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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT SUMMER 2008
It is a lovely sunny day as I get this ready to give Patricia for the next programme – a far cry from the snow last Sunday! We were at General Council in Winchester and those who went on the 7 am walk that day had great fun walking in all the snow as it fell. All gone by 10.00 am!
General Council is now over and done with for another year. We met the Ramblers’ Association’s new Chief Executive, Tom Franklin, who seems very pleasant, and the title of our next five year strategy is “Fresh air, firm ground”, headings as below
What we believe in – we want Britain to be a place where people choose to go walking, and where it’s easy and enjoyable to do so.
The Ramblers will work through its members and supporters and with partner organizations to achieve our aim of a walking Britain.
The way we will work –
Welcoming, positive, empowering, inclusive, ethical, democratic, environmentally responsible.
We will aim to improve and develop the following skills:
Campaigning, developing networks and partnerships, technical and specialist knowledge, political awareness and influence, an organization which is well run.
Fresh Air – Aims 1 & 2 – to have good quality walking environments, and make walking accessible to all.
Firm Ground – Aim 3 – communicate our work
There were many workshops and one of the ones I went to was to find out people’s perception of the Ramblers, with their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. I was intrigued to hear that the general perception was “red bobble hats, long socks and cagoules”!! Have a look on your next walk and see if you see any of those! Apparently it can take about 20/30 years for perceptions to change. The only bobble hat we saw was one a golfer on the Sunday afternoon walk, and certainly not red!!
Chris Smith, our now ex-president and therefore one of the vice presidents, told a lovely store about Henry Ford who visited Cork some years ago. He was asked if he could donate £5 million towards a new hospital, but said no, he couldn’t afford that but would give £500K. The next morning the headlines in all the papers were thanking him for his £5 million donation! There was much embarrassment but he said he would in fact give the £5 million as long as they would inscribe a saying from the bible of his choice on the front. This was agreed and still emblazoned to this day is “I was a stranger and you took me in!!” Our new president is Floella Benjamin, and we have yet to meet her.
The motions debated were all fairly straight forward, and all were carried. The only one that was lost was from Devon Area who were saying they had no wish to restrict or remove the present level of Military activity on Dartmoor. However, it was overwhelmingly felt that national parks were set up as places to go for quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the countryside and that the military was therefore not conducive to that aim.
One of the themes to come out of Council was to try and have some short walks on all the programmes – ie 3 or 4 miles. This, of course, depends on someone offering to lead a walk of this length, and we would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to do that. We are desperately trying to get our membership figures up nationally and therefore need to have a programme of walks for everyone. I have been trying for many years to get a long and short walk on a Sunday, sometimes it happens, sometimes not, but it would be wonderful to have that as a regular Sunday happening.
And so back to Berkshire. I hope you all enjoyed the walks in the last programme and that there is something in this programme for you as well. You will see that for the first time in about 18 years we do not have a regular monthly coach trip, but we hope to see lots of you coming to Tintern on 20 July.
Geoff Vince, who has been our Treasurer for many years now, has decided to step down at the next AGM in November. What with Geoff and me going, there are now two BIG holes to fill on the West Berks Group Committee. Please contact me or Geoff if you would like more details of just what is involved. We have to have a treasurer to keep the group running, so please can we have some volunteers for both positions.
Congratulations to Fred Carter for recently getting a civic award for his 15 years of volunteering at the Corn Exchange. Well done Fred!
To finish, I hope that the summer is a little kinder for our walks this year – I think last year virtually every walk I led it was either raining, just finished raining, or about to rain! I hope there is something in the programme for you and I wish you a happy Summer and Happy Rambling.
Jane Kiely April 2008
Chairman’s Report – Spring Programme 2008This is basically the report I gave to the AGM in November, updated where necessary! I don’t like to admit to getting older, but time does seem to be flying at a hectic pace these days with the AGM seemingly coming round quicker each year! This year saw our 40th anniversary, and we were all geared up for a series of summer walks and a lovely summer picnic when the weather conspired against us on Friday 20 July and Snelsmore Common became a real bog, and many homes in the district were flooded. We felt it was only right to cancel the event, and in the end the Sunday was in fact a lovely day! Many members said they were then at a loss as to what to do! We re-arranged the whole event for Sunday 30 September and the weather was very kind to us. We had 55 people walking the 5 different walks, and a few more turned up later for the picnic. It was a great occasion and everyone really enjoyed it. The food was wonderful, as always, with a great spread – all underneath our new “pop-up” tent which really set the scene. It is thanks to all our leaders, particularly to Fred Carter who drew up all the walks, and my group actually walked paths we hadn’t walked before which was amazing when you think how close to Newbury we were. It was a great day and my thanks go to everyone who made it so special, including of course all the members who turned out to support it. Fiona has done a wonderful display for all the activities that have been happening for the Ramblers Work Party. All the saws are now marked “RWP” and the blades are all new so sawing down the trees that have fallen over the paths is now great fun – sawing them with a blunt blade was jolly hard work! Fiona did this display for General Council and it was too good not to be seen again – this time bang up to date with the last gate having gone in just this week. We are now up to our 70th gate having been installed! Of course, hosting General Council this year really put Berkshire on the map, but it now seems such a long time ago. Next year, Hampshire is hosting it at Winchester, and you are of course welcome to attend – please let me know. Those members who joined us in Reading enjoyed it and were very impressed. It is always good to know what is going on in the RA, and not just in our local group. Last year I said that Paul was fighting the Hungerford Town and Manor regarding the missing bridge over the River Dunn. Little did I know that we would still be in discussion this year and in fact I am the one fighting the cause! We are finally going to the Magistrates Court on 10 December and if they find in our favour we hope to have a bridge to walk on before too long – watch this space! If this all works out, I think Paul will be looking to do something similar for some of the long standing problems in West Berkshire. All the holidays have been well attended again this year and there seems to be a demand for these, whatever and wherever they might be. It is a wonderful way of going on holiday, doing something you enjoy with people you know and having the chance to see somewhere new that you probably wouldn’t see if you were on your own. This was certainly true of the Nelson Way around the north Norfolk coast, an area very few had been to – mind you, wall to wall sunshine also helped! Our walks programmes have all been full and interesting this year as always, and thanks must go to Patricia and Roy for getting all the details together and keeping us all up to scratch with the quality of walks. The summer wasn’t the greatest weather wise, as we all know, but still people turned out. The programme of summer evening walks arranged by Richard North proved very popular and I hope something similar will be organized again next year. The pubs did very well out of it, and with Richard’s and my walks together there were 14 evening walks which must be a record. Lesley organized for us to be represented at the Waterways Festival again this year and we again had a lot of interest, but whether we actually got any more members I am not sure. It seems that the same story comes from all the groups – people contacting the group secretary rarely become members, which seems very strange to me! Most of the members seem to come via Central Office it seems and of course from recommendation from our own members. I recently organized a Footpath Training Day and we had 18 people attending, including Eugene Suggett and Janet Davis from Central Office, members from all over Berkshire, with some also from Wiltshire and Oxfordshire. It was a great success and everyone who joined us felt that they had learned a lot – including the fact that the pubs in Kintbury are not conducive to a quick snack on a Saturday lunch time!! The draft of West Berkshire’s Rights of Way Improvement Plan will not be prepared until spring of next year, mainly because the department is very short staffed. As you are probably aware there is then no specific funding for any improvements, though the Council do plan to do what they can, and try and get funding where appropriate. They have put out an impressive list of problems they hope to solve next year, including the missing bridge over the River Dun. Of course, there was a lot of work to do after the July floods but there was Government money available for that. Last year’s Christmas Party was excellent once again, and Fred got us all doing some wonderful quizzes, and the party is well booked up again for this year so we hope to see you all there. The wine and cheese after this year’s AGM was again very popular, with about 30 people attending. We have just had the Berkshire Area AGM held at Holyport near Windsor, and we were lucky to have lovely weather for the morning walk. I have stepped down as Area Chairman and am now Area Footpath Secretary, and Cliff has stepped down as Area Secretary and will be the representative for West Berks Group. 38 people attended the AGM and once again the question of membership was discussed, together with the problem of making sure new people were welcomed on walks and made to feel included. It is so important to include everyone who turns up and not leave new members feeling they are not part of the group. I am sure all our leaders try very hard to welcome everyone. This will be my last year as Chairman of West Berks Ramblers, so we will be looking to find a new Chairman – anyone interested, please contact me. I hope you enjoy this new programme and find something in it for you, whatever it may be and rest assured that you will be very welcome to join in any of our activities. It still seems too early to say it, but Happy Christmas to you all! Jane Kiely Chairman December 2007
Chairman’s Report, Autumn Programme 2007 Plan A was to tell you all what a wonderful day we had to celebrate our 40th Anniversary - I was going to let you know about all the walks in the lovely summer sun, and the wonderful picnic and good company afterwards. However, we couldn’t have predicted what the weather would do for all our plans! The Friday was a washout as you will all remember, and on Saturday morning all the leaders decided that Snelsmore was a no-go area and that we should cancel the whole event. I have not heard whether any members were affected by the floods, particularly in Thatcham, but if so our sympathies go out to them. Plan B is therefore to tell you that it has been re-scheduled for Sunday 30 September and we keep our fingers crossed for better weather and good walks, and I can tell you all about the day in the next programme! Summer walking seems to have been thwarted this year with some walks abandoned altogether. The evening walks have been very popular and we need to thank Richard North for thinking of the Wednesday walk series and putting it together, as well as all the leaders who have led the walks. I think the pubs have also benefited from our custom! You will see that we have quite a few advertisements in this programme and we hope that there are some that will interest you. Fred C has used UIA for his insurance and recommended it to those on the French trip and found it very good. The holidays in Chamonix are run by a friend of mine. Fred B has written a wonderful poem on the latest Spanish holiday, which turned out to be quite an adventure! The poem captures the essence of it all so well. Paul Frances has asked me to let you know that he has not abandoned leading walks but has had an operation on his 2nd knee, and the knee isn’t responding as well as it should be. However, he hopes to be back walking again before too long, and we all wish him well and look forward to his interesting walks again soon. Some sad news now – You may have seen in the Newbury Weekly News that Pat Livesey died in July. Pat was our secretary some time ago and was a great walker, and in fact started the U3A walks and I understand used to lead every one herself at the beginning! Mary Devine also died back in December. Mary walked all the Thames Path with us the first time and was a very keen walker until her husband became ill, and they then moved down to Bath. I hope you enjoy reading this bumper programme and let’s hope that Autumn brings some more seasonal weather. It is pouring with rain as I write this on 25 July! I hope there are lots of walks for you all to enjoy, and we look forward to seeing lots of people on 30 September. If you have friends who used to walk with us, please ask them to come along and join us for our special day. Jane Kiely
Chairman’s Report - May 2007
The following is the speech I gave to General Council to welcome everyone. I thought you might all be interested in reading it, and remembering what we have on offer in Berkshire!
Kate, all our visitors, and fellow members of the RA, on behalf of Berkshire Area of the Ramblers Association, I welcome you to Berkshire in general and Reading University in particular. In this year when we all celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the mass trespass at Kinder Scout in the Peak District, we are proud to welcome you to Berkshire for the first time. I must admit that Berkshire is not the first place you would think of to come for a walk and it is a far cry from the Peak District, so we thought we should show you what we have on offer in Berkshire and we hope that you enjoy the pictures you can see behind me.
For those eagle eyed people amongst you, there are some photographs in what we call “occupied Berkshire” – there are prizes on offer for the first three who spot those areas! Just come and find me during the weekend.
So why would you come to Berkshire to walk? I certainly didn’t see it in Walk as one of the top three areas to walk in! We also don’t have a lot of mountain, moor, heath or down, so there wasn’t much access land under CROW, but all seven Berkshire Groups went out looking for any little bits we could find! You can see from the Berkshire Walkers shirts that Berkshire is a long thin county, and Reading is just about in the middle and was of course the county town – when we had a county that is! We have 6 unitary authorities in this little space, and I will start with the largest of these which is West Berkshire, which is in fact my own area. The Lake District, the Peak District, Scotland, may have wonderful mountains, but come to West Berkshire for some quintessentially English Countryside, open spaces and with very few walkers! West Berkshire Group wrote a book of walks around the Berkshire/Wiltshire Border to encourage people to go and walk these areas. With 72% of West Berkshire in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this has to be a good start. We are very pleased to welcome Fiona Newcombe, the new Director of the North Wessex Downs AONB, to our Council today.
We have the Lambourn Valley Way, 22 miles from Uffington White Horse, over the Lambourn Downs with views for miles, and into the Lambourn valley itself with some lovely downland villages, eventually ending in Newbury. Eastbury is particularly beautiful with its Whistler window dedicated to Edward Thomas in the church. If you start early enough, you will see the strings of racehorses being exercised on the downs. A lovely walk, crossing the Ridgeway, which is of course another brilliant walk, passing through various counties. Now with the NERC Act making so many of our RUPPS into Restricted Byways, the Ridgeway being one of these throughout most of the 45 miles that were previously affected, it is now peaceful and quiet again without the 4WD’s. The ruts are healing over and the grass is growing, and it is again a pleasure to walk it. The Ridgeway is not only a National Trail but a National Treasure! It is, however, the least used of all the National Trails but it is hoped that more people will start using it now the surface is acceptable. The views have never been in doubt, so why not come and see for youself?
I remember coming to General Council many years ago with Bob Withers (and no doubt there are many of you here who will remember this), when Berkshire had asked for a fringe meeting to discuss the problems of 4WDs destroying the RUPP’s and Byways. At that stage no-one at Central Office knew what the problem was, or even that there was a problem, and we were given a very small room – 74 people crammed into it and we realized we had a big, national problem! John Trevellyan’s face was a picture! It is thanks in part to GLEAM, which started in Berkshire, and its many supporters including the Ramblers Association, that we now have some protection of these green lanes with the Restricted Byways through the NERC Bill, and the signs can now be seen in many counties.
In Berkshire we have the highest chalk hill in England, Walbury Hill, near Combe Gibbet, on the Wessex Ridgeway and the Test Way, with 360 degree views over Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire. We have of course a good section of the Kennet and Avon Canal, which links the Avon in Bath with the Thames at Reading, and the canal is certainly seen as the jewel in the Crown in Newbury, where there is also the iconic Donnington Castle which can be seen for miles around. This was used in the Civil War and forms a big part the First Battle of Newbury. Our clear chalk streams are beautiful: the Lambourn, Kennet, and Pang, all feeding into the Thames. When you walk The Thames Path, another lovely walk, you walk through a big chunk of Berkshire, from Windsor to Streatley via Maidenhead, Henley etc.
The Thames Valley itself offers lovely walking, eventually ending up in Reading, with the ballad of Reading Goal by Oscar Wilde being particularly well known. I hope everyone enjoyed their walk around Reading yesterday and learned something about it, Reading Abbey being the largest Abbey along the River Thames, with Henry 1st buried there.
As for Writers in Berkshire, well there have been many, from Alexander Pope, Jane Austin, Richard Adams, Robert Harris, Kenneth Grahame, D H Lawrence, Edward Thomas and of course John Betjeman and there is a wonderful memorial window to him in Farnborough Church. Elizabeth Cuff has written a book called ‘Walks with Writers in Old Berkshire’, which covers some wonderful walks connected with these famous people. Sir Stanley Spencer is remembered both in Cookham with the Spencer Gallery and the Sandham Memorial Chapel near Newbury. At Pangbourne College there is the Falkland Memorial Chapel which is well worth calling into on a walk around Pangbourne, especially this year being the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War.
At the other end of the county, we have Windsor Castle and Windsor Great Park with some of the finest trees in the country. Dave Ramm has certainly not run out of walks to write about to enjoy in Berkshire, and there is a good selection of all the walks books written by the Berkshire groups on sale this weekend. In fact East Berks have set up an Endowment Trust with the RA, which is mentioned in the accounts, which utilizes profit from the Walking for Pleasure series of books, not used in the East Berks area.
We also have on our doorstep, the walking areas of the Chilterns, another AONB, which meets the North Wessex Downs AONB at Goring at the Thames, and the two in fact form the largest area of AONB’s in the country. We then have the North Hampshire Downs and Wiltshire on our borders, both wonderful walking areas.
As for our recent achievements, Berkshire Area rose to the RA Challenge to walk all the paths in Berkshire, and so far over 95% have been walked. We felt it was a good challenge and everyone who took part enjoyed finding new paths, which hopefully will be incorporated into new walks. We are also very proud that Margaret Bowdery, one of the stalwart footpath secretaries in Berkshire, was awarded the MBE last year, celebrating her years of dedication to getting the rights of way usable in East Berkshire.
West Berkshire Group won the RA prize for being the “best Group” in the country for the breadth of the work undertaken, from members going out once a fortnight, parish by parish, to waymark, clear stiles and paths, with a group of people known affectionately as post pushers putting in the 55th gate, to a group being formed called ROAR - made up of people with learning difficulties - and West Berks members going out clearing paths and litter picking each week, all in the name of West Berks Council. We recently had the whole of the Rights of Way department out with us, finding out what it was like on the ground instead of in an office!
I mustn’t forget something that is actually made in Berkshire – the Ramblers friend, the Mars Bar, made in Slough! What would we do without that in our rucksacks!
I hope that has given you a flavour of what we have on offer here and that you will feel the urge to come back for a longer stay in Berkshire. For those of you on the walk tomorrow, whilst we were out litter picking for your benefit (7 ½ bags of it!) we saw 2 kingfishers, 7 herons, and the first kingcups of the year, so keep your eyes peeled!
I hope you have a great Council, whether it is your first time or you are an old hand at these Council meetings. I hope you enjoy the University of Reading, and I would like to thank all the staff here who have been so helpful to us. I would also like to thank the unflappable, Jo Smith who has been a tower of strength helping us to arrange this weekend, and seems to know the answer to all the questions we asked her.
Jane Kiely Chairman, Berkshire Area March 2007
The Council all went well, despite one or two hitches, which were solvable. We had 340 people there at its maximum on the Saturday which was noisy and busy, which is to be expected. We had a very good meal on Saturday evening, with a quiz supplied by Fred Carter which was very popular, the winners getting 117 out of a possible 120, and some of the RA staff won the prizes. These were given to us by Altimus the outdoor shop in Reading, who were very good to us. We then had the option of seeing “An Inconvenient Truth”, the Al Gore film about climate change, which was absorbing and gave us all food for thought.
Sunday was a beautiful day for the final walk, and Cliff and I went to meet the 40 or so ramblers enjoying the spring sunshine. Everyone got back into the coach to return to the University, I said goodbye - and the coach wouldn’t start! Every organiser’s nightmare, and when I think of all the coaches we have had over the years and have not had a problem! Several of us went off to the local pub to wait for the mechanic to arrive, and then his machine went flat whilst trying to boost the battery! Finally, 1 ½ hours later, a replacement coach arrived to solve the problem! The weekend was finally over!
And so to our 40th Anniversary in 2007. It looks like a bumper programme, and I hope there is something in it for everyone. With all the walks on offer on 22 July we are hoping for a good turnout of members, and particularly some of our long term members who have been written to with an invitation to join us.
You should find a map showing walking links in and around Newbury enclosed with this programme. Its purpose is to help people identify alternative routes that don’t show up on normal street maps, and to encourage them to consider walking rather than using their cars when travelling short distances. Several members of West Berks Ramblers have helped with its development and the committee hopes you will find it useful.
"The West Berkshire Partnership is extremely grateful for the support that members of the Ramblers Association have provided in producing this map. The partnership would especially like to thank Graham Smith who gave a significant amount of time to support the map's development."
I hope you enjoy this programme and find lots of walks in it that you would like to do and that you have a great summer of walks. It has been good to repeat the original 6 walks and to compare that programme with the one we produce now!
Jane Kiely
Chairman’s Report West Berks Ramblers Annual General Meeting, 10.11.2006 Another year that seems to have flown by with the AGM at exactly the same time as usual, and I can report that there has been the usual flurry of activity during the year. We thought we would try a different format for the AGM, to give everyone a chance to just get together and talk for a change – some wag said they thought there was enough talking on the walks, but we ignored the comment! Being nominated Group of the year was wonderful, and you will see more information about that from Fiona in her report. The numbers vary considerably each time we go path clearing, rather like the numbers on our walks! That is, however, why it is so flexible and why the RA liked our activities so much. As you know the RA launched a national campaign, “Use Your Paths Challenge” and this has been a great success both nationally and locally. I am on my second parish, and it is quite amazing all the paths that you find when you have a real purpose in mind, and not just looking for a nice walk. The idea, for those who have not been involved, is that every 1 kilometre grid square in the country will be walked before September 07, and all problems found will be reported to the RA and then to the relevant Councils. In West Berks Ramblers we took it a stage further as we have a good working relationship with the Council, in that they provided us with the list of problems that were on their database, and we have been walking the paths in the hope of crossing off some of the problems, and of course finding new ones, which Fiona is then reporting back to West Berks Council – their database will really be up to date! I am very proud to be chairman of a group when we have people who are willing to stand up and be counted, as both our footpath secretaries Paul and Neal have done over the years. Neal stood up to Donnington Grove Golf Club, and I know he will be explaining the outcome to you, and Paul is still standing up to Hungerford Town and Manor and the Council regarding the missing footbridge over Hungerford Marsh. Well done to both of them – we need people in the RA who are prepared to go that extra mile! You will see Paul’s report in this programme. I am not proud, however, when it clearly states in the programme how much a social evening is going to be, and whether there is a retiring collection, and people arrive at the meeting with just enough money to cover the cost of the meeting, and our lecturer then goes away with very little money to give to his chosen charity. I think that £1.50 per person for an evening’s entertainment has to be good value – I wish someone could tell me where else I could go for £1.50 in this day and age! Cliff manages to get interesting speakers at low rates and I am sure we all appreciate this. We are the only group left in Berkshire to have a regular social evening, and I for one would not want to see it stopped. The weekends away are as popular as ever, with 3 taking place this year – a very wet weekend in Dorset, a windy weekend in the Brecon Beacons, and pretty good weather for Hadrian’s Wall, all very successful. Our programmes have all been up to their usual standard, thanks to Patricia and Roy making sure that everyone is contacted and keeping us on our toes. It is good to see the tally of walks on the programme and wonderful to see so many leaders. It is also good to see new names in the programme – it spreads the load for all the other leaders and it gives our members more choice. At the end of September, we had a total of 449 members, with two very successful recruitment drives, one in July at the Waterways Festival, and two days at Newbury Show, both of which brought in new members but a lot of leaflets and information was also given out. I am afraid the membership for the whole of Berkshire and the RA nationally is falling, so please tell all your friends what a good time you have out with West Berks Ramblers. For the last two years we have had a stand in Newbury Library for a week, and it would be good to have some volunteers to man the stand for a couple of hours if we do this again next year. Please contact Lesley Webb if you can help out. If you find an application form with your programme, please see if you can use this for friends, neighbours, or even relatives! I think it would be nice to have some 3 or 4 mile walks for those people who like that length as this always seems to be lacking in our programme, but we need someone to offer to lead that length of walk. The Rights of Way Improvement Plan is in the process of being looked at by West Berks Council, and the draft should be ready for inspection in February 2007. Whether the Council has any money to implement any of the suggestions is another story! Our finances are healthy as always. Geoff manages to keep us all on the straight and narrow and for some considerable time now we have not taken our group entitlement from the RA, so that they are able to have more money in their coffers for the all the work that they do. We live on the income from book sales, so please try and sell as many as you can! Dave Ramm has produced a new book – The Secrets of Countryside Access” – which is a great book, and would make a good Xmas present! Please contact me if you would like to buy some. On going to print, we have sold over 60 tickets for this year’s Christmas Party so it looks as if we will have a jolly crowd on 8 December. Berkshire Area is now getting all geared up to host the General Council next year, 30 March and 1 April and we would welcome any help you can offer, particularly in the form of transporting delegates to and from Reading station, so please ring me if you can help out. All that remains now is for me to thank all the committee on your behalf for their hard work and commitment to West Berks Ramblers, and to thank you on their behalf for supporting them in all their hard work! Next year is our 40th Anniversary and we hope to have some interesting events for you, including a re-walk of the very first walk done by what was then Newbury Ramblers. Hadrian’s Wall was much enjoyed by all 16 of us, including the train journey up and back, which 11 of us did. The worst part was trying to book the tickets in the first place but that is another story! Once we had overcome that hurdle, the rest was plain sailing. We had brilliant accommodation and they had hired in a mini-bus for us which we used daily. The Wall itself is quite amazing when you think how old it is, although there are of course areas with no Wall showing, but a lot of local buildings look very familiar! We had good weather, apart from the last day when it poured, and walked coast to coast from Newcastle to Bowness on Solway. It just remains for me to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a good 2007, although I still can’t quite get my head round the fact that Christmas is so close! I hope you find something in the programme for you to do – if not please let a member of the committee know or, better still, offer to arrange something for us all to do! Jane Kiely
10 November 2006
Chairman’s Report, March 2006 I hope by the time you read this that Spring will have arrived, the weather is warmer and the wind is less strong. You will have read in WALK that there is a challenge to walk every footpath in Britain by September 2007. Berkshire Area have accepted this challenge and plan to make a map of Berkshire with as many grid squares as possible completed by General Council in Reading in March/April 2007. Fiona has offered to co-ordinate it for West Berks Ramblers and has got offers of help for most of our parishes, BUT if you would like to help please contact her on 01635 40720, as some of our parishes are quite large! We are doing it as a survey to West Berkshire Council as well, and Fiona and Roy are well organized with maps etc, and you would be most welcome to join us. Whilst on the subject of General Council, Cliff and I are off to Stoke on Trent for this year’s Council on 21 April and will be looking at the arrangements with new eyes, in order to get ideas for arranging our Council for 30 March – 1 April 07 inclusive. We would very much appreciate some help with this and our responsibility is signposting, reception and transporting delegates to and from the station to the University. We may also need tellers, scrutineers and time keepers, so could you please ring me if you can lend a hand. The committee would like to encourage car sharing to walks as much as possible, and I was very disappointed that the last programme had so few walks arranged with car sharing. We would like all leaders to try and arrange to car share whenever possible. We had an excellent weekend in Dorset, if somewhat wet at times, but the wettest and windiest walk was saved for the last day when we were down to only eight walkers (out of 20 possibles!) who braved the ridge around Cerne Abbas. It was difficult to stand up at times but very exhilarating and was even pronounced “the best walk of the weekend”!! The hotel did us proud with excellent food and a good time was had by all. We had three casualties for various reasons, two who have now recovered, but I am finding it difficult to type with one finger stuck up in the air in a splint! I damaged my finger on my towel, would you believe! We had 24 people on the weekend and it was so good to see new members joining in and enjoying our weekend. We had a “Lawrence of Arabia” walk on the Saturday and were able to see around Clouds Hill, his cottage in the woods, and then on to Moreton to see his grave and all the wonderful Whistler etched windows in the church. On the Sunday we did a walk in “Hardy” country, visiting Stinsford church where his heart is buried, and saw his grave, and those of his two wives. What with a walk in Cranbourne Chase on the way down, and see the Cerne Abbas Giant on the last walk, it was a weekend to remember. I hope Colin’s weekend starting tomorrow, walking the Beacons Way is as good as our Dorset weekend. I
wish you all a Happy Easter, and hope that there is something in this programme
for you to enjoy. Jane Kiely 30 March 2006
NEWS
HOT OFF THE PRESS! The final reading of the NERC Bill (Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill) has now gone through and part of this will be to BAN VEHICLES from our byways. Therefore no more ruts on the Ridgeway etc. Of course, it isn’t all good news – any RUPPS that have already been converted to Byways will stay available for vehicular use, and any that were being claimed before 20 January 2005 will be treated under the old rules (ie if it could be proved that a cart had used the track in, say, 1745, then it was suitable for use today by 4x4’S!). Any claims since that date will be treated under the new rules and RUPPS will become restricted byways. We are lucky in West Berkshire as the Council gave a very low priority to converting RUPP’s into Byways, but Wiltshire I am afraid have converted many of their RUPP’s and are now stuck with it. This ruling should go through in a few weeks time so we maybe able to start walking the Ridgeway again in peace. Not sure yet what will happen to the tracks leading up to the Ridgeway, but it is hoped there will be traffic regulation orders advising vehicles that it is a dead end. A survey has recently been carried out which shows that the Ridgeway is the least used of all the National Trails, and the reason seems to be because of the ruts and noise of vehicles, so let’s hope that will change and people will start walking it again. Jane Kiely April 06
Chairman’s Report - Winter / Spring 2006 West Berks Ramblers Annual General
Meeting 11.11.2005 Another year gone by, another Trail successfully completed in the White Horse Trail, though this did not prove to be as popular as some of the other walks we have done. We had a very successful weekend in Rye in May to finish the Sussex Coastal path which was really lovely. Colin also scored a first with a trip to Spain which was enjoyed by all. Our main problem during this year has been Donnington Grove Golf Club and I know Neal will be entertaining you with all the details of that later in the meeting. Unfortunately Paul couldn’t attend this evening, so I will be reading out his report. Fiona and her working party have been going very strong this year, with West Berks Ramblers out every other Friday and ROAR out on the alternative Fridays. Colin has just put up his 25th gate which happened on Trafalgar Day and the celebrations for that were quite something. In fact I was quite proud at a recent Area Meeting to discover that we were the only group in Berkshire who did anything to celebrate this year’s Sea Britain celebrations. Fiona led a very interesting walk around Portsmouth earlier in the year, a few of us then went up to London to see the re-enactment of Nelson’s body coming down the Thames from Greenwich to St Paul’s, and we then had Colin’s gate and an interesting walk led by Tom Linley – there was a most ingenious connection with Nelson and Newtown Common which is not immediately apparent! There were Berkshire groups who were quite envious and felt that an opportunity had been missed! The full story should be in the next South East WALK magazine. Fiona is always happy to have more volunteers for her working groups – these go out parish by parish and there are a lot of parishes in West Berkshire. Please ring her if you can help out; it isn’t onerous but it is good fun, very sociable and usually a nice pub at the end of the morning. Something we were we asked at a committee meeting recently was what the RA do with all their money. Of course, if you read your WALK magazine you would know, but I thought it was worth reminding members that the RA is a Charity, just like any other charities you belong to, and as such is always needing money to be able to achieve their charitable aims which are
To further these aims the RA obviously needs money, and we should never forget that we have the RA to thank for the 1:25,000 maps, the recent CROW Act, National Parks, protection of our historic footpath network etc., but this is not achieved on fresh air! They rely heavily on the membership and the huge volunteer base, and it is amazing to them that some 70-80% of the membership doesn’t actually walk, but belongs because members believe in the aims of the organization. I am sure we all belong to charities for that reason, but I think it is worth pointing out that not all members actually walk! I would imagine our members are split in about the same way, but we do seem to be having a problem with the Tuesday walks becoming very popular! Fiona thinks that if your name is Fred you can guarantee well over 30 people out walking with you! This presents its own problems, ie car parking and a blot on the landscape with so many people out, slowness getting over stiles, and general waiting around for people! I would like to have a discussion this at the end of the meeting and see what members think about it, so please start thinking during the meeting. Should we have two walks, clockwise and anticlockwise? Or perhaps an alternative walk, say, an 8 miler from another start point? Or just stay as we are? It is quite a responsibility for the leader. Roy Batty told me that he once started off with about 24 people on one Tuesday walk and he was in the middle of the fast and slow walkers about half a mile apart, so he split the group and the fast walkers went ahead, with him having 6 slower walkers – 2 of whom peeled off and he was left with 4 out of 24 people! That is one solution but maybe not really ideal! I would also like to mention that the Local Access Forum, of which I am a member, is working on your behalf and the consultation papers are now out for the Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP), which is part of the CROW Act. Neal has the map with him tonight on which is marked all the improvements to the network that we have thought of, but if you have any in your local area that you would like to suggest, please talk to Neal. It isn’t just about the paths on the ground, but it is also about, say, how the Rights of Way Department in the Council does things, what could be improved in order to make things better, and get more people out using the network. You are all welcome to come to the LAF meetings as an observer, the next meeting being on Wednesday 18 January at 2 pm – if you are interested in coming please ring me nearer the date as I am not yet sure of the venue. I would like to thank the committee as
usual for their hard work. Patricia
and Roy continue to produce a good and varied programme but we do need leaders
to make this happen. How about all
those 35 people who turn up on Tuesday walks offering to lead a walk each, we
would really then have a programme of programmes to look forward to! We should remember that we are all
volunteers who are prepared to give up our time to further the aims of the RA
and, in doing so, enjoy what we do and the people we meet along the way. To end I would like to remind members that
we should be promoting walking, promoting the integrity of the path network,
securing greater access on foot the countryside, and protecting the outdoor
environment. We should also be
including non-members and encouraging them to join, and be an inclusive group,
welcoming everyone and making sure no-one is excluded. PS We
had a discussion regarding the Tuesday walks and the general consensus was to
leave things as they were but keep an eye on it. The following is Hot Off the Press and is a Press Release sent by the RA especially to go into our programme – West Berkshire’s Footpath Work recognised
West
Berkshire ramblers beat off stiff competition to be declared Group of the
Year in the RA’s Use Your Paths Footpath Work Awards 2005. The 35 sessions
totalling over 550 hours of voluntary work have seen 25 gates built so far this
year. These basic figures, however, hardly do justice to the group’s overall
work. Liaising with the council, work is carried out on a parish by parish
plan. All rights of way in the parish are walked and low level
maintenance like vegetation clearance, litter collection, waymarking is
completed. Alongside these tasks a report is made on other work needed and then
passed on to West Berkshire Unitary Authority where the subsequent
‘clean-up’ rate is well over 50%. What impressed the judges most though was
the flexible nature of the group. They are willing to find a place for anyone
wanting to help whether they want to commit many hours a year or just one or two
and whether they have years of experience or just bags of enthusiasm.
76%
of West Berkshire’s footpaths are currently classified as ‘easy to use’
according to the most recent Audit Commission figures and although that means
there is still some improvement to be made this compares favourably with the
unitary authority average of 73.2% and even better to the national average of
69.2%. There is no doubt that the footpath work carried out by West Berkshire
ramblers contributes to this result and it is no coincidence that Councillor
Tony Vickers nominated this group for an award. If you’d like to take part in
this footpath work please contact Fiona Walker * * * * * * * * * We always knew that we were top dog but now it is official! Well done Tony for nominating the group, Fiona for completing the form, and Fiona for organising it all, and not forgetting all the team who participate. We are not sure what happens next but watch this space. * * * * * * * * Jane Kiely November 2005
Chairman’s
Report – Autumn 2005
I
hope the summer is being good for you, though as I type this they sky is
grey and heavy! You will
see from the reports of West Berks Ramblers’ three holidays this year
that the weather was good for all of them, and a great time was had by
all. I think when we were
in Cornwall we had the whole year’s quota of good weather!
It is always good to see new faces at these times and see
everyone getting to know each other.
If you haven’t yet tried one of our weekends, why not think
about it next time there is one available?
Today’s
Newbury Weekly News headlines was a bolt from the blue, even though West
Berks Ramblers wasn’t actually mentioned in the report. This was particularly so as many local people and ramblers
were at the Council Chambers last night to hear all councillors present
agreeing with the planning conditions that had been placed on Donnington
Grove Golf Club with regard to their proposed new club house. These conditions were suggested by Neal Pike, our
footpath secretary, and readily agreed by West Berks Council, so it
looks as if we have a fight on our hands!
We will be in touch with the RA Central Office for help with this
one. Please don’t stop
walking these paths, the more people who walk them the more it shows how
much they are used and needed, but be aware that there are problems.
This is just the sort of problem that the Ramblers Association
was set up for all those years ago.
The
ramifications of this story could affect every footpath crossing a golf
club in the whole of England – and you know how many of those there
are. It would be
interesting to know how many people have been hit by a ball when using a
footpath. It is a pity both sides of the story were not printed, as we
all know there are always two sides to everything, and that the NWN gave
a particularly biased and slanted view.
I am sure the people of Speen would be happy to give their side
of the story. I think
this just proves that we cannot believe what we read in the papers, even
our own local paper! A real
case of watch this space!
Nearer
to home, I think we should thank Fiona and Roy for always arriving at
the start point of all the walks early enough to litter pick the car
park before starting the walk! Good
clean minded people, but litter picking becomes addictive let me warn
you before you all start! I
should also warn you to beware people you meet on Inkpen Common or you
too could end up pulling up the ragwort to avoid poisoning the horses
and cattle on the common! I
am now seeing ragwort everywhere - just like the litter!
Please let Fiona Walker know if you would like to join her Friday
working parties – they are still in Bucklebury which apparently is the
Parish with the most paths in England, so they could be a little while
there!
You
will see a page in the programme regarding reporting problems and I
would once again ask all members to be our “eyes” when out walking,
particularly when you are walking on your own, and report any problems
you find, from blocked paths, to unsafe stiles, to fly tipping.
All the useful phone numbers are included on this page, and the
leaders will also find a separate flyer with even more phone numbers on.
It really is important to let the relevant Councils know. It has now been agreed that Berkshire Area will be hosting General Council in 2007, March 30 and April 1, at Reading University, so we will be needing lots of volunteers to help with welcoming, ferrying people from the station, microphones during the sessions etc, so please have a think about what you could offer to do. I hope there is something in the programme that takes your fancy. We are always needing extra walks leaders – more leaders, more walks, more choice for members – and particular weekend leaders are needed, so please let Patricia or me know if you would like to become a leader. Jane Kiely August 2005
Chairman’s
Report – Summer 2005
We
were welcomed to the RA General Council in April, first by Paddy Tipping
MP and vice president of the RA, who was both a student and tutor at
Nottingham University. He
wanted us to try and make sure that any money being paid to landowners
in the future under the new single payment scheme was actually
delivering help to the environment, and to keep our eyes open for
improvements when we are out walking as they are beginning to take
effect.
David
Hunt, Chairman of Nottingham Area then told us that not only was
Nottingham well known for being the hunting ground of Robin Hood (at
that moment the door opened and in came the local footpath secretary
dressed as Robin Hood but still just recognizable!) but also as the
place where Prince Charles fell off his horse playing Polo and had a
bone transplant from his hip to his elbow, and it is rumoured this is
why the heir to the throne doesn’t know his ass from his elbow!
It
was a good start to the conference, which soon became slightly more
serious with Nick Barrett discussing the progress of Waymarking the
Future, the blueprint for RA activities launched in 2002.
Nick’s description of the RA is
·
A cause
(Access
for everyone to an interesting countryside)
·
One Organisation
(The
whole is greater than the parts and there should be cross compliance
between groups and Areas)
·
A charity
(The
donor does not get the benefit alone)
·
Democratic
(Strength
through involving others)
·
Passionate
(A
thread of passion over the years not just for walking itself but also by
making sure
The
rights of way are open for people to walk)
·
It’s never over!
(Never
under estimate threats and take every opportunity!)
Nick
went on to say that the Land Reform Act (Scotland) which came into
effect last year was a tremendous step forward, as was the CROW Act in
England, how successful the gaining of three new National Parks had
been, but that more work was needed regarding the use of vehicles on
green lanes, wind farms, and also trying to get more people out into the
countryside. There was also
concern that we had already lost nearly 5 years on the Lost Ways Project
and also work needed to be put into the Rights of Way Improvement Plan,
both of which I have highlighted in the past.
On
the Saturday, Chris Smith, MP and our President, reminded us of the
great achievement of the CROW Act which came into force on 14 December
2004, which in part was due to good campaigning by the RA.
However, he said that we now should be looking at access to
coastline and woodlands. The Forestry Commission is already being co-operative but
this was not so for woodlands in private ownership.
He also said that we should be vigilant about secondary laws and,
in fact, an urgent motion was later discussed regarding the Serious
Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 where trespass will be a criminal
offence. This has been
brought in to stop batman look-alikes getting into Buckingham Palace and
Windsor Castle etc, but it seems to have powers far in excess of those
it needs. Chris also reminded us that general elections were the time
to ask the candidates what their party was doing for the environment in
general and access in particular.
We were also reminded about all the publicity surrounding walking
for health and time to change people’s lifestyle etc, and that
pedometers had now become the latest must-have fashion accessory!
Of course, we have always known this but it is getting our
message across that counts!
Chris
said that we had always had a bit of an image problem but he actually
liked his bobble hat and would continue to wear it!
However, the RA is now a sophisticated and well-organised charity
and has become one of the most effective charities at getting its
message over to the Government. We
have a passion for wide spacing landscapes, fresh air and companionship,
for all ages and backgrounds, all people – bobble hats or no bobble
hats! He finished by saying
that there were two pillars in the RA – the volunteers and the
professional staff and these were our greatest strengths and should be
worked on in future years.
There
are now all sorts of subsidies available from DEFRA, and through the
Local Access Forum we will be investigating these to see what can be
gained in the way of funding for projects such as getting paths along
field edges so that we don’t have to walk on the roads.
With the new Freedom of Information Act, it is now possible to
download an IACS form from the Land Registry website so that we can find
the owners of the land if we discover problems when we are out walking.
Apparently
Sheffield Council has publicly thanked the local RA for all its work in
gaining access to local Moorland, as they, along with many other people,
realized the amount of money that poured into local economies as a
result of people being able to access the countryside when this then
stopped during the Foot and Mouth crisis.
I would urge all members to start thinking about what we stand
for, the wider issue, and encourage your friends and neighbours to get
their fashion accessory, and use it locally either by coming out on a
few walks or by buying our books. I
am always amazed that people do not know what is on their own doorstep.
WILTSHIRE
WHITE HORSE TRAIL
This
long distance trail started off in one of the heaviest hailstorms I have
ever seen. Luckily, it didn’t last too long, but the short walkers had
only just got off the coach when the hail started, but they managed to
get into their waterproofs in record time!
The hailstones could still be seen in sheltered spots at the end
of the day’s walk. The
first two legs have been really good with wonderful views so we hope the
rest of the walk will prove as good.
I
am hoping that the bluebells will still be out in West Woods in May, as
they are already starting to come out now – we saw the first ones in
Cornwall on 1 April! As
always, we have arranged for a long and short walk in the hope that we
can please everyone (!) and we will also do a faster and slower walk for
the longer walk as we have been doing in the past.
If you would like to buy the booklet please contact the Walking
Hotline on 01980 623255 or I would imagine most Wiltshire Tourist
Offices will sell it. If
you are a new member please come and join us – we have had such fun on
these long distance paths in the past.
Jane Kiely
April
2005
Chairman’s Report, Winter
Programme 04/05 My programme report will consist of quite a
lot culled from the AGM report, as only about 30 people were there to
hear it! One of the most exciting things to happen this year has been the opening of the A34/M4 interchange, not just because it has made travelling by road up there a lot easier, but because of the new bridge that West Berks Council, the local British Horse Society and West Berks Ramblers all fought hard to get as a dedicated non-motorised crossing to join up with Chalky Lane and Green Lane - long since bisected when the A34 was dualled all those years ago. In fact this week I went to the opening of “our” bridge and a plaque has being placed on both sides of it by the Highways Agency – I hope you will join Neal Pike and me on 27 February when we have a celebratory walk over the bridge. The bridge might look rusty and you have no doubt seen the comments in the Newbury Weekly News, but it is supposed to be maintenance free, and at least it gets us safely across all 7 lanes of traffic over Newbury’s very own Spaghetti Junction! Those of you who joined the last coastal walk
into Eastbourne had a treat with wonderful weather, wonderful views, and
then a magnificent sunset over the sea.
We started in March 2003, so we have walked a fair few miles all
along the Dorset coast, then the Solent Way and finally the West Sussex
Coast Path; Colin thinks about 260 miles in all.
The turnout for the last few walks was very disappointing, but
those keen ones wanted to finish it and were prepared to pay extra to
cover the cost of the coach and the walks have not disappointed.
Our next walk will be nearer to home as we plan to do the
Wiltshire White Horse Trail, which was the second choice in our pole
earlier in the year. Fiona’s path clearing group has gone from strength to strength and there is now a group putting in gates as well as path clearing every other week, with the usual pub lunch in the middle or at the end, depending on how long you wish to be out! At the moment path clearing is suspended as we are doing a stile project to be finished by the end of January. Fiona would still like some more volunteers for the various facets being done, so if anyone would like to help please contact Fiona on 01635 40720. At the beginning of December the areas in
Berkshire with new access rights should be all signed and usable.
Don’t get too excited as there aren’t a lot to use as we
don’t have a great deal of mountain, moor, heath and down, but we are
having a celebratory walk in January with a walk from, would you
believe, Aldworth, and we shall no doubt be visiting the Bell once
again. We are now seriously into looking at ROWIP – a wonderful acronym for the Rights of Way Improvement Plan. We have to present any linking paths, tracks that we possibly walked as children that have since been closed, or paths that we have always walked but aren’t actually rights of way – anything in fact that would improve the Rights of Way network – by 2007 which isn’t that far away. This really is where local knowledge comes in, or where leaders who have led walks and found there is nowhere but a road to walk on, but thought “wouldn’t it be nice to be able to walk along the field edge and link up with the next path”. Well, this is your opportunity as the next part of the CROW Act. As you know, I am a member of our Local Access Forum, which is tasked with dealing with this, and I would ask anyone to let me know, or Neal and Paul, if there is a path that you would like included in this schedule. We now have 446 members in West Berks, which is very good, so word must be getting round that we have fun, a good variety of walks, lots of interesting people and places to see. I am sure you will all welcome the new members when they turn out on our walks. Patricia puts a wonderful programme together and it really is something to be proud of. The downfall of a group is not being able to get people to lead the walks and I am sure we are all grateful to those people who offer such a good selection of walks so that everyone can join in and enjoy West Berks Ramblers. The Committee decided that we would like to see as much car sharing to the start of the walks as possible, so could all leaders try to arrange to meet in one place where possible and then use as few cars as possible to get to the start. I appreciate that it can’t always be done but when possible it would be good; the weekend ones are now mainly done like that. Happy Walking everyone! Jane Kiely December 2004 BACK TO TOP |
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