Step out April 2019
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Step Out April Issue, 2019 STAFFORDSHIRE AREA RAMBLERS The Ramblers’ Association is a registered charity (number 1093577) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (number 4458492). The opinions expressed in Stepout are not necessarily the official views of the Ramblers, Area or National, but those of the authors concerned Photo – Autumn colours in an Urban environment CONTENTS Editorial 3 Obituary Don Evitts 3 Why Ramblers 4 Trent Valley extension in Staffordshire 6 Don’t Lose Your Way 7 Ramblers Funding 12 Photographs on Group Walks and GDPR 13 Cannock Chase ANOB Management Plan 14 Ramblers Insight Hub 15 Blocked Path…What can you do 16 Chair’s Report 17 Group Reports South Staffs Footpath Report 18 Biddulph 19 Mid Staffs 20 Sandwell 21 Stone 22 Wolverhampton 23 2 Editorial. Welcome to the Spring edition of Stepout. A subject that keeps cropping up at meetings is the question of what the Ramblers does for us. It’s a bit like the Life of Brian sketch ‘what did the Romans do for us?’ In this edition I will attempt to give an answer to that question. I know that many of us do realise the importance of the Ramblers so I apologise to those in advance. Sadly last year our past Chairman, Graham Rothery passed away. He became Area Countryside Secretary in January 2007 but later in 2008 he became Area Chairman, a position he held until November 2011. He was the MD of Pace Print, who produce Stepout for us. Walking was a great part of his life and in addition to his involvement with the Ramblers he was Chairman of the Heart of England Way Association. He was also involved with the Scouting movement and was District Commissioner for his area. He was one of those people who did make a difference and he will be missed by many. In this issue some useful ideas come from the Group reports. Whilst not a Ramblers project, the Transforming Trent Valley project, led by Staffordshire Wildlife is, I think, of great interest to us as ramblers so I have included their article which appears on a website. And finally the Ramblers are starting the Don’t lose your way project and again I have reproduced their web based article here, since not all have a computer. It is a golden opportunity to help play our part in getting more rights of way onto the definitive map. An earlier exercise in Stoke on Trent found a substantial number of unclaimed paths, which if repeated in Staffordshire as a whole could result in many miles of extra footpaths. Obituary to Don Evitts Don Evitts sadly passed away on 1st November 2018 aged 75 years. Don was widely known throughout the rambling community serving as a regular walks leader, with his wife Betty, and a committee stalwart of Sandwell ramblers. He was equally active as a long standing representative on the Staffs Area Council where he was always looking to share his knowledge with other groups and at times raising a few eyebrows. Don was never one to be slow in coming forward whether plaguing the local press to include and report on his walks programme or include any number of special events. This was typical of his passion for local walks activities, none more so than the development of the Sandwell Valley area and the Six Towns Marathon. Sandwell Valley was to develop significantly for all outdoor activities 3 including many walking trails in this urban environment, and it was a common feature to see Don on his leaflet patrol as he encouraged all to become ramblers, and work to establish the “John Scott Way”. He had a Black Country brogue of his own with a wonderful technique of changing the course of a committee discussion to any topic he fancied at that time. His passion for walking never wavered and he loved to relate tales of walks no longer within the group’s capabilities such as the 18 mile Derby Dawdle or the 19 mile Kinver Clamber. He was always looking to help others and was a great supporter of events such as the annual festival of walks, Remembrance Sunday observance and the 14 mile London Bridges walk to support Kidney Research. Over the years the memories improved with age, as did his passion for the railways, especially the steam era. It engendered his love of the Staffordshire Moorlands, were he led many walks, and tales of rail lines long gone, but it is fair to say Dr. Beeching was not his favourite person. Sandwell Ramblers has lost one of our “soulmates”. We will cherish his totally naive disregard of political correctness and his favourite greeting of “Petal”. The tales will long be told and no doubt improve with time, but it is for Sandwell Ramblers to treasure, develop, and preserve the legacy of the friendly club which he so helped to establish. One of Don’s favourite sayings when on a walk with wonderful views was “ they doh luk “ perhaps that will change or may be not. We will all remember him. Barry Jordan Why Ramblers. It is said by some that as you become older so you become grumpier. Whether this is true or not I wouldn’t like to say but personally it does seem to be the case. One of the things that makes me grumpy is when people challenge the need to be in the Ramblers. I can understand why those walkers who are not members of the ramblers might not feel the need to join but it comes as a surprise to me that sometimes our own members seem to question it. And this makes me grumpy and I apologise if I am preaching to the converted. The object here is to give answers to anyone who raises that question. It is often said that it is expensive and you can join a walking club for less cost. That is certainly true but there are two points. Firstly by being a member of the Ramblers you actually belong to every Group in the country. Yes, you belong to the Group in which you live but you are free to walk with any group at any time. But secondly, and to me at least, more importantly, we are not a walking Club. That is 4 not the aim of the Ramblers (two of its aims are The provision and protection of foot paths and other ways over which the public have a right of way or access on foot, including the prevention of obstruction of public rights of way and second, the protection and enhancement for the benefit of the public of the beauty of the countryside and other areas by such lawful means as the trustees think fit, including by encouraging the provision, preservation and extension of public access to land on foot). Few can remember the Kinder Trespass, though of course we all know of it. Many of us will remember the state of the paths in the early 1960’s. A few more will remember the privatisation of our forests and water boards. Well if it wasn’t for the Ramblers, we would probably not have access to all that water board land, neither would we have the access to forests that we have now, and before the Kinder Trespass we wouldn’t be able to walk on much of our uplands. As for footpath retention, many of the paths that we now enjoy would have been closed, barricaded or simply lost. In other words it is the Ramblers which allows us to enjoy the walks we do. Some may feel that the work of the Ramblers is done. But far from it. We have HS2, land is gobbled up for housing and industrial estates, roads, airport expansions and the like occur all the time and are threats to our footpaths.(See Guide to finding lost rights of way). As individuals we can, of course, make our objections known. But how much better it is if there is a body able to represent us, to make objections to projects, to attend and speak at public enquiries, to help formulate law in respect of us walkers. That is why we have the Ramblers, it is our voice. Just being a member adds to our number. An organistation of one (i.e the individual) is unlikely to be listened to but an organisation of thousands has a much greater opportunity of being listened too, even more if it comprises tens of thousands of members. But it is not just the big, it is the small. If you come across a blocked path or a planning application to divert a path (or heaven forbid find that a path has been closed because nobody thought to object) what do you do. Most people use the somebody else excuse. I won’t report it because someone else has (or maybe not knowing whom to object to). At the moment there is somebody else. That somebody else is a member of the Ramblers who has taken on the role of footpath officer. Not only do they act on information received, they keep an eye out for any planned closures, diversions etc. Obviously a national organisation cannot deal with local issues. That is partly why there are Groups. Each group and Area will have a footpath officer who can deal with these. Lose the Ramblers and this vital resource is lost. I suspect 5 that other walking Groups do not generally involve themselves with such matters and just enjoy the walk and leave the question of obstructions etc to others.