THE NEWSLETTER OF THE GROUP OF THE RAMBLERS OCTOBER 20! The Sheffield Rambler Sheffield Ramblers AGM

Date: Monday 12th November Place: The Friends Meeting House, St. James Street, (near the Cathedral) Time: 7.00pm start. Refreshments available beforehand.

At this year’s AGM instead of having another good speaker we have invited a brilliant new band of singers and players named the "Clarion Call" to sing rambling songs new and old in the tradition of "rambling and singing". The band is solidly linked to the Ramblers which you will quickly realise when listening to them. They are not just entertaining, they can also be quite moving. Don't miss it!

2018 Sheffield Walking Festival

Once again the Walking Festival was a great success with numbers taking part up to nearly 600, over 70 more than last year. It seems the word is spreading as quite a few participants came from outside the area.

The festival itself ran for 10 days but this year Heritage Open Days – who run some of their events in con- junction with the festival - took place over both weekends instead of just one so perhaps that helped boost the numbers.

Everyone taking part seemed to really enjoy it and we were blessed with some lovely days – though not all! The people on my walks all seemed very impressed with the fantastic views, especially from some of the edges we walked along but also with the great views of Sheffield from Houndkirk Road – perhaps a view we often just take for granted!

The event at Bradfield Village Hall on 30th September, to celebrate the Festival, was also apparently a great success with lots of people visiting throughout the day, enjoying the music and the talks. Unfortunately, be- cause the hall was not available on other days, the date clashed with our coach ramble so many of our own Ramblers were unable to go along. However, the same singing group that entertained the visitors in Brad- field are coming to our AGM, so you have a second chance to hear them.

Next year’s festival will run from 14th to the 22nd of September.

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Bradfield Ancient Ways Improvements

The aim of the BAWI project is to improve the accessibil- ity and safety of stiles for walkers on several paths in the Parish of Bradfield. Whilst aiming for improvements, the heritage value of the stiles will be a major consideration.

The paths on which the stiles are situated are considered “ancient” as they appear on the first edition of the 1855 Ordnance Survey map for Bradfield (6 inch to one mile series). However several sections are very likely to be con- siderably older. The paths are numbered on the current De- finitive Map of the area as BRA/47, BRA/46, BRA/38, BRA/167, BRA/168 and BRA/370.

The paths make picturesque routes between , towards , with adjoining paths down to Damflask reservoir and . There is also a link path between Low and High Bradfield.

The section from Worrall via Holdworth towards High Bradfield is part of the very popular “Sheffield Country Walk”, a signed fifty four mile circular walk around Sheffield.

The mainly stone stiles and occasional wooden stiles are considered unsafe and difficult for many users. Therefore this project wants to address these difficulties on these popular routes so that they become more accessible, safer and welcoming.

The project is a joint initiative between the Ramblers groups in Sheffield and Sheffield City Council’s Rights of Way Unit (ROWU). A joint stile survey was undertaken by both parties and a costing of the work needed and material required was produced by the ROWU.

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The work needed will be carried out by Sheffield City Council’s PROW Ranger Team along with Ramblers’ volunteers. Small local outside con- tractors will be also be used where appropriate, subject to the available funding.

When carrying out the survey several sections of the “ways” were found to be partially paved. It is possible that these may be ancient “Church Ways” between Worrall and High Bradfield parish church. These could be considered for partial clearing of the overgrown vegetation. There is no costing to this work as it could be undertaken by volunteers possibly with assistance from the PROW Ranger Team but with the landowner’s support, as with all the work.

The project budget is £14,430. This includes £2,400 contingency allowance, because of un- knowns due to the large number of structures involved – 6 wooden stiles, 21 stone stiles, 5 gates, fencing, and 3 sets of stone steps and other likely improvements that will be required to complete the project. In the event of there being a small surplus, it would be used on paths linking to those within the project plan

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Xmas Meals DECEMBER 2018

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Venues

Wednesday 5th Champs Sports Bar and Grill at

Tuesday 11th Three Merry Lads at Lodge Moor

Sunday 16th Little John Hotel in Hathersage

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