VALE OF RAMBLERS NEWSLETTER Winter 2019/20

Oct 19 – Tenby weekend away walkers enjoying a break at Castle Doors beach Photo: Mike H Walks Programme.

Our 2019.20 winter season has got off to a great start with our October 19 weekend away to Tenby arranged by Sarah and Gina, with support from Su. Del also led an alternative short walk on the Saturday. Many thanks go to the organisers who as usual went to a great deal of trouble to make the weekend run smoothly, Sarah threw herself in at the deep end as these were the first walks she had led. It seems a long time ago that our summer 2019 season kicked off in April, but looking back we’ve had a very busy and rewarding summer. Our Wednesday evening walks continued to be very well attended. Our Spring 19 Weekend Away in May at Malvern was also very popular, with 2 days of walking organized by Gwenda, Bill, Ruth and Adrian.

May 19 – Heading out on the Malvern weekend away: Photo by Mike H. 1

In May our group also led two walks for the Valeways VoG Walking Festival, and Gwion led the first one of his strenuous Bank Holiday Monday walks which are popular with those who like longer walks. On June 21st Del added one of his “adventure” walks to our programme and led an intrepid group up Pen-y-fan to watch the sunrise on the Summer Solstice. Unfortunately it was a bit misty but the clouds made it quite otherworldly and added to the atmosphere on what turned out to be a memorable experience.

June 21st – Sunrise over Pen-y-fan on Del’s Solstice walk: Photo by Mike H Thanks go to new leaders Ian and Arlene who led a walk from Barry Island Yacht club on a lovely summer evening.

June 19 – Barry Island Wednesday evening walk led by Ian and Arlene: Photo by Mike H.

Massive thanks must go to all our leaders on whom the group depends. New leaders are always welcome, the more leaders we have the less the load falls on the “usual suspects”. Please contact a member of the committee if you’d be willing to lead a walk, existing leaders are always available to give help and advice. Other features of our summer season were:  In April, at the request of Ramblers Cymru, Jackie, Jeff and Jane organized a coastal path walk at short notice for a group of journalists from national newspapers, which raised the profile of Ramblers, our area and walking generally.

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Apr 19 – Journalists being shown a heritage coast walk: Photo by Jackie

 Jackie organized several “litter pick” walks after liaising with Keep Tidy, which yielded a surprising amount of rubbish. Anyone interesting in joining in should contact her.

July 19 - Litter pick Gileston Beach: Photo by Vale Coastal Cleanup

 Peter, our Footpath Officer, organised several path clearing sessions in response to path blockages flagged up by members. Peter has now purchased a brush cutter on behalf of the group which speeds up the work, please continue to let him know if you come across any problems on our local footpaths. He also meets with the Vale Council regularly to

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review footpath problems or any closures and diversions proposed, which is appreciated by all who use our footpaths.

Peter and some of the footpath clearance team: Photo by Jackie  In September Ian and Ray again organized the annual “walk with a difference” where teams pick up clues on the walk, and points mean prizes.  Also in September John Moore was contacted to see if he could assemble a group of walkers at short notice to film a piece for the TV programme “Coast and Country” which is due for broadcast in October 19.

Sep 19 – John being filmed for “Coast and Country” – photo by Leigh

 The Winter 2019.20 Walks Programme

Over the summer our experimental “back to back” half day monthly Sunday walks have increased the total number of walkers out on those Sundays. However, we have found that those attending the half day Sunday walks have been people who normally walk on a Sunday anyway, and so the 4 winter programme will now just feature one short local Sunday walk each month, to coincide with a harder walk. Again if people would like these short walks to continue or have more of them then we need more new leaders willing to lead them. The Walks Leaflet is now printed and copies were handed out at the Tenby weekend away. The remainder will be hand delivered or posted, so all should be received within a few weeks. Of course it will also be available on our website, along with walk blogs, pictures and more detail of imminent walks. The adverts from Ramblers Holidays and HF Holidays cover the print costs.

Many thanks to Jean, our Walks Secretary, for again pulling all the walks offered into one coherent programme. Also to Jane and Jeff for updating our website, Jackie, Gwenda and many other contributors for adding post walk pictures and descriptions to Facebook and Twitter, and Mary for uploading our walks to the National Ramblers website so other Ramblers can look up our walks and join us. All these outlets help to attract new members.

Future Weekends Away

As can be seen in the programme the next weekend away is planned for 15th to 17th May in Barmouth, North Wales. Anyone wishing to go on the weekend is advised to book accommodation as soon possible as there is a limited amount of accommodation available in the town and it is a popular holiday destination.

Social Matters

 In June John and Chris Duxbury hosted our summer barbeque for the second time, and again we were very lucky to have a lovely sunny day for it. The food and company were excellent and thanks go to John and Chris for letting us use their garden.

June 19 – some contented Ramblers relaxing at the BBQ: Photo by Mike H

 Our summer meal at Fontygary in August to mark the end of the summer evening walks was enjoyed by 43 people, thanks again go to Ruth for setting this up.

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Other Information:

 In August we ran our usual stand at the Vale show, which attracted a lot of visitors including our AM Jane Hutt. Thanks go to Gwenda and her team for setting this up, there is a lot of hidden work preparing the display and setting up and dismantling the stand.

Aug 19 – Gwenda and Ruth encouraging a potential new member at the Vale show: Photo Jackie

 In March 19 Gwion, Gwenda, Ruth, Jackie and Ian attended the Ramblers Welsh Council. Gwenda and Ruth gave a presentation of how we use Social Media in our group.

Mar 19 – Gwenda and Ruth presenting to the Welsh Council: Photo by Jackie

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 In April Ian arranged for Waitrose to include VoG Ramblers as one of their monthly charitable causes, which resulted in a £397 donation to the group, well done Ian.

 Mike Carey’s legacy – the committee are continuing to use Mike C’s legacy to the group to encourage walking in the Vale. So far we have funded a re-print of one of the Valeways walk leaflets, with a note on the back page in memory of Mike.

In conjunction with the VoG Council we are also in the process of installing a kissing gate on the coastal path which will have a plaque in memory of Mike. It has been a long process getting the VoG Council to install the gate, but if this is successful we will then fund more gates in the Vale to replace dilapidated stiles. Separately the committee have personally paid for a memorial plaque on Pier.

 AGM – our AGM is to be held on Friday 1st November at 7.30pm in the Duke of Wellington Pub, Cowbridge. Members are encouraged to come along, the official business is usually over quickly and if anyone wants to stand for the committee or suggest ways of improving our group this is the time to do it. Afterwards we will use the rest of the evening for a get together. Details will be circulated nearer the day.

MH Oct 19

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