Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Newark Ramblers held at South Muskham Village Hall on Thursday 14 March 2024
Present Joyce Pedersen Chair
Brigid Murphy Secretary
Caroline Lee Walks Coordinator
Margaret Shaw Treasurer
Chris Small Membership Secretary
Judy Price Maps Secretary
Dave Johnson Footpath Officer
James McGill Area Representative
Jacqui Anderson Social Secretary
Peter Robinson Committee Member
1 Introduction and apologies
Attendees were welcomed to the first in-person (not Zoom) meeting of the new committee. Apologies from Ken Martin.
2 Minutes of last meeting and matters arising
Minutes had been agreed by email to allow for timely publication.
Dave has been discussing dates with Jim for a sports day event. It will be held in July and the intention is that a picnic will be provided, paid for from the balance of legacy money held.
3 Reports from Officers and Webmaster
Individual reports from officers and webmaster had been circulated in advance and gave rise to the following points. [Note: Brigid holds the reports and will supply copies on request.]
The updated Ramblers Strategy and Safety on Group Walks advice will be covered at the April workshops for Newark Ramblers members. No central advice was given on pre-booking for walks. Some fairly small-scale actions, such as putting on a bus walk from time to time, could help make coming on our walks more attractive to a wider range of people.
Newark Ramblers has agreed to supply two volunteers for the Ramblers stall at the County Show. Joyce will be one (self-funded) and the entry fee for the other will be funded by the group.
Photographs from Area AGM are on the Notts Area website, as are details of volunteer vacancies.
An unauthorised direct debit was taken from the group’s bank account. It has been cancelled and repaid but this is the second time this has happened. It has been reported to Area.
A Canadian author has asked to join a Newark Ramblers walk on 18 April. As that day is a Thursday she has been invited on a Wellbeing walk. It is hoped some Newark Ramblers might attend.
Stats from Ramblers HQ suggest Newark group is fourth nationally in the number of walks put on. This is a great achievement.
The group does not have details of reasons for resignations, but they are usually not unexpected.
Dave hopes to be invited to join Active Travel Group meetings to discuss the A46 Newark area road layout changes.
Work is taking place on claiming a blocked Newark path (Beacon Hill area from Clay Lane) as a right of way. Dave is linked in to the local group. Alan Hudson, a Newark Ramblers member who is also involved with Sustrans, highlighted this issue to Ramblers.
Objections have been lodged to solar farm planning applications where there is a potential effect on footpaths.
Eight volunteers will be joining the footpath working party on 25 March. Ossington was selected for the first one because there have been a few problems reported in the area. It is intended that further working parties will be held in other areas.
Pre-registration for walks will be discussed at the April workshops. A large number of members seem now to prefer not to register until the day before a walk. Options appear to be (a) no pre-registration, (b) continuing with the current system, or (c) changing to a non-centralised system where walkers are asked to contact the walk leader directly. Committee previously agreed, in March 2022, that a list of registrations would be sent to the walk leader 1 or 2 days in advance of the walk, and walk leaders would be informed that there could be latecomers and/or cancellations that they should deal with directly on the day, but this change was never in fact followed. No change will be made without consulting with walk leaders.
It was agreed that committee could only get involved in disputes between members, or perceived poor behaviour by individual members, within the framework of the Ramblers complaints procedure.
Judy and Carol are proposing to put on a ceilidh and will liaise with Jacqui on this.
Action Points:
- Joyce to draft an email seeking a volunteer for the Ramblers stall at the County Show.
- Joyce to check national stats for numbers of walks offered by groups before committee considers giving greater publicity to the group’s achievement in this area.
- Jacqui to follow up with Judy and Carol regarding a ceilidh.
4 Nottinghamshire Area AGM
It was agreed that Newark group should volunteer to host the next Area AGM on 2 February 2025 and should approach Collingham with a view to joint hosting. Collingham is a small group and it would be good to establish closer links with them. Collingham Memorial Hall would be a good venue if possible, given the large car park nearby and the possibility of a variety of local walks. Hire of the hall is funded by Area.
Action Points:
- Joyce to confirm with Area that Newark will host the next Area AGM, follow up with Collingham group, and arrange hire of the hall.
5 Correspondence
Correspondence has been received from a Canadian author and dealt with as under Reports above.
An article on Lyme disease was brought to groups’ attention by Area and will be included in the next Newsletter.
A request has been received about advertising in the newsletter, and it was agreed that it would not be feasible to carry advertisements for members’ businesses, holiday homes or the like.
Newark group was invited to attend the annual Hercules Clay event. This year it was held on a Saturday and did not include a church service (because of a clash with Mothering Sunday). Roy and Ann attended for Newark Ramblers.
6 Thanks, Carol walk
Chris is arranging a walk at Carsington Water on Wednesday 8 May, a change from the original proposal of Ambergate because of car parking issues. Carol is happy with the date and the venue There are 3 car parks, a visitor centre and toilets. The plan is for an 8-mile walk and an alternative short walk on well-defined and maintained trails. Chris, Brigid, Dave and Caroline are intending to recce on 26 March to ensure there are back-up leaders if necessary. Others are welcome to join the recce if they wish.
It was agreed that the walk should be included on Walks Manager and there was no need to try to limit attendance to Newark Group members.
Walkers will be asked to express interest well in advance. Brigid will arrange car sharing centrally as a one-off for this event.
Action Points:
- Caroline and Brigid to draft and issue an email to all members about the Thanks, Carol walk arrangements
7 Walk leaders’ events/ Open meetings
Subjects to be covered at the April workshops will include the new Ramblers Strategy, the Safety on Group Walks advice, and the walk booking system. Members have also been asked for suggestions of topics they would like included.
There has been limited interest so far. Caroline will draft a reminder email to go out nearer the time. Committee members are encouraged to attend one or both events to give members a chance to meet and talk to them.
Action Points:
- Caroline and Brigid to issue reminder email for April workshops nearer the time.
8 AOB
Numbers attending specific walks do not appear to be greatly affected by whether or not they are dog friendly. Some walks are particularly popular/ less popular, but this appears to be for reasons unconnected to dogs. The number of dogs being brought on dog-friendly walks is quite small.
It was agreed that the Newsletter was useful and should be continued, with one to be issued every two months, the next one in May.
There had been some difficulty in accessing South Muskham village hall at the start of this meeting and the Wi-Fi code does not seem to be displayed anywhere.
James will attend the next Area Council meeting on 16 April.
Action point:
- Jacqui to let Brigid have her proposed deadline dates for submission of newsletter items and publication of newsletters so that Brigid can issue emails in plenty of time.
- Margaret to check with her contact the code for the key safe and Wi-Fi for the hall before the next meeting.
9 Next meeting
16 May, 7 pm, South Muskham Village Hall.
BM
15 Mar. 24