RAMBLERS AREA

Annual Report & Accounts for the year 2019 – 2020

The Ramblers' Association is a company limited by guarantee, registered in and Wales. Company registration number: 4458492. Ramblers Charity England & Wales No: 1093577 Scotland No: SC039799. Registered office: 2nd floor, Camelford House, 87-90 Albert Embankment, SE1 7TW.

AREA OFFICERS Jan 2020 – Jan 2021

Hon. President: post vacant Vice Presidents: Tony Parker, Phil Jacklin, Colin Smith Chairman: Geoff Mullett Vice-Chairman: John Beavan Secretary: Stuart Parker Treasurer: John Atterby Membership Secretary: Mary Ball Minutes Secretary: post vacant Area Footpath Officers: North Lincs: Sid Mill South Lincs: John Beavan Publicity: Stuart Parker Webmaster: Geoff Mullett

GROUP CONTACTS 2020

Boston: Patrick White 07944 451958 Gainsborough: Douglas Barr 01724 846340 : Judy Hulland 01664 464065 & Louth: Lesley Bailey 01472 591830 Lincoln: Gill Enderby 01522 535399 LWG 20s & 30s: Tracy Robinson [email protected] : Lyn Martin 07731631276 & : Mike Casey 01205 480466 : Melanie Fisher 01529 415860 Spalding: Judy Chapman 01775 680404 Stamford: Richard Siddaway 07519 376992

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

All members and affiliates are invited to attend the 2020 Annual General meeting of the Ramblers Lincolnshire Area to be held on:

Saturday 16 January 2021 at 10.00. Venue to be advised

AGENDA

1. Apologies for absence

2. Minutes of the AGM 2019

3. Matters arising

4. Annual Reports & Accounts

5. Election of Officers, including delegates to 2021 General Council *

6. Motions **

7. Any other business

8. Date, time and place of the 2021 Annual General Meeting

* Nominations may be made at the meeting, but it is helpful if names are given to the Secretary beforehand. ** Notice of Motions must be given in writing to the Secretary at least two weeks prior to the AGM.

Hon. Area Secretary: Stuart Parker 129 Broughton Gardens Lincoln LN5 8SR

Tel: 01522 534655 email: [email protected]

1 AREA CHAIRMAN

In my report of September 2019, which was left out of the printed booklet, I wrote about the tasks I’d undertaken in what seemed a busy eight months. Sadly, this report is more of a list of what I haven’t done, or more accurately what I couldn’t do due to the ongoing pandemic restrictions. I had hoped to focus on the Area’s falling membership, and to that end, I offered to lead some walks for two of our Groups who said they were short of leaders. This was before the shutdown that came in March, but neither Group bothered to respond, so instead, I put my name down to lead walks for the Walking Festival. I also devised a series of evening walks for the Lincolnshire Coastal Country Park and started to produce a set of walks based on a pub in Mumby, all with the idea of publicising the Ramblers, but of course, all that was put on hold. For these non-Group-specific walks, such as Council-run walking festivals and the Ramblers Festival of Winter Walks for which I’d planned to lead a set of walks, I’ve been given access to the Groups Walks & Events Manager (GWEM) and a notional group ‘Lincolnshire’. Using this, any member who wants to lead a walk that doesn’t fall under their Group’s umbrella (such as day, walk length, an alternative to a coach trip etc), can add it to GWEM to be visible to the public and all members. In this financial year, the rate of membership decline in Lincolnshire is still well above the national average, so we need to work together to reverse this. Remind people that National Parks, access to open countryside, waymarked and cleared footpaths are all due to Ramblers efforts. Another event cancelled was the 2020 General Council scheduled for Bristol in April. However, a basic AGM was conducted on 15th September using Zoom (how many of us had heard of that before the lockdown?). More details of that at the end of my report. I responded to a number of local newspaper reports where the term ‘ramblers’ was being used indiscriminately whenever someone complained of a problem with walkers. The days of proper journalists working for provincial newspapers has long gone, now replaced by compilers of stories and letters submitted by the public, with little or no checking of facts. I was also interviewed over the phone by a couple of Lincolnshire-based radio stations, though the reasons completely escape me! With many emails and newsletters pouring forth from Central Office, there were always going to be a number of confusing and mixed messages regarding what Groups could and couldn’t do. Staff working from home can’t have helped the situation as I found the answers to questions depended on who I asked. Hopefully, the staff, who have been under considerable pressure, are now getting the support they need, and our Groups are now receiving clear instructions. Last December, I met with Alison Hallas, Ramblers Policy & Advocacy Officer for Countryside & Access, to discuss the proposed route for the Coastal Path where it passes through the grey seal pupping area at Donna Nook. We walked part of the route and looked at alternatives – necessary as there was no possibility of following the preferred path alongside the dunes between October and January when several thousand seals were on the path and which flooded at times of very high tide. We then met with the other stakeholders – Lincs Wildlife Trust, Natural England, the Parish Council and the MoD (over whose land the route passes). After much haggling, a route was agreed that left everyone happy, though it will be a while before this stretch of path is declared open – everything has been delayed as Natural England staff have not been allowed to work from their offices, though a progress report is due from them imminently. In January, we held our AGM at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln. The Area Officers were voted in with just one change, John Atterby took over the purse strings as Treasurer, following the retirement of John Harker. Thanks to John H for the time spent keeping our accounts on the straight and narrow, and to John A, for volunteering to take over the role. A task I could undertake! With nobody rushing to take responsibility for the Area web site, I agreed to look at it and give it a re-vamp. The software used is far from intuitive and extremely user-unfriendly, however the new web site was completed in May and seems to have met with general approval. It’s still a work in progress though, as I’m currently re-walking and updating the routes around the county I first walked in 2009-10. As they are completed, they will appear on the web site for anyone to download. I repeat my earlier request for any members who have submitted a walk to Ramblers Routes, or have a favourite walk they would like to share, to send me the details. Finally, my grateful thanks to Colin Smith who looked after the previous web site for a number of years and also to all the volunteers who keep the Groups and the Area functioning.

2 Report on the Ramblers AGM held online, on 15 September 2020

This consisted of a short broadcast-only online meeting, with Council members having formally participated and voted in advance by appointing the Chair of the Board of Trustees as their proxy and submitting a proxy form ahead of the meeting. Over 100 people joined the online meeting and 103 Council members participated by appointing a proxy and voting on the formal business including Roger Bainbridge (Boston Group) and myself as delegates.

Kate Ashbrook, Chair of the Board of Trustees, gave a short update on achievements in 2018-2019 and events on the year to date. The salient points were: Don’t Lose Your Way – this campaign has discovered 40,000 miles of unrecorded paths and 3,200 people have helped with this. Agriculture Bill – Ramblers are very much involved in lobbying, with the Minister stating that new payments could be made to landowners for the creation of new footpaths. Environment Bill – Ramblers are lobbying hard for the Government to guarantee that no one lives more than five minutes’ walk from green space, by requiring national targets for access to nature under the Environment Bill. The Environment Minister announced in September that £7.2m will be available for projects related to access; Ramblers played a big role in securing this funding.

Regarding the nine Motions submitted by Areas for debate this year, with no possibility of meeting to discuss them, the Board of Trustees decided that these Motions would be remitted to the Board, who will review each Motion and prepare a response to be published on 16th October 2020. Areas can then decide whether they wish to resubmit the Motion for discussion next year. The recorded AGM can be viewed on the Ramblers web site HERE. Also, all the paperwork can be downloaded from the same page.

Geoff Mullett September 2020

3 AREA SECRETARY

What a year it has been. I have not known such a wholesale cancellation of our led walks programme before except during the Foot & Mouth outbreak in 2001. Of course, it was necessary that precautions had to be enacted by Government in an effort to try to bring this coronavirus epidemic under some control. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the timing of action, all activities were to be affected which included the cancellation of our complete walks programme, footpath protection work and meetings. However, one interesting benefit which has come out of Covid-19 is the discovery by many people of footpaths local to them as the restrictions permitted walking as an essential exercise as part of our wellbeing. This has led to a wider appreciation being gained for walking routes and open spaces closer to home. Let us hope this has improved the use of many paths in our home areas but we should expect some restrictions to continue for some months to come. Only one Area Council meeting went ahead back in February at our new venue of Whisby Nature Park, with the following two Area meetings due in May and August cancelled due to restrictions on meetings. The November meeting is planned to be held using Zoom as an online platform for meetings. It is likely that the Area AGM in January similarly will need to be held as an online meeting and details will be given on the website. With the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 crisis the decision was made not to print our normal annual Area Walks booklet for 2021. Groups walks will be uploaded onto the website and Walks Finder a few weeks in advance. I expect Groups might well feature walks that were originally planned to be held this year but the website will show the latest listings. Similarly, our printed annual report will not be produced but will be uploaded to read on the website. We are arranging for those members without email or internet access to have a printed copy of the report sent to them. At our annual general meeting in January, we gave our thanks to long-serving treasurer John Harker who stood down from that role and we were able to appoint John Atterby. Similarly, Colin Smith stood down from the roles of Area Footpath Officer for Mid-Lincs and webmaster. Our thanks go to Colin for his work over the years and he remains as an Area Vice-President. We are grateful to both Sid Mill and John Beaven sharing his duties in Mid-Lincs and to Geoff Mullett for taking on the role of webmaster. It is still my intention to stand down from the role of Area Secretary within the next two years and I kindly ask that if anyone is interested in this role to contact me directly to talk about what is involved. We rely heavily on our committees and volunteers to take on these roles and I would appeal to interested members to come forward and offer your services to help out. It is expected that a new Lincolnshire Wolds Outdoor Festival, currently being planned, will be held next summer from 1st May - 6th June, subject to prevailing Government restrictions. This is to embrace all forms of outdoor activity and I expect our Groups will come forward to offer a wide variety of walks to discover our delightful area of outstanding natural beauty. Other Festivals may also return but we have yet to hear further about these so I hope we can play our part in those as well to keep walking at the fore. It may well be that those people who have discovered walking ‘closer to home’ during this year may wish to take up rambling and they need to be made very welcome to join with us. We never know what the future holds but let us hope it is an improvement on 2020 and that we can resume all our activities, safely and together, within the coming months.

Stuart Parker

4 AREA TREASURER

The financial position of the Area is secure due to the policies operated by my predecessor John Harker. At the end of the 2019/2020 Financial Year the Area had a bank balance of £5,820.65 and a petty cash float of £ 207.64 , giving total finds available of £ 6,028.29 The bank balance included £303.84 of Goodban Legacy Funding. Both these items are explained below. During 2019/20 the Area received £7,928.80 of funding, and had expenditure of £6,088.51 giving a surplus of £1,840.29. Both the income and expenditure include £ 2,503.00 of funding for the Groups within the Area. The Area’s expenditure consisted of, £1,695 for Walking Programmes, £1,584. 04 for Meeting costs (including £ 735 for the preparation of the Annual Reports), £121.92 of Footpath expenditure and £184.55 of Administration costs. The £207.64 of petty cash mentioned above is held due to the fact that a value of cash was withdrawn from the bank to cover the meeting costs in February and May. These cost £192.36 in February, but as we all know May’s meeting never happened. This cancellation of meetings due to the pandemic, is the reason why travelling expenditure has reduced from £2198.36 in the previous year (2018/19) to £1,584 in the year just finished. The £303.80 of excess Goodban Legacy Funding has been created by the receipt of deposit and investment interest, which under normal circumstances would have funded the annual treasures hunt. This was unable to be held due to the pandemic, so these funds are therefore retained in the Area’s general bank account. A decision will need to be made as to how these funds are utilised, or perhaps in future, expenditure will run a year behind income. The balance of Legacy Funding is currently £12.759.23 which is an increase of £313.64 on the balance at the end of the previous financial year. This is held as £ 3,000 in a deposit account and £9,759 in Unit Trusts. Looking forward to 2020/21 the budget submitted was based on current history, but including the cost of a full year of meetings. With the change in policy regarding the publication of the Walking Programme, expenditure will have been overstated. A decision will need to be made as to whether this is returned or adjusted in the following year. I would like to thank the Area Committee and Officers, the Group Treasurers and my predecessor for all the support I have received during this year.

John R Atterby

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6

AREA FOOTPATH OFFICER Lincs South (Boston, Kestevens & Holland)

The normal activities surrounding footpath work have been affected by the 18 weeks of lockdown, and restrictions of varying severity since then. The wettest Autumn and Spring on record literally put a damper on any outdoor work. Countryside Access maintenance teams have been doing their best, but the dearth of organised walks during this period have allowed many paths to become overgrown. However, planning submissions have been unaffected, with 285 having been forwarded to me from Boston, Holland, North and and . Very few affected the footpath network – none involving major extinguishments or prevention of access. The Countryside Access team monitor these as a matter of course and comment or object where appropriate. In the last year, Extinguishment orders were issued for FPs 19 at Sempringham and Pointon, to be replaced by new FP 1154, FP1 at Sutton Bridge and FP 7/2 at Ruskington. DDMOs for FP 518 in Helpringham and FP 1146 in Navenby were confirmed. PPDOs were made in respect of FP3 in Pinchbeck, FP 1 in Swarby Restricted Byway 3A in Skellingthorpe and FP 55 in Fishtoft. The hoped for North Kesteven Walking Festival, scheduled to take place in July this year was cancelled due to Corona virus: a heart-breaking decision for those who had spent months organising it. Boston and Sleaford Group’s 50th Anniversary celebration, due to take place at Aisby in April, and this year’s Goodban Treasure Hunt were called off for the same reason. These are to be rescheduled for this year. I am aware that the Group Footpath officers have quietly been reporting issues with the network directly to Countryside Access. With photos being easily attached to the reports, this is the most efficient way of dealing with problems, and thanks are due to them. The England Coast Path section through my area, from Sutton Bridge to Skegness seems to have stalled at the moment. Works to raise the banks of the Haven on both sides from the Boston barrier to the Wash mean that those stretches of path will be unwalkable for some months in any case. I wish all the Lincolnshire Rambling fraternity a safe and healthy 2020/2021 walking season.

John Beavan

AREA FOOTPATH OFFICER

During the last year, despite reduced walking, there have been 79 reports of footpath problems falling in to the categories below:

Cropped, blocked & overgrown RoWs 14 Broken gates, stiles & bridges 14 Damaged or missing fingerposts & waymarks 16 Proposed or completed diversions 15 Missing paths, lost ways and definitive map problems 18 Animals 2

Due to the virus there has been an increase in people walking closer home and discovering unused local footpaths, and with the ‘Don’t Lose Your Way project’, footpaths that had nearly disappeared some time ago are now being walked and attempts to add them to Definitive Maps are now in place. A new bridleway between Haxey and Belton via Epworth has been proposed and would add a pleasant walk along part of the old railway line. The Johnson Silver Lincs Way has had a diversion around Cadeby Hall added, which although slightly longer, reduces the incline walked. The substation replacing the one blocking footpath 72 has been built and connected up to the grid and once safety checks are completed the old one can be knocked down and the path reopened.

7 Council has spent a lot of time updating the definitive map as it has been well out of date for years and they have even added footpaths to their map. Lincolnshire County Council have continued to react to reported problems although a few paths have “legal problems”, which still need sorting. Northern Lincolnshire Council have recently lost their Footpath Officer and have not yet replaced him. They are also attempting to add the Northern Wolds to the Southern Wolds as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, I have suggested that they increase the long overdue maintenance of footpaths and repair more stiles, gates and bridges to encourage more walkers in to the area.

Sid Mill, North Lincolnshire Area Footpath Officer

AREA MEMBERSHIP

The Area Membership was 1,373 at 30th June 2020. Group Membership figures are as follows:

Boston 132 Gainsborough 36 Grantham 82

Grimsby Louth 286 Lincoln 291 Scunthorpe 165

Sleaford 76 Stamford 94 Spalding 58

Skegness & Lincs Walking Group 57 Area Only 32 Horncastle 62

There have been 120 new members joining us over this period plus 13 reinstated members. There have been 25 new and reinstated members in July and August. The new software does not distinguish between these categories, all are shown as new. I am not able to produce figures for the full year due to issues with the software – no date range parameters and no download option for iPads being the main problems. Well what a year this has been with Ramblers walks suspended for quite some time. Unsurprisingly there were no new members in April but despite this there were more new and reinstated members than last year. Does lockdown mean people discovered the pleasures of walking? Once again thanks to everyone for their continuing hard work on both recruiting new and retaining existing members, who should not be forgotten in the drive for members.

Mary Ball Area Membership Secretary

8 GROUP REPORTS

Boston

This year, despite the lockdown period meaning we were forced to cancel 27 items on our planned programme, we have managed to complete 39 scheduled activities from AGM to AGM. These comprised 6 evening walks, 15 Sunday rambles, 13 winter walks, 1 holiday and 4 other events. The by now traditional Extra Early Christmas Party, held in late November was well-attended, with a lively disco and a fine buffet being laid on. A holiday weekend was organised in Castleton in the Derbyshire Peak District in January, and a second one was arranged in November in Cromer. All these activities were well supported and enjoyed by those who took part. The evening walks programme culminated in a cruise up the Witham from Boston, which was arranged to be covid-safe by limiting numbers and using the outside space provided. Against all the odds, our General Secretary, Patrick White, managed to run a successful (and safe) coach trip to Coleraine in Northern Ireland in September. The holiday took in a visit to the Giant’s Causeway and walking in some beautiful countryside and coastal scenery. This holiday was originally meant to have Enniscorthy in the Republic as its destination, but extra coronavirus restrictions introduced there meant that this was not possible, and it is only due to the tenacity and organising ability of Patrick that it was able to happen at all. Sadly, the Goodban Treasure Hunt and 50th Anniversary celebration with Sleaford had to be cancelled, but they have been re-scheduled for next year. As a group, I feel we are weathering the storm of Covid well. We have around 139 members, and quickly adopted a “business as usual but safer” approach when the general lock-down was lifted. Our members are observing the regulations governing activities such as ours, made much easier thanks to Rambler’s Head Office negotiating an upper limit of 30 per walk for registered walking charities rather than the 6 previously allowed. The group has produced a full programme of activities for 2020/2021 which we hope can be implemented. Although we accept that all the proposed events may not be possible, we remain optimistic. A big “thank you” is due to all our walk leaders and committee members, particularly to our tireless general secretary, Patrick White. Without them, the group couldn’t function. This has been a particularly difficult year, but the group has come through it in good shape so far. I wish all the Lincolnshire groups a successful and safe season next year.

John Beaven

Gainsborough

No report received

Grantham

Grantham Ramblers have obviously been affected by the Coronavirus restrictions. Twenty three walks were cancelled during lockdown, but now we are up and walking again. We continue to hold fortnightly walks on Sundays and Thursdays along with monthly Wednesday walks when able. The shorter Wednesday and Thursday walks have consistently had good numbers averaging just over fourteen and twelve walkers respectively, but for the longer Sunday walks, the numbers are dwindling to about eight. To try and attract more Sunday walkers, some of the walks have been reduced from 8 miles to 5 miles.

9 Annual social events also lost out to Covid-19, though we did manage to get away for a very enjoyable weekend in Norfolk. Friday 2nd October found thirteen members heading east to Titchwell, Norfolk, for our annual walking weekend. The Briarfields was a lovely hotel, and despite social distancing everyone appreciated the three course meal and drinks on the Friday and Saturday nights. On the Saturday we broke into two groups, for a five mile walk and a nine mile one. Storm Alex which had threatened to cause havoc never appeared and both walks went ahead as planned with just a few showers and were enjoyed by all. On the Sunday morning, once again with good weather, everyone went on a five mile walk. This walk went inland slightly and gave us some good views of the beaches which we eventually would walk along back to the hotel before either having Sunday lunch or heading home.

Judy Hulland

Grimsby & Louth

On 1st October 2019 we celebrated Lincolnshire Day with our annual walk followed by lunch at Waggon and Horses at South Reston, organised by Geoff. It was a damp walk, but a lovely lunch with our usual group photo with the Lincolnshire flag. The following week was our AGM, held again at Utterby village Hall. A good attendance probably because of our lovely buffet following the meeting. Our Christmas lunch at Kings Hall, was well attended and a good meal as usual to put us in the Christmas spirit. In February I started to make plans for the 2020 Xmas lunch, but of course that had to be cancelled because of Coronavirus. Then lockdown began in March, and all walks were suspended. Ramblers could be seen criss-crossing the countryside on local paths taking their daily exercise. Our evening walk programme was almost complete too, organised by Geoff, Janet and Aileen, another event cancelled by the virus. Our Ceilidh, to celebrate 40 years of Grimsby Louth Ramblers, had to be cancelled, swiftly followed by our coach trip to Southwell. Surely our September trip to Haworth would go ahead, but no, Coronavirus still with us. Our deposits are held with Hough's coaches for 2021, we can hope! Through lockdown we had started our 2021 walk programme by email, text and word of mouth. In fact we nearly had them completed. Area have decided not to publish the walk book for 2021 so we will be advertising them on our website, a month at a time. With permission from Central Office to restart our programme, our Walks Secretary Katrina started work organising this, and taking offers of walks from members willing to lead, I must applaud for her for all the work put into this task. We have found a lot of leaders not wanting to lead, which is understandable in such worrying times, but generally we have kept our numbers down to a maximum of 15 on a walk, sometimes only 6 or 8, or whatever the leader is comfortable with. Here we are now, at the end of summer, still wondering when life will return to normal. Let's hope 2021 brings better walking days for us all,

Lesley Bailey

Lincoln

Well, it’s been a strange old year! Mark and Shirley provided the mince pies, tea, coffee, and wine for us again for the Mince Pie Walks, this time at Nettleham village hall just before Christmas. A big thank you to them for that. The New Year’s Day walks were well attended and 2020 started with a good number of people on all walks. February was a really wet month with record rainfall, and we know from previous years that you don’t like walking in the rain. The weather improved in March and you had just started to walk again when ‘lockdown’ came along, and all walks were cancelled. We all got to know our local footpaths a lot better, walking on our own from home for those three months. By the middle

10 of May, we could travel further afield to walk, and by the beginning of June we could walk in a group of six people. Lots of little groups formed and people were out walking again. Our first ‘official’ walk was the Sunday Amble on the 9th August from Temple Bruer. Although we could have had 30 on the walk there were only 9 and numbers have continued to be quite modest, showing that not all of you were ready to mix in larger numbers. We managed to get the majority of the walks on the printed programme to go ahead, not always with the original leader or from the original start point, so thank you to everyone who helped to get us up and running again. We reported in last year’s annual report that Mick and Sandra Stocker were walking the Plogsland Round for us, checking the route description and updating it where necessary. It could have been finished months ago but we are still waiting for a new footbridge over the Lincoln Eastern Bypass near Bracebridge Heath to be opened. When that happens, the updated route will be published on our Lincoln Ramblers website, free to download. Thank you, Mick and Sandra. Our membership has declined again since last year, down from 318 to 299. It is good to see that we have had eleven new members join us since lockdown started in March, so all is not lost. We sadly lost one long standing member during the year, Peter Shelbourn died in April. We offer our condolences to Lesley and his family. We have produced a substantial part of next year’s walks programme but under the current circumstances Lincolnshire Area have decided not to print the usual walks booklet containing the walks programmes of all 10 Lincolnshire Ramblers Groups. Lincoln Group will publish our walks on the Walk Finder on the Ramblers website on a monthly basis, as we have done since official walks resumed. We hope to run the four coach trips next year, which were cancelled this year. Time will tell if we are able to travel together again, or if you are happy to sit on a coach for a couple of hours each way, probably wearing a mask. A big thank you to our committee for the work that they have done during the year and to the different walk coordinators for collecting all the walks for next year’s programme. Jackie and Linda are leaving the committee at the AGM, so thank you to them for all their work on your behalf. Please consider joining us on the committee, we are a dwindling band of volunteers.

John Wright, Chair

Lincolnshire Walking Group (20s & 30s)

2020 started positively with our first walk of the year from Skellingthorpe, exploring the woodland and the area around Doddington Hall, followed up by a visit to Daisy Made for refreshments. Sleaford was our next port of call with a lovely walk to the west of the town following the River Slea and circling North and South Rauceby. February had a promising beginning with over 20 people attending our 11 mile walk from South Ferriby with views of the River Ancholme. Unfortunately our second walk of the month had to be postponed after a weather warning. March saw us venture into the Wolds with a beautiful walk from Donington on Bain, including outstanding views from Redhill Nature Reserve. We then had a delicious roast dinner following a walk around Ingham, Fillingham and Glentworth. Sadly, COVID 19 has meant that all other walks have been cancelled so far. Several group members have discovered new routes in their local areas and we are looking forward to sharing these on group walks soon. Our Facebook page and website continue to generate interest in the group and linking the 2 together has helped our publicity. We have over 700 likes and 800 followers on Facebook, some of whom regularly like and share our posts, particularly those with photos, so we continue to encourage walk leaders to take recce photos to publicise our walks. All the activities of the group would not be possible without our volunteer walk leaders, back markers and enthusiastic committee members, so a really big thank you to them for their continued hard work.

Tracy Robinson

11 Scunthorpe & District

I never imagined when writing last year’s report and signing off “Here’s to many more (s)miles!” that we would have a 6-month sabbatical for walks, thanks to Covid 19! I hope you have all managed to get through this safely, although I know some have been directly affected and our thoughts and prayers are with them. Everything was put on hold once the pandemic kicked in; no led walks, no coach trips, no socials, no holidays, no Christmas lunches, no Goodban Trophy, no Health Walks. Poor Eileen spent hours planning the Carlisle holiday and just managed to complete the recce before Lockdown was enforced. Thank you Eileen – hopefully we can plan for next year once we get back to normal – whatever normal is. Thankfully, once restrictions eased a little, many of you were able to walk in small groups in your local areas. Like me, you will have found paths you never knew existed and wildlife/flowers seemed to be more beautiful, enhanced by the peace and quiet from the lack of vehicles and people. Passers by seemed to be friendlier and there were quite a few new faces walking – some of whom have continued their new hobby. Our committee members have kept in touch through Zoom online meetings – a first for many of us! In August, the government announced that sports affiliated charities (ie Ramblers) could meet up outdoors in groups of up to 30. This didn’t extend to other walking groups. Although Ramblers Head Office gave the go ahead for led walks of 30 people to recommence at the end of July, this wasn’t obligatory and many groups, including Scunthorpe, weren’t comfortable with restarting. There were lots of factors to consider, including track and trace, risk assessments for each walk and a booking system to make sure we complied with government rules. Add social distancing and additional cars into the mix and I think you’ll agree it was a daunting task! Richard Catchpole accepted the challenge and successfully led the first walk with his other half, Lucy on Sunday 16th August – thank you both for getting us walking again! Other walk leaders have now come forward, resulting in two walks a week being offered again. Many thanks to those walk leaders for offering to lead under difficult circumstances. These walks can only be planned a few weeks in advance, so keep your eye on the website for updates. Next year’s walk programme will probably continue along the same lines and there will therefore be no printed booklet. As you can imagine, membership has been up and down, with some members choosing to relinquish their subscriptions. Never forget that although we can’t walk in groups, your membership helps Ramblers fight to keep paths open and there is a wealth of walking routes available to use plus a decent discount on boots and clothing. Hopefully we can get back to normal next year and enjoy everything walking gives us, most importantly the social interaction we’ve all missed. Stay safe, keep smiling and look forward to meeting up again and relating our Covid 19 experiences!

Lyn Martin

Skegness & Horncastle

Our 2019 AGM took place on 21st November 2019 at the Wolds Methodist Centre, Scamblesby, 13 members attended. This was preceded by an enjoyable 5 mile walk to Belchford and back. Sadly, former member of the Skegness Ramblers, Roy Baker died on 17th December 2019, aged 89. Roy was a founder member of the group, serving on the Committee between 1992 - 2000 and again between 2002 - 2008. including a period as Vice Chairman. He also led many walks for the group. Our first walk of 2020 took place on 2nd January; 19 walkers enjoyed a 6 mile walk from Horncastle to the villages of Thornton and Langton. This was followed by our New Year meal at the Old School Coffee Bar, Horncastle. Late January saw the reinstatement of public footpath signs on the footpath across the North Shore Golf Club, just to the north of Skegness. These had been controversially removed a year earlier causing

12 widespread anger in the local community. This reinstatement even received a mention in the summer issue of 'Walk' magazine complete with photograph. It is very disappointing that this past year as seen no further progress on the England Coast Path along the Lincolnshire coast, however people are walking the Lincolnshire coast. On 27th February 2020 (the first anniversary of the opening of the Skegness to section) I encountered two round- Britain walkers on the same day, one heading clockwise and one anti-clockwise around the coast of the country. On 7th April it was announced that the National Trust had bought the Sandilands Golf Club, Sutton- on-Sea with the intention to turn it into a nature reserve. This gives hope that two footpaths across the golf course, which have been closed for decades, will be reinstated and the potential for the creation of new footpaths. In March, the Coronavirus pandemic brought an abrupt end to group walks and the loss of our planned coach trip to the Peterborough area. The future looks very uncertain. One member of our group has spent 'lockdown' working on the Ramblers 'Don't Lose Your Way' project to find historic rights of way missing from the definitive map. Over 1,300 grid squares were searched and in excess of 3,500 verified.

Barry Smith

Sleaford & District

Our year began with our 2019 AGM which was held at Hill Holt Wood after an enjoyable walk led by the Ranger and a tasty lunch. A full year of walks and social events was planned, the first of which took place in January – a charity quiz and meal at the Horseshoes, Silk Willoughby, resulting in a donation to the Lincolnshire Air Ambulance. Since then it’s been an exceptional year, in more ways than one. Due to very wet and stormy weather in February only three group walks took place before mid-March, when the corona virus pandemic prevented any Ramblers organised walks and social events for the next four months. We were glad to be able to hold walks again, although extra precautions and protocols were required including risk assessment, bookings in advance, limited numbers, and the usual social distancing. Following an outdoor garden committee meeting in July we were able to organise the last three Thursday evening walks, and Sunday day walks from August onwards, although some changes were needed from the previously published programme. Thanks are due to all the walk leaders for their extra effort to follow the various protocols, so that we can resume walking together. Sadly, most of our planned social events (including a joint 50th anniversary event in April with Boston Group, our June coach trip and customary social meals) all had to be cancelled, as well as the South Lincolnshire Walking Festival. A few members were able to join the trip to Northern Ireland organised by Boston Ramblers which took place in September, with all the required social distancing measures in place. Despite the disruptions we have managed to attract several new faces on our walks and five new members this year. We were sad to learn that of one of our longest serving members, Cicely Basey, passed away earlier this year. Her family have made a donation to the group and we are in liaison over plans for a suitable memorial. Thanks are due to all committee members and walk leaders who have put in extra effort to keep our walks going as far as possible in these challenging times. Unlike previous years, we have not been able to compile a programme for the year ahead. Our programme will need to evolve on a ‘month-by- month’ basis over the coming months, as circumstances change. Updates and details will continue to be communicated via our website, Facebook and email.

David Mellor / Melanie Fischer

13 Spalding

Who would have thought when I wrote our report last year that the whole world would change in a few short months? Just a year ago our main concern was about falling numbers and an ageing membership. Now we are concerned with social distancing, risk assessment, hand-sanitising, track and trace, risks of car sharing and all the other activities that have become our ‘new normal’. Fortunately, we like to think that we are a mature bunch of people and that common sense prevails and keeps us out of danger. As with other groups, all our walks were put on hold until we gradually came out of lockdown in July. We started cautiously, sticking rigidly to the rule of six, but are now pleased to say that the experts have realised the importance of the physical and mental benefits of walking and so we have increased our numbers whilst keeping to social distancing rules. We’ve even recruited some new members who appreciate the companionship of walking with a group, bringing our membership up to 64. Of course, group walks did take place before Covid struck. Last November saw us wading through flooded streams in Bourne Woods, and in February we battled exceptionally high winds on the hills and hollows at Barnack, eventually being defeated and retiring to a pub. More recent post lockdown walks, have taken us to peaceful country areas in surrounding counties where we’ve been fortunate to enjoy the late summer sunshine. Unfortunately a casualty of the virus was our popular annual short break at Warner’s, which should have taken place in July. Wendy is hoping to reorganise this for next year. The committee remains active, with members each taking on several tasks. Of course, much of the work was done online with Ramblers Headquarters keeping us informed through emails. It has to be admitted that many of us have been struggling somewhat with their new Assemble app. Perhaps the young whizz kids at HQ are unaware that us ‘oldies’ are not as computer literate as they! Many thanks must go to two past chairmen who are stepping down from their duties after many years’ service. Marjorie has organised the Thursday Striders for several years as well as holding several Area and Group positions. Beryl currently serves on the committee and until recently produced the group’s newsletter and was membership secretary. Her duties have been ably taken over by Michele. We thank Marjorie and Beryl for all their hard work in the past and trust we’ll continue to see them socially or on walks. Finally our grateful thanks go to all the walk leaders without whom there would be no walks. It’s amazing that we are still discovering new places to visit and new sights to see. As always, of course, new leaders are always needed. Don’t be frightened to give it a go. Experienced leaders are always there to guide and advise you. It just remains to see what 2021 will bring. Happy walking.

Judy Chapman Secretary

Stamford

2020 has been, hopefully, a unique year in our lifetimes affecting everyone throughout the world. In this context the challenges we face as Ramblers pale into insignificance beside other events and we are extremely fortunate (as at the time of writing) to be able to meet to walk together. To begin at the beginning; our first few walks were very well attended reaching 30+ in January, into the 20s for our first February walk and then the storms arrived! Dennis caused one cancellation while Jorge led to cancellation of the next. We gathered for an enjoyable, if wet, walk in mid-March, which turned out to be the last until lockdown ended. The stories of the wildlife spotted and the peace and quiet encountered while people walked as individuals or in their ‘bubbles’ during lockdown, have been amazing. The silence of minimal traffic on the A1 in particular was savoured by many of us who live around Stamford. The gaps in our calendars normally filled by the coach trip, Goodban competition and path-clearing were mourned, but we are looking forward to their resumption next year.

14 Since we recommenced walking we are planning a few walks ahead and are including some led by and for those who do not wish/are advised not to be in a large group and also larger group walks where numbers are at the leader’s discretion. All walks are reaching capacity very rapidly and some are being re-run for those on the ‘waiting list.’ A key issue has been ensuring walks are where the increased number of cars being used can be safely accommodated. We have been pleased to welcome several new members since lockdown finished. The footpath claimed 30 years ago which was added to the Definitive Map after an Inspector’s visit last year was reinstated over lockdown. This included clearing a large area of brambles (at least 6 feet high), some additional fencing, a bridge and signage were also erected and the original route is now clear. The Committee enjoyed a socially-distanced walk along it after a meeting outdoors in the summer. Our thanks go to our Footpath Officer Peter Honniball, for his persuasive arguments, and to Lincolnshire County Council for all their work. We are looking forward to a more normal 2021 and our thanks go to all the walk leaders for their walks and willingness to adapt and deal with the additional tasks the current situation has brought.

Alison Crow (Chair)

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