Ramblers Association East Devon Group AGM. Minutes of an AGM held at 14.00 on Sunday 24th November 2019 at the village hall, Newton Poppleford. The meeting was attended by 62 members. Apologies for absence. Robert and Pauline Everall, Allan Faulkner, Andy Fifer, Jasmine List, Roger Livesey, Norma Self, Jan Smith, Jackie Stokes, and John Watson.

Minutes of the last meeting held on November 25th, 2018. The chairman invited comments for the accuracy of the minutes and there being none they were signed as a true record of the meeting.

Matters arising. There were no matters arising.

Chairman’s Report. The Chairman welcomed all and thanked them for attending the AGM. He also thanked those who organised the hot refreshments, got the room set up and baked cakes. He explained that the venue had to be changed this year owing to a prior booking and dealing with a new kitchen had probably raised the stress levels and tested the adaptability of all. He also welcomed James Baldwin, who was representing the Ramblers Devon Area Committee for the last time before he steps down as Area Treasurer, who was speaking later in the agenda. The Chairman advertised the Devon Area AGM hosted by Tiverton Ramblers at 2pm on Saturday 8th February at the Old Heathcoat School Community Centre in Tiverton. This will be preceded by a walk starting at 10.30 am, and a lunch costing around £7-8 per head (to be booked in advance) at 1pm. More information can be found on the Devon Area Ramblers website. The Chairman noted that, as was the case last year, there was no other guest speaker. The attendance numbers last year remained healthy, so it seems that few were deterred by the absence, and no feedback was received. Comments are invited. The Chairman explained that the rest of the Committee members will report about their areas of responsibility. He explained that they work very hard for the benefit of us all, and it is right that they should tell you at first hand some of the things they have been doing. He noted that Publicity Officer Jan Smith had decided to step down after two years (and was not able to attend today) and thanked her on behalf of the Committee for all her work over the past two years. She had submitted her final report, which will be read out later. Item 15 on the agenda will resolve who might become successor to Jan. At this point the Chairman paid tribute to John Dixon who died at the end of April, and who was well known to many present. He and Jennifer were good friends to the Chairman and his wife when they moved to Sidmouth in 2011 not long after the Dixons had arrived. As part of learning about East Devon, the four of us walked the East Devon Way, and then, as part of a larger group, the Wessex Ridgeway in 2012. We were also regular participants in a pub quiz team for a few years, where John was particularly hot on the sports questions. John and Jennifer were regular walkers until John’s illness, and we are pleased that Jennifer has been able to embrace walking with us again. The Chairman then picked out a few highlights of the year and went on to explain briefly some of the other things he had been involved with.

He stated that East Devon is the largest of the Devon Groups with nearly one fifth of Devon’s membership, reflecting in part our geographic size and population. Membership held up consistently in 2019, remarkably staying within 10 of an average level of 476 members throughout the year, and close to our historic peak. He considered that our members appear to value most of all our extensive programme of led walks. We were very pleased that this year we had been able to expand our programme to its greatest-ever extent. We offered, for the first time, two led walks on each of our regular walk days of Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. With additional walks outside this regular pattern, this amounted to over 300 walks per year. We know that this level of provision is an attraction not only to Ramblers resident in our area, but also to many outside. This has only been possible with a very enthusiastic walks programme team and a willingness of 100 of our members to be walk leaders. He went on to explain that the Committee takes Ramblers’ commitment to protect and expand the public rights of way (PROW) network very seriously. Our Footpath Officer responds to requests to alter or divert paths, and both he and our Group Researcher are both actively involved in trying to secure Lost Ways through Devon County Council’s programme of Parish reviews of the PROW net- work. Our representations are followed up by preparing and giving evidence at Public Inquiries where necessary. We are also currently exploring with Devon CC how to reduce an annual 3-week closure of all PROWs on the Escot estate for a 3-day music festival. Many of our members partici- pate in active maintenance of paths through involvement in Parish Paths Partnerships, which, to- gether with the employment of contractors, is the Highway Authority’s preferred approach to pro- grammed path maintenance. Devon CC does not allow individuals to undertake maintenance. Most leaders, however, carry out some light vegetation clearance while recceing walks.

We were proud to be chosen to launch the Ramblers festival of winter walks on December 21st, 2018. This took place at Otterton Mill where we received three five-minute slots on national BBC Breakfast TV and Ramblers reached a large TV audience. We were able to highlight the contribution that group walking can make to combating loneliness. The only problem was that it was the shortest day of the year and it was dark outside until the last slot at 9am, and the walk did not start until 10am. Our walk leader for that morning’s walk, as well as being interviewed and being a good advocate for Ramblers, then led a large party on her “Winter Wonderland!” 5-mile walk. There were a few of training events during the year. A large number of our leaders took part in a relaxed discussion over afternoon tea about some of the common issues we experience, and this has resulted in some additional “top tips” guidance about to be sent to all our leaders. A few of us were also able to take part in an especially useful half-day practical First Aid course, provided by St John Ambulance, part of a national provision of free training by Ramblers central office. He also reported news from two days earlier that Ramblers are offering a national programme of free one-day courses on “Walk Leadership Essentials”, and one of these is programmed in Exeter for 25th January. He then noted that the Group has continued with its tradition of holding a wide selection of social events. Over the past year these have included dining, skittles, a quiz night, a ceilidh and - for the first time - canoeing on the River Axe wetlands. Day coach trips for walking were organised to Corfe Castle and the Isle of Purbeck, and to Clovelly and Hartland; and walking holidays included weeks in Chatel in the French Alps, and the Mendip Hills. Again, we are indebted to the willingness of our Social Secretary and individual leaders to organise these events. Moving on to the wider world, the Chairman explained that he tries to represent our Group and actively participate in dealings with Ramblers Central Office and at the Devon Area Council. For the second year running, he was privileged to be one of the two Devon Area delegates to the Annual Ramblers General Council meeting in April, this year in Manchester. It was instructive to understand much better how Ramblers works, how it is governed by the Board of Trustees and what

are the priorities are of the senior members of staff. The Ramblers management team and Trustees have embarked on a huge programme to modernise the organisation, make it easier to access the advice and resources that are available, and encourage new members to join (and existing members to stay). Through this, it is hoping to reverse what has been a steady and continued slow decline of Ramblers membership nationally and increase our influence on central and local government and other decision-makers. There are a few straws in the wind how a future government might evolve its environmental policy, which could lead to improved funding for, and protection of, rights of way. We shall have to wait until a new government is in power before we can see if these promises come to fruition. The independent Glover Review into protected landscapes (e.g. National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) commissioned by government reported at the end of September and made 27 recommendations. One of these was for Ministers to consider new designations, one of which was for the current East Devon and Dorset AONBs jointly to be made into a National Park. An interesting proposal for the future, perhaps? Last, but not least, he noted that East Devon Ramblers will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2020, and a number of events are currently being planned for the summer to commemorate and celebrate this. This will include re-walking the nine walks in the original programme in July to September on the same dates that they were originally walked, and he hoped that the Committee will be able to reveal other plans soon. Secretary’s Report. We again this year have benefitted from payments from Ramblers Holidays who continue to send us money every time an East Devon Group member takes a holiday with that organisation. The committee would like to thank you for supporting the Group in this way again during the year and very much hope that you will continue to nominate the group for holidays this coming season.

Some of you may have heard that we are currently having a campaign against footpath closures in Escot park near Ottery St Mary. To put you all in the picture, a few years ago I was walking through the area doing a recce for a walk I was planning when I fell into a conversation with a man walking his dog who informed me that the whole of the Escot footpaths were closed every August so that the Beautiful Days concert could take place. I was rather aghast at this situation, so the following August I went to the park to find that all of the paths were in fact closed with the authority of Devon County Council for four weeks during that month. I wrote to DCC on behalf of Ramblers saying that I thought a four week closure for a three day concert was unreasonable in so popular an area with walkers and the public alike. DCC did pay me lip service by reducing the closure the following year to three weeks which was a partial victory but still not a very satisfactory outcome. Further correspondence with DCC proved groundless and we were minded to take our concerns to a higher level. This year we have been in contact with the legal team at Ramblers London office who concurred that so long a closure was probably illegal and a long letter to this effect was sent to the CEO of DCC via our Ramblers Devon Area chairman Andrew Chadwick. The letter was totally ignored as was a follow up letter a few months later. It was not until a third letter requesting an answer under the Freedom of Information Act was sent that a reply was grudgingly received. This letter resulted in a meeting last October with a senior Rights of way officer and three representatives from Ramblers. The meeting was held in a positive and structured way and we made it very clear what our demands were and the DCC officer went away to hopefully take our case to the Beautiful Days organisers to improve arrangements for the 2020 event.

We are minded that if no further positive action is taken by DCC that we may have to seek litigation via the courts to settle this dispute. We are of course only able to proceed with the permission and

financial backing from Ramblers Central Office, but we are hopeful that this situation can be resolved before the concert next summer.

Treasurer’s Report. I am pleased to report that our finances are in very good order and that at our year end on 30th September we had a Main Fund balance in our account of £2956.70. Income and expenditure overall were in line with projections resulting in a small surplus of £138. Total income was £1743, the main contributions being Devon Area £750 and Ramblers Holidays £660. We also received £265 from programme advertisers. Total expenditure amounted to £1605 of which £1130 was for walks programmes. Other routine expenditure totalled £459. The introduction of online payments for social and other events where possible has worked well with the result that bank charges have been restricted to £16n only.

Membership Secretary’s Report. This past year we have seen a small increase in our membership. At 30th September 2019, we had 469 members. An increase of 6 in the year. We had 64 new members, including 48 new to Ramblers and 16 transfers from other Groups. Devon Area had a small reduction in numbers to 2,511. Nationally, Ramblers membership had a small fall to 102,038. Footpath Secretary’s Report. Recently Rosemary, Paul and myself attended The Definitive Map Review meeting for the parishes of Clyst Hydon and Clyst St. Lawrence. This was to review the footpaths in these parishes, part of an ongoing County Council exercise to review all parishes within East Devon. One point to highlight, on this fairly routine event, is that a landowner again pronounced, that “if he put in for a diversion to a footpath, the Ramblers' would object to it in principle anyway”. This is definitely not true, and Rosemary immediately leapt to our defence and told him, her assurance got the normal response of, “but that's what I've been led to believe!” Has anyone any suggestions as to how we combat this attitude? I have attended a number of these meeting throughout this year usually accompanied by Rosemary and, on one occasion, with Ted. As well as the above, Broadhembury, Payhembury and Talaton have been reviewed this year. Throughout the year I have received notification of a number of proposed diversions and, I'm pleased to say, we have generally agreed with them. Finally, I'd like to thank the footpath officers for their efforts, including Jas who joined the team, taking over from James, although James is willing to continue looking after The Parish of Beer. The rest of the members are: Rosemary, Ted, Paul, Allen and William. William now lives outside of East Devon and would be happy to let somebody take over his patch of Branscombe & Sidmouth. If you are interested, please contact me on 01404 549390.

Group Researcher’s Report. Preparations are in-hand for a Public Inquiry in Luppitt in February for three paths that were originally rejected by the Planning Inspectorate. Ramblers successfully challenged the decision in the Courts, and the case now has to be re-decided. The County Council have been directed by the Planning Inspectorate to make an Order to add a path in Gittisham to the Definitive Map. The Council rejected our application, but the Inspectorate disagreed with that decision. That case too will go to a Public Inquiry sometime next year (or maybe the year after ...). We are still waiting for the second bridge over the river on the Coly path. The excuse given is that it is expensive - but it costs no more than any other footbridge and should be at the top of the priority

list after three years of waiting. But because the negotiations with the landowners, who have objected to this path for nearly three decades, will not be comfortable for the Council, they are dragging their feet. We may have to push a little harder.

Walks Team Report Introduction: An AGM is usually aimed at checking whether an organisation is performing adequately in what it was set up to do. So the short answer to that in relation to our programme is that East Devon Ramblers is doing OK – in fact we are doing more than OK. We (you – our members and leaders) are putting on more walks than we have ever put on. One of the enigmas of our organisation is that although it seems that our overall membership is no longer growing against the national trend we appear, nevertheless, to be becoming an increasingly active walking group: we are putting on more walks and, with the rare exception of a few bad- weather days, walks remain generally well attended. The report in numbers: We now regularly put on six walks per week but more recently we have sometimes been putting on 7 walks a week and occasionally more than that. Over the last 12 months (Nov 2018 – Oct 2019) we put on 329 walks on 166 days. The average number of people out walking per day on these walks was about 33 or 34. The average number of people on a walk has dropped during the year from 17.6 to 13.4. This drop is not surprising because the increased number of walks has helped to spread people between walks. Nevertheless there have been 15 walks during the year with 30 or more people and one walk had 41 people on it. Although it’s gratifying to know that our walks are popular, these high numbers can cause problems with parking, cause delays at obstacles such as stiles and generally add to the difficulties for leaders in keeping the walk together. On top of our programmed walks our leaders put on approximately two dozen walks for the Sidmouth Walking Festival in September, where we provided leaders and back-markers etc. Thanks to the 104 willing leaders, or pairs of leaders, we have had another successful year in filling the programme. Twelve new leaders have been recruited this year, but inevitably some have given up leading or moved away.

The difficulty finding leaders for leisurely Sunday, and to a lesser extent shorter Wednesday walks persists; we are almost inundated with longer Sunday and Wednesday leaders!

Jas ran a Friday morning basic map reading and walk leading morning in November with 11 attendees. There is also some considerable interest in more advanced map reading skills, particularly in the use of a compass. This will be incorporated into a couple of walks in 2020.

Thanks: As always, thanks to all who lead our walks and thanks also for all the less visible work and effort in planning and recceing that leading involves. Thanks particularly to those of you who always try to put something extra into your walks to take us to the unusual and more interesting places you have discovered. Thanks also to those of you who take the trouble to lead the more leisurely walks that nurture new members and are there for those long-time members whose fitness has fallen but still want to get that essential exercise and enjoy the friendliness that walking with the group can provide. You, our leaders, are the lifeblood of East Devon Ramblers. As always, in the background but immensely important is the constant work done by Jas in persuading people to lead walks and then collecting their walk chits from which we compile our walks programme. Our most recent list of leaders (individuals and couples) exceeds 100.

Thanks also to Bob Everall who has also for a good many years been putting all the walk information onto computer and thanks also to Marilyn Lambert who has recently begun to help out with the typing up of the programme. Thanks also to Doug Ralph. Earlier in the year Doug put a lot of work into looking at how an alternative computer system might manage our walks information. He came at the task from a different angle and, although we are not taking up the new system, the discussions around it have helped us evaluate what we need from the system; whether it is the present one or a replacement one. Our present system has worked quite well for some years but Doug’s different approach to the task drew attention to ways in which our system is not as efficient as it might be. We will be considering this over the next year. Importance of technical and organisational resilience: The production of our programme is highly dependent on technology computers, emails, and the internet. A recent technical problem we had in the preparation of the present programme has underlined our dependence on computer systems and the importance of the ability of those systems to perform reliably and securely. There are, however, potential technical changes ahead that may affect us. Ramblers Central Office is changing the computer system that handles the national WalksFinder database of walks. It is through that database that an increasing number of visitors and potential new members discover our walks. We understand that an important aspect of this change is to make the WalksFinder more usable on smartphones. The technical problem, in particular, made clear the importance of having people around who are sufficiently familiar with the system who can advise on how to resolve problems or even take over should that become necessary. In other words, we, like many organisations nowadays, would be sensible to consider the security and resilience of our systems and organisation. Some of this is already built in with three of us running the programme but there is room for improvement. That is one of the things that we will need to work on in the coming year. Social Secretary’s Report. Social events continue to play an important role in East Devon Ramblers programme and we continued to offer a variety of non-walking socials in the 2018-19 year As incoming Social Secretary, I referred to Carole Steen’s survey of members conducted in 2017 and, as a result we ran one new event as well as repeating several events from previous years. Thanks, must go to Vicky and Jill for organising our Christmas lunch in 2018 and this year. William for both the Chat & Eat and the ceilidh in March 2019 Jackie and Roger for the recent quiz at the Anchor Inn Our new event in August was an evening canoe trip for a small number of members in August. All the places were filled, and we were lucky to have perfect weather with a full moon appearing on the journey home. I will see if we can run this again next year. Future events: There are a number of ideas for new and different social events for 2020 and these will be advertised in the programme in the usual way. Due to lower attendances and the consequent financial risk I am not going to organise a celidh next year. New ideas for social events are welcomed.

In July 2019 we held an event for East Devon walk leaders, mostly to thank them for their continued support in making our busy walking programme possible, but we took the opportunity to share the collective expertise and pick their brains about leading walks. All the discussions, questions and solutions were noted and there are several “products” as a result of the exercise: Additional information for all walkers is now included in the printed programme. A Tips for Walk Leaders document has been produced, capturing all the helpful advice and guidance contributed on the day. This document is available on the ED Ramblers website and a hard copy will be sent to all leaders with the next leaders’ letter. If you use the electronic version, you can link from it directly to relevant pages on East Devon’s or Ramblers UK webpages. We will review this periodically so that it remains useful. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the Leaders event, food prep, setting up and clearing the hall and everyone who joined the discussion and shared their experience and tips. Lastly, the next social events are the Christmas Lunch at the Victoria Hotel on 11th December and then the Chat & Eat at the Hare & Hounds on 5th March. Please don’t forget to pay by BACS for social events. Media Secretary’s Report. Website/Webpages To begin with, a reminder that we use own customised webpages linked to the main Ramblers website rather than a stand-alone website. These pages contain lots of useful information and links, for example, advice on group walking, walk grading, leading, walking with dogs and much, much more. Although our social events, activities and holidays are in the programme, there is often additional information on the webpages. Our walk details and other group’s walks can be accessed as well. The number of visits to our webpages as of end of October last year, amounted to 3476. The figure to end of October this year is 6604, a 90% increase. However, this October, which saw the biggest monthly increase, also coincided with a Central Office system upgrade which caused major problems for a few days and part of this increase could be attributed to editorial visits trying to ensure everything, especially links and downloads were working as they should. Nevertheless, we are very pleased with the overall increase in interest. New for 2019 is a subpage dedicated to the East Devon Way, thanks to the work of Bob Hewitt and Ted for putting it together. The page includes background information regarding the route’s beginnings, and we hope we have done justice to all those originally involved. As Janette is the only authorised ED ‘local web page editor’, the committee would like to recruit some new volunteers to assist with the maintenance and to take forward any new ideas as part of a team. Contact Janette for further information if interested. The Rambler’s App the APP for your smartphone or tablet. There was a major upgrade to this downloadable APP at the end of October and we have been asked to encourage members to give it a try. It seems to be easier and quicker, to view group led walks or other walks in area, than it was and walk details are available for up to 2 months ahead. Area would welcome any feedback on its use. Facebook/Social Media Not everyone’s favourite subject but it can be a fun and useful way to showcase our group, the variety of walks that we do and to promote social and other events. The number of posts this year are up by 20% over the same period last year and engagements are up by 50%, although October took a bit of a dip. We would love to have more contributors making the occasional post, particularly from those who walk on Fridays but all welcome. In order to post you will need to be

authorised by admin, either Janette, Jennifer or Naomi. We’ll then send you some brief EDR Facebook guidelines which will include advice on GDPR. (General Data Protection Regulations)

Publicity Officer’s Report. Four of us attended a media training event organised by Devon Area in early 2019. We found this event helpful in several different ways and Devon Area were keen for us to engage saying they were happy to advertise any of our events on their Twitter account. There was a national Ramblers repre- sentative at the meeting who spoke about Facebook nationally and was keen that groups should speak to Head Office with any queries regarding the use of Facebook.

This year we did not, for one reason or another, have a presence at certain events. However, it was decided this would be discussed and a decision made with regard to 2020. The events in question are Heath Week on Woodbury Common, Natural Seaton Festival, and the event in Honiton.

There are ongoing discussions with regard to the national Winter Walking Festival which runs from 20th Dec 2019 to 5 Jan 2020 which we intend to publicise more strenuously this year.

In July we held a Leaders meeting which included workshops, talks by senior leaders, general discus- sion and tea. April Arnatt led the meeting which was well attended and very successful. Out of the meeting, April has produced “Top Tips for Leaders” and this will be circulated.

2020 will be the year of the East Devon Ramblers 50th anniversary and we will be celebrating this in ways to be decided. This will be an agenda item at the AGM.

We continue to alert the Marshwood Vale Magazine with a selection of our walks and at present this seems to be a worthwhile circulation.

Finally, I will be standing down as Publicity Officer at our AGM. I have hugely enjoyed my time on the Committee - not least because of the fun and discussions at the meetings - but over the last year my family and other commitments have meant that I have been unable to afford as much time as the Committee deserves. Good luck to the new incumbent, you will enjoy, and you will be joining one of the most professional and enthusiastic Committees in the County.

Motions submitted to the General Secretary. None had been received.

Election of Officers. All the current committee with the exception of the Publicity Officer had agreed to stand again for re-election. As there were no other nominations, they were voted in en-bloc. They were proposed by Jennifer Dixon and seconded by Naomi Lott. Eve Maunder had agreed to take on the Publicity Officer position and she was proposed by Paul Westacott and seconded by Ted Swan. The current Footpath Officers of James Baldwin, Allan Faulkner, Rosemary Kimbell, Jasmine list, Ted Swan, John Watson, and Paul Westacott were re-elected en-bloc, proposed by Pam Butlin and seconded by Joyce Stevenson. William Davey had stood down from his position during the year as he had moved out of the area. The current Independent Examiner, James Baldwin was re-elected.

Report from Devon Area. James Baldwin the Devon Area Treasurer attended the meeting to discuss affairs from Area level. James gave a quick overview of the arrangements of Area Council and encouraged other East Devon

member’s to join the Council to represent the Group. He also encouraged members to attend the forthcoming Area AGM to be held in Tiverton on February 8th. For much of the year James had been working with others to establish the Dartmoor Way, a new route encircling the moor which has now been completed and will be officially launched next spring.

Any other business. Jacqui Ruhlig requested that the minutes of the previous years’ AGM which were made available for members perusal be made available by publishing in advance on the Group’s website. Subsequent to the AGM, it was thought that the publication of members names included in the minutes could be compromised and violate NPDR regulations. This proposal to be further considered. There was a complaint from a member that sometimes the length of walks was considerably more than that stated in the programme. Consideration to be given to advise leaders how to accurately check the length of their proposed walks. The Footpath Secretary had indicated in his report that the general consensus was that any diversion proposed by landowners would be objected to by Ramblers regardless of any mitigating circumstances. This is not true as the majority of applications are not challenged and a member considered that we should be taking active steps to advise organisations such as the CLA and NFU to state that Ramblers seek to improve the Rights of Way network with co-operation and a positive attitude to the needs of others.

The meeting closed at 15.30.

Chairman …………………………………………………. Date …………………………..