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.

Annual programme
The essential core of our activities is the walk programme. You may have read CB’s report. 289 organised walks during the year with an average attendance of 13. We do have a wide range of attendance on walks but this average is lower than normal. Reasons are complex but we would like to see a higher number, if only because a lot of work goes into organising the walks. Ideas for different walks are always welcome e.g. we had walks this year in more distant parts such as London and Winchester and we had one linked to a curry supper and one very entertaining evening Treasure Hunt. Also we had a breakfast walk and we entertained the London Blind Walkers in July. As always, we encourage members who have not yet led a walk to give it a try. There is always assistance available. Philip ran a short course for walk leaders in April. This was well-attended and he is prepared to run another one as required.

Complementary to our walk programme are the coach walks and the walking holidays here in the UK and overseas. These become part social events as well and are always popular. BB’s report gives details of this year’s 3 coach walks, the 3 day Cotswold holiday and the 7 day trip to the Greek Island of Evia. All very successful.

Then we have our social events. These present opportunities for everyone, and particularly non-walking members, to enjoy something a bit different, meet different members and establish long-term friendships. Hence we link this AGM to a social event after the main business. After the privations of lockdowns our first event was a Skittles Evening just prior to the last AGM. Then, in the past year we held our New Year Lunch in January, a Quiz Evening in February and a Photographic Evening in March, all most enjoyable. AB has lead the social sub-committee, a group of dedicated helpers who make our functions tick, including this one. Our thanks go to all of them.

Our Rights of Way
I think we all marvel at the wonderful network of rights of way (footpaths, bridleways etc) that we are able to make use of in this area. It must be said it doesn’t look after itself. If it’s not nettles and brambles it’s the odd landowner who wants to close or re-direct a footpath. We try and ‘do our bit’ by offering volunteer services to Surrey County Council. The Council is actually very dependent on several volunteer groups to help maintain the network. JC and JF run our Work Party which meets, usually once a month, to carry out repair work and vegetation clearance in our local area. We also have three Local Footpath Secretaries and several Volunteer Path Wardens who inspect footpaths and carry out minor maintenance. An important aspect of the Local Footpath Secretary role is to check planning applications that may impact rights of way in our 13 local parishes and lodge appropriate objections/comments to Waverley from a Rambler’s point of view. Reports from the Work Party leaders and Footpath Secretaries are presented at this meeting. A lot of unsung work goes on here.

Membership
We won’t remain a viable Group unless we have a robust membership. This has grown slightly this past year to a total of 467. We have actually welcomed 69 new members but, as ever, we lose several members each year for a variety of reasons. HD’s report gives more detail. A particularly sad farewell was made to EF, a most active and popular member, who passed away in August. Over 40 of our members attended her funeral in Milford, which fittingly was on the same day, 26th September, as our late Queen Elizabeth II.

We continue to put effort into attracting new members. Word of mouth is probably the most effective recruitment tool but Ramblers’ Central Office has nationally organised a series of ‘road-shows’ at local markets to promote Ramblers’ membership. We have attended four local ones and given them flyers for our Godalming and Haslemere Group.

A major achievement this year has been executed by HD, who not only seems to work 24/7 issuing a range of notices to our membership, but has successfully, we believe, moved from using a local database for members’ personal details to the use of the Ramblers’ national database to ensure compliance with the GDPR, General Data Protection Regulation.

Finance
Financially, we are sound. The Treasurer’s report is presented and can be discussed as necessary.

The Future
What of this coming year? We need to continue to enjoy our walks and social activities. We need to keep a focus on our membership total and recruitment. Subject to Surrey County Council assistance, which has been lacking because of manpower shortage, we want our Work Party to get back to installing much-needed kissing gates in our area.

Now, how do we manage all this? Well, in conjunction with this Committee, you in the audience thankfully do most of it. We are indeed blessed with many committed volunteers amongst you to make things run so smoothly. Some take on bigger roles than others and that is fine. It all helps to spread the load and if you feel like lending a hand please talk to any member of this Committee or whoever you think appropriate. At this stage I should not only thank the Committee for their various valuable efforts over the past year but also some key members such as BB for her outstanding commitment to the coach walks and holidays, ably assisted by JE of course. Also sincere thanks to FM for her editorial commitment to the Newsletter and CC for continuing her thorough proof-reading activities on the Newsletter and Walks Programme. And finally my thanks to all others here who contribute to the co-operative spirit of our Group.