www.ramblers.org.uk/north-devon www.facebook.com/northdevonramblers Our group AGM this year will be on Saturday the 7th November. We are again at the Black Horse in Torrington as we were well looked after last year. Angela will be taking lunch bookings and leading the morning walk. Our formal meeting will commence at 2 pm and take just over an hour. Three of our long-standing committee members will be standing down and we need some new, enthusiastic recruits. Some jobs are 'behind the scenes' and some more 'front of house'. All committee members are available to put interested individuals in the picture as to the time involved and skills needed for these roles so do please ask. Our committee meetings are held four times a year. Please consider taking this opportunity to give something back to our group that gives so much pleasure to us all. Special Events Winter Walking Festival On Wednesday the 18th November at 7.15 pm we have a skittles evening at The Black Horse Inn, Over the hectic Christmas period and at the start of a new year is when people look to the countryside Church Street, Braunton. Supper will be a Chicken Tikka Masala with rice and poppadoms or a and walking as a way of reinvigorating themselves, getting a bit fitter and trying new hobbies. We vegetarian alternative, both £6.95. Numbers will be limited, so to book please send a cheque made have five walks as part of Ramblers Winter Walking Festival that we would like you to publicise for payable to North Devon Ramblers for £7.30 (35p for prizes) to Linda Lee, 9 Grange Avenue, us. Encourage family, friends and work colleagues to give us a try. There are a good number of Barnstaple EX31 2DS. shorter walks on this Winter programme, including our new 'Short and Sweet' ones so there is no th The Castle Centre, Castle Street, Barnstaple will be our venue for a social evening on Friday 15 excuse for not coming out and making new friends. January at 7.15 pm. Bryan and Rita Price will show pictures and describe their 'Coast to Coast - Wainwright's Way' walk. Brian Newbound will also show a selection of digital pictures. Please bring along some food to share for supper. Tea and coffee will be provided and there will be a small charge to cover the room hire. STOP PRESS!! SAD NEWS Our annual lunch will be on Sunday the 24th January at the Barnstaple Hotel. A booking form is Just before we went to press with this programme we heard that our Group President, Joyce Stanley enclosed with this programme but we will again be in a private room with numbers restricted to 45, so had died. At almost 95 I think we thought that she would go on forever. Joyce did not seem fazed by book early to avoid disappointment. anything. Even at 93 and with deteriorating eyesight she still took a seat on the top deck of the bus that she caught to Filleigh when she attended the Devon Area AGM. Joyce joined Ramblers' in 1958 We would welcome offers to organise or to help organise a group away break for next year. We have but here in North Devon it was in 1977 that she became one of the founder members of our group. She a huge amount of previous experience but tasks such as this should not always fall to the same few chaired the group until 1996 and then became our Group President, still being actively involved and members. The booking of accommodation can be done by one person with others leading walks. Do attending AGMs and committee meetings until the past few months. In the early days she was please give this some thought. considered quite formidable (perhaps ever the school teacher) but this concealed a sensitive side. AREA AGM NOTICE As well as leading many programme walks Joyce helped to organize walks for our away breaks. Her last break with the group was at Hope Cove in the spring of 2012 when she managed two of the walks. This is formal notice of the Devon Area AGM. A 'hard' copy of the Annual Report (with AGM In 2007 when we stayed at Hartington Hall YH in the Peak District Joyce was astonished to be details) will only be sent to those members who have previously requested one. If you are a newer allocated a single, en-suite room with tea making facilities. She was used to youth hostels where one member or you wish to change your mind contact Joan to order a 'hard' copy. The AGM will be hosted had to do chores, slept in a dorm and had to self-cater. Joyce contributed so much to the North Devon by the Plymouth Group and will be held on Saturday 13th February at Clearbrook village hall, off the group and to Ramblers'. She will be sadly missed by those who knew her with her lovely smile and A386 south of Yelverton. Full details will be listed in the Annual Report which will be available on considerate nature. The end of an era! the Ramblers Devon Area website www.ramblers.org.uk/devon at the end of December. The format will broadly follow that of previous years with morning walks preceding the formal business and an We are holding a walk to celebrate Joyce's life at Dulverton on Tuesday 1st December and would love opportunity for lunch with members from other groups in our Area. This year our speaker will be from to see as many of you as possible. If you cannot manage the walk do please come along for lunch at Ramblers' Worldwide Holidays and we understand that special offers will be available on the day. the Copper Kettle in Dulverton at about one o' clock. The Ramblers’ Association is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 4458492. Registered Charity in England and Wales Number 1093577, Registered Charity in Scotland, Number: SCO39799. Registered Office: 2nd floor, Camelford House, 87-90 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TW Happy Rambling! Reported problems Many thanks to ALL our walks leaders for our Winter/Spring 2015/16 walks programme, which Our group Footpath Officers, Jon and Joan, have a few problems reported each month. If a problem promises to be yet another amazing selection of walks from you to enable us to get out and about in the report is accompanied by a photo taken on your walk it is even better as it makes it easier to show coming winter months. Your continued leadership skills are appreciated by all who attend these walks. Devon County Council the problem. With the local government cutbacks our footpath monitoring is If you haven’t walked with us before do give one of our walks a whirl you won’t be disappointed. even more important. In July we had an excellent result. When a Cornish Ramblers member was doing a walk recce at Clawton with friends on the 16th July they met with so much overgrowth on the paths Presently the submitted walks come to me in a variety of different ways so to enable me to keep better that they were forced to give up. The various problems were reported to DCC both by the member and housekeeping could I please ask you to complete the walks on the walks leader form which can be by Joan. On the 22nd July the lady received a 'phone call from DCC to say that the paths would be found on the North Devon Group web site, and, either email it directly to me, post, or ask for a hard cleared. The Caradon Group did their walk on the 2nd August and were delighted to find that DCC had copy and hand it in when on a walk to any of the committee members present. I will also carry some indeed cleared the paths. Well done DCC and to Carol for sending in the complaint. Another way you with me when out walking. Thanks a lot. Walks for Summer/Autumn 2016 programme to be submitted st can help protect our paths is via “Big Pathwatch” at www.ramblers.org.uk/bigpathwatch by March 1 please. As you have probably noticed we have six short walks named “Short and Sweet” which Barry Neal and Facebook Lynne Clement are leading, to not only encourage members who have maybe not walked for a while and perhaps find it useful to begin the walk fairly central to Bideford/ Barnstaple area, but this is also to The Group website is continually updated with walks and day-to-day information by our Walks welcome some new walkers from the Torridge Walking for Health Group who are also part of our Secretary. Refer to the front page in the event of bad weather for any special announcements. We are National Ramblers Group and who Lynne and I have been involved with recently. also on Facebook now so become a “friend” of the Group at www.facebook.com/northdevonramblers Thank you both for committing to these walks. Angela Neal Walk Programme Secretary. as events; changes; cancellations etc will be posted so you can get fairly instant updates. But as always, if in doubt, telephone one of the committee! DAY DATE MEETING POINT GRID WALK Leave DISTANCE ROUTE LEADER(S) REF START Fairviw CP Miles Barnstaple Sun 01/11/2015 Car Park/lay-by 1 mile north of SS 517 456 10:30 10:00 8 Slade Reservoirs-Torrs- SWCP.