Future events
This year we have changed the venue to the Puttenham Common Middle Car Park. As before, we are planning a short walk before and after the lunch, around the Common and down to Cutmill. There will be a charge of £4 per head for the picnic - this includes the soft drinks. Please ring Anne (01483 234757) by 11 July if you are planning to attend as she needs to know the numbers for catering purposes. Don't let the threat of a little rain put you off - we will have some cover at the picnic site, and you could always eat sitting in your car if there is a real cloudburst!
As the first two stages were disrupted by bad weather (several inches of snow in April!), we have decided to repeat them in the current programme so that you can catch up with them.
This will be held on Friday 19 September at 10.00. We meet outside the Christchurch in Woking town centre, and retire inside for refreshments whilst discussing the programme. Please ring Erica (01483 770484) before this date if you would like to lead a walk in the next programme (November to February) but are unable to attend this meeting.
We will be joined by members of the London Blind Walking Club on Sunday 12 October. We will start at Fleet Station and walk round Fleet Ponds, along the Basingstoke Canal and over the surrounding heath land to a local pub. Please be prepared to assist Club members at some stage during the walk. There is ample free parking at Fleet station, or you can travel by train from Woking. Please ring Erica (01483 770484) for the train time closer to the date. - Erica
As an environmentally responsible organisation, the Ramblers’ Association strongly encourages members to make use of public transport when organising their walking programmes, and where this is not feasible to organise the sharing of private cars. The price of fuel makes this economic sense too!
The Ground Floor Level of Heathside Crescent Multi Story Car Park in Woking at the junction of Heathside Crescent and White Rose Lane is our new car share rendezvous. It provides free parking on a Sunday and is very convenient for the station. All Sunday walks leaders are urged to state a car share time from here when submitting details of their walks – they may not be able to attend in person on the day but may be able to arrange for someone else who will be going on the walk to be there to coordinate travel arrangements. - Mike
We have volunteered for a footpath task on Saturday 27 September on FP79 at Pyrford Green, which is our contribution this year to the national 'Use Your Paths Weeks'. This will be to install a small sleeper bridge at one end of the path, repair a stile at the other and fill in rabbit holes along its length. Meeting place will be at 10.00 in Elveden Close, Pyrford Green GR TQ047587.
A further task is being arranged for 15 November, in the Woodlands Trust woods, off Barley Mow Lane, Knaphill.
Many thanks to Des Coles, Peter Fyfe and Mike Lipscomb for their hard work on Saturday. We successfully removed the old kissing gate and installed the new one which is much easier to use. You can now get through wearing a rucksack!
There are still about half a dozen legal Foot & Mouth closures in force in Normandy, and to check the interactive map on the Surrey County Council website - in the right-hand column clicking on "Discover Surrey" to add all types of rights of way and on "News & Events" to add the F&M closures to the map. Closed routes will show with large yellow crosses. There are also still some legal closures in the Egham and Staines areas. – Brian
Roger and Carmel at the start and finish of the Moon Walk, an all night marathon-length walk around London in aid of breast cancer charities.
For the purposes of our statistics, the “Rambling Year” starts on November 1st each year. What follows relates to the first 7 months of the current year, i.e. from 1st Nov 07 to 31st May 08. Equivalent figures for last year are shown in brackets:
17 (19) leaders have between them lead 61 (62) walks totalling 491 (515) miles.
The average walk length is 8.1 (8.3) miles
Average attendance on walks between 5 and 7 miles has rather surprisingly dropped to 9.3 (13), with individual attendances varying between 28 and 2. For longer distances, average attendance is also 9.3 (8).
73 (84) members of Woking Group have attended 387 (480) walks between them, covering a total of 3088 (3681) “rambler miles”
62 (50) members of other groups have attended 74 of our walks between them, covering a total of 835 (559) “rambler miles”
23 (38) people who were not members of the Ramblers’ Association have attended 23 (41) walks between them, covering a total of 187 (312) “rambler miles”. A number of these may since have joined the RA.
Only 21 (25)% of our 353 (360) members have actually ventured out on even one of our walks.
There has been a 24% increase in the numbers of visitors and a high proportion of these have joined the longer walks. Most of them, whether RA members or not, have heard about us from the web site. It would be interesting to know how many of our members are walking with other groups, and why. Perhaps they have some interesting experiences to share with us. Feedback to Shelagh please!
- Mike
If you have pictures or articles to share with the group, please email them to shelagh_lewins@hotmail.com.
Date Event
Sun 13th July……………..Group Picnic
Fri 19th September……….Walk Leaders’ Meeting
Sun 12th October………...London Blind Walking Club
Sat 27th September……...Working Party
The Ramblers’ Association is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company registration number: 4458492. Registered Charity in England and Wales number 1093577. Registered office: 2nd Floor, Camelford House, 87-90 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TW.