RAMBLERS Newsletter 77 Spring 2020

Hello Everyone

We will all be extremely relieved to see the back end of these never-ending deluges and having to negotiate great pools of mud and water practically everywhere! But Spring and Summer are just around the corner and the next programme from April to July contains 156 walks. I would like to thank the dedicated Walk Co-ordinators (listed on a separate page) who put this programme together with Anne who checks everything and keeps us all on the straight and narrow!

Thanks you to all of you who led walks for us. New leaders on this programme are : Issie Martin, Alan Townsend, Jon Cross, Maralyn & Ian Sharp, Celia Griffiths and Clive Pearson.

I would like to welcome Sue Crimp as our new Treasurer who takes over from Gillian Smith. Thanks Gillian for your sterling efforts over the past 3 years.

Steve Welham has agreed to organise the new Tuesday Evening walks – there will be walks every Tuesday evening in the next programme. Thanks Steve.

Jean Mortlock is starting 2 mile walks in April. All the walks will be easy, slow and have no styles. The dates are Tuesdays April 7 and April 21.

Chris Hodge Chair Upcoming Events

Listed below are the Special Events and walks over the next months. Please put these in your diaries.

Spring Social- Saturday 14 March - Farnham Middle School 6.30pm for a 7pm start.

No Booking required. This is an annual event and always fun. A time to catch up with fellow walkers when not wearing boots and gaiters! Please bring a delicious main and/or a pudding to put on the tables for everyone to enjoy. Bring your own plates and cutlery. There is a bar selling beer, cider, wine and soft drinks.

The guest speaker is Roger Cansdale from the Basingstoke Canal Society. He will be explaining the history of the canal and the plans for the future. We often walk in that area so it should be an interesting presentation.

Pub Socials - Second Tuesday of the month

We meet at a local pub from 8 pm. We guarantee that there will be members there, so come along for a drink and a good natter. Dates are:

The Barley Mow, - April 7 May 12 June 9 July 14

Special Walks (These are explained in more detail in the walking programme)

Memorial Walk for John Plympton - Wednesday May 6 Meet at for 10.30 am start. This walk passes John’s gate in Peper Harow. Leader is Anne Pullinger.

Litter Picks Mondays March 30 and July 20 10.30 am. Please come along and do your bit to clean up our town.

Sunday July 11 am - Blind Walkers Every year we escort a group of blind and partially sighted walkers around the local countryside. Please come and lend an arm - we need 12 arms! Please contact Liz Witham on 01252 721087 [email protected] for more information.

Saturday July 25 - The Needles and Tennyson Down, Isle of Wight We meet at Lymington Ferry Terminal at 11.15 am for the 11.40 am ferry to Yarmouth. Please contact Chris & Sue Hodge on 01252 725899 or [email protected] for more information. No need to book.

Publicity Events

We will have our gazebo at the Bourne Show on Saturday July 4 12.30-5 pm.

And The Bentley Show on Saturday July 18

This is an excellent way to promote ourselves to the community. We would be grateful to anyone who could help us and come for a short time to help to set up or take down. Also chatting to passers-by about our walks. Please contact Malcolm on 07855 952354 if you are able to help.

Farnham Walking Festival May 16 to June 7 We are involved again this year. Some of our members will be leading walks in the festival. Also there are 22 of our walks included within the festival and we hope that non-members will be attending as our guests.

Guy Singer publishes detailed walks in the Farnham Herald. Often they are walks from our programme. In the article you will have noticed that Farnham Ramblers have a large advert. Thanks Guy.

Coach Ramble

The next coach trip is to Salisbury on Saturday June 6. The coach leaves Farnham at 9.30 am and arrives back at 6.00pm. There is an optional 5 mile walk from the city centre arriving back at lunch time, or you can spend your time visiting some of the many interesting attractions – not least of which is the cathedral! More information on the day. The cost is £15. Seats are still available. Contact Chris & Sue Hodge [email protected] 01252 725899

Holidays There are 2 holidays this year:

May 2020 - Guernsey This is fully booked

September 5 - 12 2020 - St Ives, Cornwall We are staying at the HF Holidays Hotel. HF are providing all the walk leaders and transport to and from the starts points.

At the time of writing, Liz has 3 Double/Twin rooms available. The cost is £825 pp. Please contact Liz on 01252 721087, [email protected] for more information.

Holidays in 2021 We are still hoping to organise holidays next year. If no one comes forward to volunteer then it would be a shame for them to fall by the wayside. Please contact Chris on 01252 725899 to have a chat about what’s involved.

Footpath Wardens

Being a Rambler is not only about walking. We also take responsibility for the quality of the footpaths in our area. We currently divide the Farnham District into 19 areas. Each area has a Footpath Warden responsible for identifying any issues with the footpaths so that appropriate action can be taken.

Several of our Wardens are no longer able to carry out their duties and we are now looking for new and enthusiastic volunteer Wardens. The requirement is simply to walk the footpaths in your area at least once a year and identify any issues. Major issues such as broken stiles, fallen trees blocking paths, etc, are reported to County Council. If you are interested please contact Susie Duffy, Wardens co-ordinator on 07939 024353 or via e-mail [email protected].

Footpath Maintenance 2020 We will shortly be starting our footpath maintenance programme for 2020. Tasks are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month starting on March 17th in . The work is both enjoyable and rewarding. Surrey footpaths are some of the best in the country and our role is to keep them that way. Tasks include repairing or replacing broken stiles with kissing gates, repairing footbridges, clearing fallen trees and extensive vegetation clearance. More information is available on the Farnham Ramblers website under on the relevant page. If you would like to join our team, please contact Allan Bird on 07769 922976 or via e-mail at [email protected]

Message from Sue Ford, Membership Secretary I have mentioned in earlier newsletters that if you want to receive our emails containing our walk programmes, newsletters and other news, it is important that your email address and permission for email communications from Ramblers are entered on the Ramblers Membership database. If you have received this newsletter by email, then you are OK. If you know of any our members who have not received the walks programme or newsletter and they want to do so, they should get in touch with me. I am happy to help anyone who has any queries. Please contact me on - Email: [email protected] Telephone: 07754 800810

Walk Leader Training We will be holding a walk leader training course on 10 October. We encourage all leaders or those interested in becoming a leader to attend this course, so if you want to book a place use the application form on the Surrey Ramblers website. We have been delivering this course as part of a set of courses arranged by Surrey Area since 2013 & it has proved very popular. We needed to have some new trainers for the team who deliver the course and I am pleased to say we have recruited Paul Blanchard and Nick Baxter who will join Alan Keeley for this year’s course. Any queries, contact me: Email: [email protected] Telephone: 07754 800810 Sue Ford, Farnham Walk Leader Course Administrator.

First Aid Courses

First Aid Courses are arranged by Ramblers Central Office and are free of charge. The 2020 programme has not been set up so if you are interested then please keep an eye on the Ramblers Main website and you will be able to book direct. The courses are around the country so you should be able to find one near you.

TRIBUTE to John Plympton

Very sadly, as most of you will know, our dear friend John passed away in January.

John joined the Farnham Ramblers in 2000 and was always very enthusiastic and passionate about everything the Ramblers did and stood for. He soon became involved and started to organise footpath maintenance parties which he continued until 2016. He was Footpath Secretary for many years and on the committee for 4 years and was the dedicated Walk Coordinator for Thursday short walks.

He was well known for always turning up good and early for walks, and kitted out with his phone, Garmin GPS, compass, map and any other vital equipment strapped to his front for easy access! John always had a knack of greeting new members and made them feel welcome and at home. He made a huge contribution to the Farnham Ramblers over many years. His warm smile, friendly manner and sense of humour will be greatly missed by all of us.

His lovely and moving funeral was attended by an estimated 200 people with standing room only. We all send our condolences to Anne and their families.

There is a memorial walk on Wednesday May 6 from Shackleford led by Anne. The walk passes the gate near Peper Harow which was dedicated to and opened by him in 2018. We are planning another longer walk later in the summer.

Message from David Ross, Footpath Secretary

Do you know this path? There is a path from Smuggler’s Way in the Sands to Crooksbury Common that is under threat of being closed. I have shown the path in magenta.

I recall walks that David Gibbs and Chris Burton have led that used the path. The surface shows that the path is in regular use by walkers.

The landowner has started the process of saying that this path is not a Right of Way. If I can find sufficient evidence of usage then it may be possible to have the path formally added to the Definitive map as a public Right of Way.

If you have used the path or know of any other people who have used it, then please get in contact with me either by phone, 01252 725888 or by email [email protected].

David Ross Footpath Secretary

Our Website

Please visit the website often.

All our walks are listed there. If we have to cancel or change any details, then the latest up-to-date information will be shown.

Facebook. Click on the Facebook Icon and you will see photos of recent walks.

Members Section. Click on the LOGIN/LOGOUT icon.

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There you will see this Newsletter and the complete printed programme.