic location!). Another non-walking trip was with Lochs and Glens in August to Loch Awe and surrounding area. Lastly, a splendid holiday to Nottingham with Jay & Kay in October included a visit to the beautiful town of Stamford en route, communing with lots of trees in Sherwood Forest and enjoying the delights of Lincoln City.
We have a staunch band of committed walkers who turn out rain or shine (some only in shine admittedly) and have such fun enjoying the great outdoors that is on our doorstep. We are always happy to pass that great camaraderie on to others. Please join us any time.
EKWG has had a good, regular and varied walks programme travelling across the county and we've welcomed some new walkers to the group. Most of our members work during the week so our walks tend to be on Sundays but we've still managed to cover nearly 600 miles over the year. We also had some shorter evening walks in the summer when the days were longer including a Summer Solstice walk on Wye Downs. We've had several fun socials throughout the year including meals out, London and Kent music events, and a fireworks display.
We also had a really enjoyable long walking weekend over four days in April based in the Swanage area, which included Corfe Castle, Tyneham and Durdle Door, Swanage, Worth Matravers, Studland and Old Harry. We are planning another weekend away in April 2024 in Marlborough. The EKWG committee is still co-chaired by Malcolm Wills and Nick Barrett in addition to their other committee positions, roles as walks administrator and Website Author. Over the last year, Nick has been discussing with Ramblers' senior management the possibility of putting their support behind the web framework that Nick has been evolving on EKWG's website over the last 10 years.
Maidstone Ramblers continues to be a very active group. We have a strong base of 35 walk leaders which forms the core of the group. This has allowed us to offer 200 led walks in the year. These are aimed at a wide range of physical abilities, ranging in length from about four miles to fifteen miles. This means we can offer a choice of two walks each Wednesday, one walk on a Sunday plus a monthly shorter walk on a Thursday.
The group has an active social calendar, the highlights this year being a week walking holiday in Weston-Super-Mare and the Christmas lunch. Over the last few years, a small group has also attempted one of the named footpaths in the Southeast. This year six of us completed all 162 miles of the Saxon Shore Way, joined by others for days shown on our day walk programme. We survived the untamed bramble patches of the Medway section, the Spanish heat plume, terrible beer in Ashford and the final challenge of the steep section around Fairlight, arriving at Hastings to a street party, sadly not for us.
We have a very enthusiastic footpath clearance team, which in coordination with the local authority has been able to sort out many of the vegetation problems in Maidstone borough. Last year they cleared almost seven and a half kilometres of overgrown paths. Currently we have 355 members in our group including thirty-five new members.
Old Park Footpaths Project
Ramblers have a very special expertise in all things to do with walking and footpaths. That is why we are often brought in to advise other organisations and community groups on various local issues. Recently Canterbury LFO Alan Roberton and I were invited to join a working party set up by The Friends of Old Park and Chequers Wood.
Old Park is an area of woodland and open space to the south and east of the city which, until recently, was used by the Army as a barracks and training ground. It is a unique and very special place on the hills above the River Stour. It contains some open space, rare heathland and also dense woodland both ancient and secondary. This includes Chequers Wood, a site of special scientific interest with nightingales and turtle doves.
Old Park has a wealth of history going back 500,000 years. At the Eastern end, the famous Fordwich hand axes were found, stone age tools which are some of the earliest evidence of human habitation in Britain. In the Middle Ages the land was used as hunting grounds. Old Park itself was created by King Henry VIII as a place of happy manly activity during his honeymoon with his third wife Anne of Cleves while she stayed at nearby St Augustine's Abbey, newly converted into a palace.
The area's use by the army dates from the Napoleonic Wars but in 1938 the Howe Barracks were built just in time for WW2 and the area has many relics of its fortification against the expected German invasion of 1940.
Our Canterbury Ramblers job was to help improve the footpaths which cross the land including several important trails, the Stour Valley Walk, The Canterbury Rings and the Augustino Camino. The idea is to create a number of circular walking routes connecting the existing public rights of way and to improve the signage and usability of the paths.
David Reekie, Chair of Canterbury Ramblers
For Sevenoaks Ramblers the past year has been one of change. We bade farewell to a number of long-standing committee members who have served the Group well over many years (in the case of Barbara Nicol, our outgoing social secretary, over 20 years!) In their place we were pleased to welcome some new members to the committee who, in addition to participating in walks, were happy to share in the running of the Group.
Much discussion was generated in the lead up to the introduction of the new Walks Manager system with fears that it would not meet the Group's needs. However these fears were not realised. The introduction of the new system was smooth with walk leaders finding the input of walks relatively simple. The Group has also taken the opportunity to finally 'go digital' and has ceased distributing paper copies of walks programmes to members.
We aimed to attract some new walk leaders and to this end held our first walk leaders meeting, where we discussed a number of issues, including the new systems. We have some new walk leaders such that over the past year we had some 125 walks led by 17 different leaders.
Our walks programme has been a mixture of old favourites and new walks. We've also had a number of themed walks. These included Churches in the Cuckmere Valley, Brewing and Hops in Hadlow and Shoreham's Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Tim Smith
Our Group has had another very successful year. In February 2023 we hosted the Kent AGM at Headcorn Village Hall. The first 'face to face' AGM for three years, it was well attended by members from the other twelve Groups. Also in February, we held a 'Quiz Night' which was very popular, so we were lucky to hold another one in October 2023. Our traditional 'Bat & Trap' evening was on the 5 July 2023, which again was well attended by members and their families.
In April 2023 to raise the awareness of the Ramblers and to recruit new members we had a stand at the 'English Festival' at Medway Riverside Country Park and later in the year we attended with the Ramblers' marque at the 'Wild about Capstone Park' event.
In September 2023 our annual holiday was to Bromsgrove, which was well attended by members from Medway as well as several members from other groups within the Kent Area. During the year our walks have been both varied in location and distance. Our walk leaders have again delivered a brilliant programme of walks suitable for everyone. Walks have been on every Sunday and more mid-week walks too -- averaging a turnout of about 14 people on each walk. Membership has remained steady throughout.
In October 2023 seven members ventured to Huelva, Andalucia Spain on an organised walking holiday -- an area of Spain rich in nature and wildlife. Finally, our 35th Annual General Meeting was in October 2023. Members were engrossed by our guest speaker who gave an insight of the life of badgers from the West Kent Badger Group.
Walks: 2023 has been a bumper year for walks. We have had 111 walks and have totalled 1070 miles, which averages 9.6 miles per walk. This extensive walk program relies heavily on our volunteer walk leaders who continue to do an excellent job for the group. To encourage new walk leaders, we ran another of our bespoke Walk Leader Training and Map Reading courses in September which attracted 22 members.
This year has been notable for the sheer variety of walks on offer. Nigel & Sue have led us through eight stages of the Thames Path, having started in Crayford Ness in May and reaching Maidenhead in November. Paul & Maria have organised some excellent challenge walks, including Leith Hill & Box Hill in Surrey and 18.5 miles around Biddenden. Paul M safely led us through four evening/night walks to fully appreciate the wonders of the full moons, and our evening program continues to be very successful with 14 summer evening walks this year.
Holidays and Weekends Away: These continue to be a big draw for new and existing members and are a great opportunity for newer members to get to know the group better. We had 2 longer breaks this year, sailing off to the Isle of Wight in May and staying in the HF house in Freshwater Bay. Our second break in October was to the North Norfolk coast staying in Cromer where 39 of us enjoyed the magnificent beaches and coastal walks.
Socials: With an ever-growing West Kent quiz team, we are becoming quite famous in the area. The high point of our social calendar remains the Christmas Party where we jointly 'owned the dance-floor' in Wrotham with a group of very excited nursery nurses.
Peter Singleton: We couldn't finish this review without mentioning Peter who, in only 5 months, walked the whole of the English & Wales coast path, a total of 4200 miles. An amazing achievement Peter. Well done.
This year has been very difficult for us. We haven't really recovered from Covid, after which we have found people are less inclined to walk in large groups. It would seem gone are the days when we would get groups of twenty five and above every Sunday morning.
We have 29 registered walk leaders but only half have been leading walks due to the rest being put off by doing Risk Assessments.
Membership numbers have remained pretty constant. Those who have left due to moving to another area or just left the Ramblers have been replaced by new members.
Even with all our troubles we have managed to fill a near complete schedule and continue to support The Hospice in the Weald.
Lawrence McLean, Chairman
2023 has been an extremely active year for the White Cliffs Group with great improvements made in areas that were lost due to the pandemic. Group holidays are back with a wonderful trip to the Dolomites in May this year and a further three holidays planned for 2024. To add to that we now have a Social Secretary and have resumed our annual lunch and had a fun evening of skittles, both well received by members. More activities are planned for the future.
Our Public Footpath Observer (PFO) coverage of our area has improved and our walk programme is healthy and thriving. We now have 47 of our 53 parishes covered by PFOs and have a cohort of 31 active walk leaders who have led a total of 139 walks this year with walks being offered every Thursday and Sundays and some Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Our vegetation team have been wonderful this year with four dedicated volunteers working together on a weekly basis and more occasional volunteers joining in when they can. The use of brush cutters and hedge trimmers has improved efficiency and they have completed 230 man hours.
Although our current membership (as at October 2023) is 480 compared with 497 last year, national Ramblers' membership is down around 6.1%, so we are still bucking what seems to be a trend. All good news but of course none of this would be possible without the Group's dedicated committee and volunteers.
To end, we finally completed the installation of a memorial gate dedicated to Margaret Lubbock and Les Preston who did so much for our group. We held a memorial walk and ceremony to open the gate, followed by a get together afterwards. A bittersweet occasion but made all the more special by the attendance of many of Margaret's family, the youngest being 8 months old -- our youngest ever participant on a walk.
We've been very fortunate to have quite a few new walk leaders so we decided to get them together to share experiences at a walk leader's session in March. We are now scrutinising the new online training videos and risk assessment approach from HQ and may use these as the basis for a refresher day. After several gruelling Zoom sessions, we eventually got to grips with the new Walks Manager. It looks fresh but still needs some tweaks to give it the usability we had come to rely on in GWEM.
Many thanks go to our long-serving holiday organiser, June, who finally 'hung up her boots' this year. Her last hurrah was a four-night excursion to the village of Limpley Stoke near Bath in May. In an attempt to be eco-friendly, we planned to use the bus from outside the hotel to get us to the starts of our walks on the first day. When the bus arrived, 30 mins late, it was only an 18-seater which could not take all of us. Despite these false starts, both groups had enjoyable walks in and around Bath.
On the second day we walked to the nearby town of Bradford-on-Avon. The longer route went over the hills and down through sunny glades of wild garlic. We stopped for a welcome coffee and cake at Iford Manor which has a fascinating Grade I Italianate garden designed by Harold Peto incorporating genuine antique items such as a sixth-century wellhead (pictured).
Following the celebration of 40 years of the Wealdway in 2021 we were glad to help Robert mark the installation of a new sign giving details of this and the other two named walks which intersect at Tonbridge Castle (pictured).
Fortunately, another of our committee members offered to take on June's role and arranged our autumn holiday at Warner's, Hayling Island. One of the walks there involved catching the passenger ferry from the tip of Hayling Island to Portsea Island and a six-and-a-half-mile walk on the coastal path to Portsmouth. Along the way, we passed a memorial to Lord Nelson showing where he set sail on the Victory to his final battle at Trafalgar.
Membership of the group has fluctuated over the last few years, but now has drifted down to 245, of whom about 60 or 70 walk with us at various times. Consequently, we are seeking to find more members by implementing some of the suggestions from the '50 Ideas for Local Recruitment' campaign.
Having successfully managed at the AGM in November 2022 to keep the Group going, thanks especially to Kevin and Nikki kindly volunteering to become Secretary and Treasurer respectively, I am pleased to report that the Group has managed a walk on most weekends in the past year. Walks have covered most parts of East Kent and have normally also included a visit to one of the many excellent pubs in the area.
Ashford Group has the largest physical area of all the Groups in Kent, offering an excellent variety of walking from the North Downs down to Dungeness. From my personal walking experience I think it is the area in Kent where the paths are the most poorly maintained (e.g. as experienced with brambles along the Royal Military Canal on a recent walk). There is of course also still considerable development of new housing, as well as other developments such as the Inland Border Facility. All of this keeps our existing footpath volunteers busy in liaising directly and indirectly with the Kent County Council PRoW Team to address issues.
Kevin and Nikki have kindly agreed to continue in their roles for the next year and I am continuing as Acting Chair, offering support where I can. Please come and join us on one of our walks!
Colin Sefton