Path Maintenance, General Council Meeting and the National Young Ramblers

The committee met recently for the Spring quarterly meeting. Despite being very sad that Sam, our man in charge of the money, is leaving the group to move to Sheffield we are very pleased to welcome Jon to the role as of the next meeting.

Half of the committee attended the recent general council meeting and reported back to the remainder. The main point of discussion was a move to oppose a push by Cycling UK to open more rights of way to use by cyclists. Dom led a walk for all in attendance on the Sunday morning which was very much appreciated.

Pete attended the National Young Ramblers get together in Edinburgh. Interesting points were that Young Ramblers Europe have their own council and there is talk of trying to replicate this in the UK. Also discussed was the lack of diversity in Ramblers groups. Generally, ramblers groups are not ethnically or socially diverse and it is important that groups actively try to address this.

Amy announced that we should be able to join the Winchester group for a footpath maintenance session in July, a first for the Hampshire 20’s and 30’s group. Everyone agreed this was a very worthwhile avenue for the group to investigate.

Dan has kindly reviewed the trips away guidance and this will be available to support anyone wanting to organise a trip away for the group.

Finally, Mark reported that the new website is almost ready for testing which means it is well on the way to being live.