# Chairman's Introduction

I am pleased to introduce the Annual Review of what I believe has been another successful year for Kent Ramblers!

Our Public Rights of Way activity has further strengthened, in particular by the significant achievement of finding a Local Footpath Officer (LFO) for all parishes, which Robert has worked tirelessly on over the past few years. The other main change has been the appointment of Glyn Lewis as Public Rights of Way Administration Officer, following the retirement of Glynis Clifton. I would like to take the opportunity to thank Glyn for taking on this role and especially thank Glynis for her many years of service in this "behind the scenes post", that is vital to the successful functioning of our ongoing activity to protect our rights of way.

We have again held 2 very interesting Footpath Forums and I was pleased to be able to use some new contacts I have made as a newly elected Kent County Councillor to help facilitate the attendance of Sam Pead from South Eastern Railway (formerly Network Rail) at the latest of these — another example of my desire to successfully engage with organisations that have an impact on Kent Ramblers, building on our continued good interactions with other relevant organisations, in particular the Kent County Council Public Rights of Way team.

There has been good growth in the number of Ramblers members nationwide in 2025 and I am pleased to report that this has also been the case in Kent. There have been some more challenges for us all through requirements from Ramblers Central Office, in particular the Walk Leader Training — but having now done this twice (both online myself and via my local group's training session), I do think this has been put together very professionally and does provide some useful reminders — even for those of us who have already led many walks!



![](https://kent.ngx-ramblers.org.uk/api/aws/s3/site-content/d05474cf-3a02-4337-86fc-fbc365dc8f9b.jpeg)

Given that I have been Chairman for a few years and also my other roles as a Kent County Councillor and Chair of the Electoral Review Panel, I have decided that the time is right to step down as Kent Ramblers Chair and let someone else take over. I remain committed to the Ramblers cause and will continue to support Kent Ramblers in whatever way I can.

*Colin Sefton, Area Chairman*