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Introduction
A
New Year and a new Chairman. This is a brave new world for me, venturing out as
a Chairman for the first time. I hope I can do Colchester Ramblers justice in
helping to maintain our excellent programme of walks and other events. My
thanks to David for handing over such a good group. So far this year the walks
programme is looking as good as ever with a wide variety of walks. We are
trying a revamp of this programme to bring in items of other interest and
hopefully to encourage some of you to venture out and participate in other local
walking related activities. I hope it all works. Your feedback would be very
welcome.
John
Watts - Chairman.
The Moors Movement
Have you ever wandered
along the path alongside the River Colne from East Hill to The Hythe; marvelled
at the allotments on your left and wondered about the untidy hillside on your
right? If not then you should do. This is an interesting part of Colchester
minutes from the town that gives you that feeling of being in the countryside
with wildlife, water and greenery. Anyway this is not just an advert for a path
but to entice you into thinking about whether you would like to do something
about the untidy hillside on the right! This hillside is known locally as The
Moors and has a number of footpaths passing through it. Local people have
recently formed The Moors Movement with the aim of preserving and protecting the
area for the benefit of all. Colchester Ramblers has joined the group with the
aim of encouraging members of helping to look after the local paths. If you
don’t get out walking much but would like to participate in improving the
environment and helping maintain paths etc for others benefit then this could be
the thing for you. Contact Richard Smith on 01206 522781 or
r_g_smith@hotmail.com for more information. This group could also help by
forming a working party – If you would like to help contact John Watts. (Hope
to have more info on our web as well).
Town
to Sea Trail
This is another
initiative that is part of the programme of environmental and community projects
in the Hythe area. This project is called town to sea and is aimed at improving
links between the Hythe and The Town Centre for walkers and cyclists. The
project is making use of existing paths and is clearing and improving them and
engaging local artists to create artworks to place on route that tell a story of
people, places and past events that have marked the Colne’s course from town to
sea. The trail should be completed by October 2007. If you would like to
participate from the walking perspective then contact Jonathon Rochford, East
Colchester Regeneration Office 01206 863513. Happy walking!
Abberton Reservoir
Mags
Hobby has been busy representing Colchester Ramblers at the various meetings to
discuss the new Reservoir and facilities that it may bring. There is some hope
that we will get useful and interesting new footpaths around the water and
joining up various other parts. Its’ never too late to make your voice heard to
reinforce the desire of walkers for easy access to good paths. If you would
like to know more or can offer to help in any way contact Mags Hobby or look at
www.eswater.co.uk for updates.
Challenge Walk – First annual
challenge from Essexwalker
Easter Sunday 8th April and something more energetic. The challenge walks are
led at a faster pace for those who want some exercise, two choices 15 or 25
miles. Contact Charlie on 01206 864461 for more details or check
www.essexwalker.org for an application form.
Summer Tea Walks 10 – 16 June
A
selection of walks in different parts of Essex all hosted by various groups
around Essex and all ending with Tea and Cakes! Mags is leading one on 13th
May. See our website for details of the other walks or contact Anita Stamp,
01621 740324 (Chelmer and Blackwater Group).
Use
Your Paths Challenge
Help
to preserve our footpath network by walking out every single footpath in your
area, reporting all the problems found and logging the area covered on the
national website. We have only got until September 2007. See our website for
more details and the link to the National website and map giving details of
progress.
Welcome to Walking week
Saturday 23rd June to
Sunday 1st July. Lots of lovely walks. Bring a friend and they can get 20% off
their first year’s membership. Leaders will have supplies of the discount
membership application forms.
Essex
Feast (Friends in Essex Annual Summer Trek) 11 – 19 August
A week of nice short
walks of 4 miles a day. The walks are all circular and start at 10:30 a.m.
Certificates will be issued to all walkers who complete all 7 days walking and
28 miles. See our website for more details.
New Info from Head Office
Ramblers
head office has issued new guidance on Civil Liability
Insurance. The guide explains the public liability cover arranged by the
Ramblers’ Association for all it’s members. It is underwritten by one key
message:
Don’t
Worry!
- Walking is a
very low risk activity
- All members
involved in Ramblers activities are covered
- Ramblers
volunteers are not individually liable for claims
It
explains:
-
The nature of the insurance cover
-
Some good practice to make claims
even less likely
-
What to do about dogs, working
parties and car sharing
For more information go
to
http://www.ramblers.org.uk/volunteer/insurance/ or contact the
secretary to receive a copy
Obituary
- John Reginald Barnard - former Essex Area Countryside Chair.
Probe down to the very
soles of Rambling to find it is a simple exercise. All you need to do is
saunter in the countryside, free and easy; left right, left right, one foot,
then the other. No need to be a member of anything. Get details of organised
rambles off the web-site, then you are free to add the important social
dimension to the lovely exercise. Don¹t bother to take a turn leading a caravan
of other ramblers; nor to organise a pub visit, or arrange for car-parking; nor
even to file a report on path-conditions. Others can do all that.
This code of conduct was
most definitely not John Barnard¹s way: he would regard it more careless than
carefree. And John Barnard took great care.
Rambling is not a simple
exercise: if you go about sustaining a Parish Footpath Preservation Society; if
you go around seeking clues with which to formulate quizzes-on-the-hoof; if you
become an Area Footpath Secretary allocated to your local Group and
organise parish path surveys, and follow-up the results; if you strive hard
to keep your local Ramblers’ Association Group focussed on R A footpath lines
instead of being off-railed by popular social activity; if you study all the
complicated laws pertaining to Highways and stay updated to their Local
Governmental procedures, and if you then become an acknowledged expert in the
matter, recognised as such by ramblers, local government officers and
land-owning leaders alike.
Rambling surely ain’t
simple! John Barnard did all these in Great Tey, Colchester district and Essex
County, and much more. Obviously his rucksack was loaded with finely
interesting hobbies, and he looked forward to expressing himself more fully when
retired. Alas, shortly after his full-time career at British Telecommunications
ceased, he injured his back as was in hospital for too long. Soon afterwards he
was enforced to retire hurt from rambling.
But he never gave up
working for others. Indeed, with Barbara¹s support (she pre-deceased him by a
few weeks) he spread his wings and became involved with Open Space Society
campaigns, coupling these tasks with a large role as Essex Countryside Officer
within the Ramblers’ Association, retiring only when close to his eightieth
birthday.
Has such a paragon really
existed amid our ranks these last three decades? Yes. But you may not have
noticed him, mainly because he has not been able to ramble much these last two
decades, and you may have been absent when he was addressing Meetings. But the
results of his endeavours in our local countryside remain for us all to enjoy
and to guard for our (including John and Barbara’s) successors’ recreation.
Derek Keeble. February
07.
And
Finally….
By now the Wednesday
group’s Christmas lunch is becoming a fading, but pleasurable memory. The Butt
and Oyster at Pin Mill never fails to impress and Colin’s organisation of the
event was as good as ever. Thanks are also due to all our walk leaders since
Christmas for a wide and varied programme and to those who have taken the time
to plan our summer excursions.
In the last programme I
posed the question: “is there an optimum distance from Colchester over which
leaders should not stray?” Surprise, surprise! – there is life out there.
Responses came via e-mail and orally. In summary, there was a general consensus
that while we have the health to ramble and congestion charging does not make
driving prohibitive, new routes are more important than merely walking “local”
paths.
All agreed that greater
efforts should be made on the car-sharing front and there was a collective
acknowledgement that as leaders are volunteers who sometimes spend several days
planning and researching walks before submitting them, we should all be jolly
thankful for their endeavours.
A few programmes back I
raised the question of the “optimum” walk distance but received no response. As
with big red buses, when you open one floodgate, along come several more. Not
surprisingly there is a general desire for longer summer walks and shorter
winter ones. Clearly some walkers vote with their feet on figures-of-eight and
opt out of the afternoon offerings while others have a preference for a “varied
programme”. Perhaps that is the answer; if so we would seem to getting the
programme about right. Have your say with an e-mail to the
locks06@wanadoo.co.uk.
Vic Lock – 01206 210108 |
