At last year’s AGM we reported that Thomas Chatfield had just been appointed by Surrey County Council Countryside Access to be responsible for all volunteers across Surrey. I am pleased to report that Thomas now has his feet firmly planted on the local footpaths and has provided us with some interesting and challenging Work Parties this year.

We were off to a slow start as Thomas had various training courses to attend. However, in March whilst waiting for our first project we were invited to support the Surrey Hills Society with some native hedgerow planting as part of a re-wilding project at Gate Street, Palmers Cross. It made a change for us to be planting something rather than chopping it down.

April was our first Work Party with Thomas. We were out at Whitmore Vale repairing a long flight of steps by levelling and backfilling. We also formed seven new steps at the bottom of the flight that had been worn away. The veg cutters went after holly and brambles on a steep path up to the Churt road. There were some very tired legs at the end of the morning.

The plan for May was to replace a bridge and two stiles at Pickford Stud, Ewhurst and clear the second half of a path from Lower Breach Road that we had worked on in November 2021. A recce highlighted that with recent heavy rain access to the bridge and stiles was impassable. The veg cut went ahead with everyone slip-sliding in the thick mud. Our hope is that with the vegetation cut back the path will dry out more easily.

June saw us in Sidney Wood, Dunsfold where we installed two plank bridges over culverts that fill with water in the winter months. We replaced a finger post and waymark post as well as clearing vegetation. Thomas misjudged the height of his vehicle loaded with timber and hit the entrance barrier with a bang which echoed through the woods. We didn’t envy him having to tell his boss. Not the most auspicious start to his career with SCC.

For July we started a large project at Butler Farms just outside Cranleigh. The overall plan being to complete a 9.5 km easy access route from the Downs Link. This was funded by a grant from ‘Farming in Protected Landscapes’. The initial Work Party involved replacing a sleeper bridge with an H-frame bridge and putting in a kissing gate as well as a way marker post. After a wet spring the dry summer meant the ground was baked hard and we struggled.

August saw us in Chiddingfold clearing a footpath behind Turners Mead reported as blocked by one of our members. We were fortunate that a brush cutter fairy had recently passed along the footpath giving us a head start. Thank you Chris for the tea and biscuit break we all enjoyed in your back garden and for re-charging our batteries.

September saw us back at Butler Farms replacing two stiles with kissing gates, clearing a stretch of overgrown path and renewing waymarks.

We are settling back into a regular pattern of Work Parties and building a very good working relationship with Thomas, who has been very complementary about our work.

Thank you to everyone who has joined a Work Party this year either as a bridge/gate/way marker installer or as a veg cutter. We are always looking for fresh victims new members to join us. So, if you would like to give something back to the footpath network then please contact me.

Well, that was a turbulent year in so many ways. However, after the lean covid years of 2020 and 2021 when we managed just 39 and 51 volunteer days respectively we came back to life with a bang and achieved 136 volunteer days this year.

November 2021 saw us out near Ewhurst removing an old semi-buried vehicle bridge and fitting a replacement pedestrian bridge whilst also clearing an almost obliterated path. Enthusiasm was high and bramble and nettle bashing was carried out with gusto with great results.

For December we set out to clear a long section of path near Dunsfold followed by Christmas Lunch at the Sun Inn. After what felt like a long walk carrying all our tools we arrived on site to dark wintry skies. Then it started to rain, after a while it rained even heavier and then it just kept raining. As well as getting soaked we were all reminded of the old adage stay away from anywhere with ‘fold’ in the name during wet winter days as the mud can be awful. We can now definitively confirm that’s true. The good news was the lunch in the pub went off really well and we all felt really righteous in telling the locals we had all been volunteering in spite of the atrocious weather.

January was R & R but we leapt back into action in February with a major clearance of a blocked / abandoned footpath at Hascombe and a total of 19 volunteers almost a record. Having done such a good job clearing in February we moved onto the Downs Link near Cranleigh as the equivalent of apprentice lumberjacks (slave labour). The task was to clear all the saplings growing at the side of the ex-railway line which were starting to encroach on the path. Normally someone would have strolled along with a chainsaw and quickly topped the lot. However, we went back to Middle Ages standards and attacked them with bow saws and loppers and tried not to drop trees onto passersby’s heads.

April saw us back at Hascombe finishing the clearing and erecting a magnificent flight of steps to finally bring the disused footpath back into use. (We are expecting to see lots of walks in the programme featuring these steps with suitable appreciative comments for the team.)

May we went to Smithwood Common clearing vegetation from the right of way as part of re-establishing the correct line of the path and preparatory to replacing some of the bridges.

June we cleared some veg and erected a large revetment to contain and then fill a very large hole in the footpath near Witley, which had been opened up by the collapse of a very large tree. Luckily this was before the energy crisis so the cost of hot baths for aching backs after this exercise went largely unnoticed.

In July, Surrey rights of way team informed us that they wouldn’t be supporting work parties for a period of months whilst they recruited replacement Rights of way assistants and improved their systems. However, we could still carry out veg clearance tasks with their prior approval. So not to be deterred we identified some suitable paths and went back to work.

Unfortunately July. August and September saw the steady decline of volunteer numbers from the heady heights of January’s turnout as many members succumbed to the delights of Coach walks and holidays, would you believe it? Fortunately the stalwart few (stalwart: [adjective] marked by outstanding strength and vigour of body, mind, or spirit!) continued with the good work and cleared paths near Thursley, the Sussex Border Path near Shilling Lee Park and Puttenham.

Thanks to all the volunteers for their hard work over the year and we look forward to welcoming even more next year. (NB with just a little extra effort you too could achieve the coveted Stalwart of the Workparty Award!)