News
Introduction
It is said that 'a week is a long time in politics', but I would say that a year is a very, short time in the Ramblers. It seems no time since I was stood up here being elected as Chair of Godalming & Haslemere Ramblers, and a year has passed already in a flash.
Walks, leading and training
When I was appointed, one of my aims was to help members keep walking for longer, whatever their stage of life or fitness level, and to offer walks of different lengths and speeds so there is something for everyone.
This year we introduced ambles, gentle walks of around 2-3 miles, on a Wednesday morning. The idea came from Edwina, with the first one led by Rosemary and Nicky, back in March. We have had one a month—eight so far. The plan is to grow this to at least two a month in the next programme, but to do this we need more leaders. Perhaps some of you who don’t want to lead a long walk, would be happy to lead an easy 2-3 mile amble.
My third and final year as Chairman. How time flies when you are enjoying yourself! I plan to focus on the theme of “Active Participation” which RB particularly referenced in her talk at our 50th Anniversary Party in June. But really, our Group thrives so successfully because so many of you do willingly take on volunteer roles, some big and many not so big which, collectively, contribute enormously to our overall success.
We have had many demonstrations of this over the past year and without going into too much detail here I will just summarise some key walks, events and social activities that so many of you have helped to organise and run. Some special walks for example took us to London (two separate trips), Portsmouth Harbour, Woolbeding Gardens and an evening walk plus dinner. We hosted the London Blind Walkers in July. Then the coach walks, which were based around Eastbourne, then Penshurst Place in Kent and finally Oxford. Then the Spring Holiday walks around Weymouth and finally the overseas walking trip to Lake Garda in Northern Italy. BB’s report must be read to appreciate the efforts made by so many to make these trips so successful.
This has been my second year as Chair of, what I still believe, is a wonderful, very friendly Group, and which benefits from such a large number of very willing volunteers. We have had a good, busy year, finally just about free of COVID concerns for the first time since 2019, with plenty of walks and activities. I hope you all find time to read the newsletters every four months. A lot of effort goes into them particularly by the editor, FM, the proof readers, CC and HD, and of course the contributors.
So some highlights and achievements for the year.
This has been my first year as Chair of this very friendly and supportive Group, characterised, as we all know, by our large number of volunteers and helpers. However, I did start with some trepidation. As you will remember, I took over from MF who had done such a terrific job leading us for three years and steering us through the roller coaster of COVID. We had learned about delta and omicron variants and now it was time to learn a new term, ‘living with COVID’. We have achieved this over the past year, mainly because most of us have become virtual pin cushions having had multiple vaccinations. When I started last November, we were still nervous about holding social events and were in the process of winding down our booking system for walks. Fortunately we have now regained our confidence and we have been able to hold successful social events and revert to our old established system of 'turn up on the day’ for our walk programme.
So on to some highlights and achievements for the year.