Other News

Well, that was summer then! Fortunately the rather poor weather was re-balanced, at least in part, by a great programme of walks and activities including another highly successful set of coach walks. Thanks to all the leaders, back markers and organisers for your hard work. Obviously such a great programme of walks is only possible if we have a large number of leaders, so if you haven’t led a walk yet please approach any member of the committee and let us know; we will be pleased to provide support for you during recces and leading the walk if you are at all unsure. To help new leaders and provide assistance to existing leaders we have included a copy of our Walk Leader Guidelines with this Newsletter. You should treat this as an aide memoire and don’t be put off by the length. There are really only two things to concentrate on: know where you’re going and try not to lose anyone! (i.e. keep checking with your back marker)

The news from the Ramblers HQ over this period has been a big focus on the decline in membership numbers and what can be done to reverse this. Surrey Area held an in-house meeting to discuss the subject and we have also held a separate forum with Tom Franklin (Ramblers Chief Executive). A major theme, which surfaced in the feedback from people leaving Ramblers, has been that the selection of walks did not meet their needs. There is also a perception that we do not provide enough short walks and that we always walk fast. To try and rectify this, we are putting some additional short walks at an “easy” pace in the next programme. This will hopefully provide an opportunity for new people to start easy and for those of us who are not quite as fleet of foot as they used to be to still get out for a companionable amble. Please support these walks and indeed lead a few, so we get an even better mix for people to choose from.

Ramblers HQ have announced that HF Holidays is now Ramblers’ new recommended walking holiday partner. HF will provide donations back to Ramblers whenever a member books a holiday and should also give us some discounts. Part of the reasoning behind the move is a distancing between Ramblers and Ramblers Holidays because the Charity Commission said in their wisdom [?] that Ramblers Holidays could no longer make sole donations to Ramblers but must invite bids from other charities for funding and must act independently. (Another fine bureaucratic policy!) For more details look on the Ramblers web site at

http://www.ramblers.org.uk/fundraising/shop/hfholidays or the HF website at

http://www.hfholidays.co.uk/special-offers/ramblers-offers

Finally I hope you will come along to the AGM on Saturday 19 November to support your committee and enjoy the social evening.  Jim Chipchase

Discount Offer

Cicerone walking guides are now offering a discount to all our members. If you wish to purchase a guide from their website at http://www.cicerone.co.uk/ Just enter the code GODALM on the shopping basket page and you should see a 20% discount.  Jim Chipchase

Surrey AGM

The next Surrey Area AGM, which Epsom and Ewell Group are hosting, will be held on Saturday 4 February 2012 in the Sedum Restaurant, Chessington Garden Centre, Leatherhead Road, Chessington, KT9 2NG.  Damian Wheeler