www.warwickshireramblers.org.uk The Ramblers’ Association Warwickshire Area The Charity Working for Walkers Annual Report and Accounts For the year 2013/2014 The Ramblers‘ Association is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company registration number: 4458492. Registered Charity in England and Wales number:1093577. Registered office: 2nd floor, Camelford House, 87-90 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TW 1 Area Officers 2013/2014 Chairman Andy Page 02476 304825 28 Seymour Close, Coventry CV3 4ER Secretary and Group Liaison Officer Bill Burton 07917517310 30 Woodcote Avenue, Kenilworth, CV8 1BH Treasurer John Phillips 02476 592 291 44 Wyley Road, Coventry CV6 1NW Footpath Secretary, Countryside Secretary & Access Officer Michael Bird 0121 705 1118 16 Melford Hall Road, Solihull, B91 2ES Membership Secretary and Solihull Chairman Nick Hillier 01564 772 986 or 07736 794 763 15 Broadfern Rd, Knowle, Solihull B93 9DE Area email address—[email protected] Local Groups Web Sites Castle Bromwich www.btck.co.uk. City of Birmingham www.birminghamramblers.org.uk Coventry www.coventryramblers.org.uk Mid Warwickshire www.midwarksramblers.org Solihull www.solihullramblers.org.uk South Birmingham www.sbramblers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk Stratford upon Avon www.stratfordramblers.com Sutton Coldfield www.suttoncoldfieldramblers.co.uk The Bear www.bearwalkinggroup.co.uk West Midlands Walking www.wmwg.co.uk West Midlands 40 plus www.wm40plus.org.uk Rugby www.rugbyramblers.org.uk Southam 2 Notice AGM Saturday 7th February 2015 is to be held at United Reformed Church, 1 Brassington Avenue, Sutton ColdfieldB73 6AA Refreshments and lunch:- Tea & coffee is being served between 09.45 and 10.15 Lunch will be provided immediately after the meeting. There will be a choice between four hot main courses, including vegetarian, followed by a choice of three desserts. Afternoon Walks: After lunch members of Sutton Coldfield Group will lead two walks of 2 or 4 miles. Travelling to the venue:- By train: Members of the Sutton Coldfield will ―meet and greet‖ at Sutton Coldfield station. The walk to the venue only takes a couple of minutes By car: The church is on Brassington Avenue the A5127 road. Car parking is limited, please consider using the train Request for Nominations Management of the Area is vested in an Area Council which meets quarterly and consists of: ñ The Honorary Officers - as shown in the Agenda on page 4 ñ Two representatives from each RA Group in the Area ñ Six Members representing individual members or affiliated clubs (Up to two additional members may be co-opted by Council) Members are invited to nominate Officers and Individual Members of Council for 2013/2014 Nominations, signed by the proposer and seconder, must be received by the Area Secretary not later than six weeks before the AGM motions. Any motions for the Annual General Meeting should be submitted, in writing, and must be received by the Area Secretary not later than six weeks before the AGM. Please email motions to [email protected] 3 Warwickshire Area AGM 7th February 2015 held atUnited Reformed Church, 1 Brassington Avenue, Sutton Coldfield B73 6AA 1. Apologies. 2. Minutes of the last AGM. Matters Arising from the Minutes. 3. Adoption of Annual Report & Accounts. Matters arising from Annual Report & Accounts. 4. Any Motions received by the Secretary. 5. Election of Officers. ñ Chairman ñ Secretary ñ Treasurer ñ Footpath Secretary ñ Countryside Secretary ñ Access Officer ñ Membership Secretary ñ Publicity Officer ñ Group Liaison Officer ñ Area News Editor 6. Election of six independent members of Area Council. 7. Appointment of Auditor. 8. Any other Business. Guest Speaker Christine Grant Ramblers Director of Services To be followed by a free two course hot buffet 4 TRIBUTE TO MAURICE LESLIE MENZLER (Deceased) Leslie Menzler, the Society‘s correspondent for Warwickshire died on 5th August aged 93. His solicitor acted as executor as he had no surviving family. Very little is known about his early life but old family photos show Les living in Surrey with siblings and servants. His father F.A.A. Menzler CBE, is described as a civil servant and statesman, author of several books with three portraits in the National Portrait Gallery so Les came from good stock. As an adult it is known that Les worked for many years for British Thomson Houston and GEC in Witton, Birmingham. Google reveals that he has two patents to his name in the field of electrical engineering. After retirement GEC called him back as a research consultant, clearly a man of great intellect. Les emerges as a main player in Open Spaces Society (OSS) and RA footpath campaigns in the mid -1950s when he was (among other things) the Warwickshire footpath secretary in the old RA Midland Area. From 1974 Les concentrated mostly on his work for the Society. A shadowy figure, he rarely attended meetings but worked tirelessly in the background using his considerable research skills to influence the early stages of the definitive maps in several Midland counties including a prolific input to the first review of those maps. Les also researched the archives of several Midland County Record Offices and his listings and interpretations of enclosure, tithe, and quarter sessions etc. records are still valuable today. Indeed, Council rights of way officers still contacted Les for his knowledge and recall of path matters right up until his demise. Perhaps one anecdote will do justice to his patience and skill. Shropshire County Council (in compliance with the Inspection of Parish Documents under Section 17 of the Local Government Act 1894) published ‗Shropshire Parish Documents‘. Tucked inside Les‘s copy is a letter from the County Archivist in 1978 profusely thanking him for the corrections he had made to several references and for alerting them to another important document of which they had no prior knowledge. Such was his diligence. Not many people knew Les but many who walk our Midland paths do so because of the unstinting efforts of this modest man who worked so passionately for the public benefit. He has no permanent memorial but our fine network of paths and his great store of research are his fitting legacy. APPEAL: HELP SAVE COVENTRYS ANCIENT PATHS Between 2006 – 2008 Warwickshire Area put in 109 claims to add paths to the Coventry definitive map. The Council made no progress due to lack of resources. There is a cut-off date for claims based on historic documentary evidence at 1st January 2026. Claims should be dealt with by the Council by then or the paths will be lost. However, it is probable that as long as the claims are logged by the Council by the cut-off date, they will be ‗saved‘ and can be dealt with later. Coventry Council has rejected our 109 claims on a technicality. They now require copies of the documents relied on as historic evidence. The research has been done and the documents listed and referenced. We now need volunteers to go to the Record Offices at Coventry and Warwick to photograph the documents and pass them to John Hall who is project managing the task. 5 There are 286 documents of which 60% are in Coventry and 40% in Warwick. Your assistance is urgently needed. We are 52% through the time given to local authorities to complete their definitive maps. It is not difficult work. In fact it is very rewarding. Training and help will be given. Anyone who is interested should contact John Hall to discuss the matter further. Don‘t let these public rights of way be lost forever! John Hall details are: Tel: 02476 600689. Email: [email protected] Presentation to Steven Walsgrove for 40 years’ Service Steven Wallsgrove is probably the longest serving Footpath Secretary in the Ramblers Association having served on the Mid-Warwickshire Committee for forty years and having also filled the post of Area Footpath Secretary for 25 years during that period. He has finally decided to retire from the role and will be difficult to replace. We wish him well and extend our sincere thanks for his endless support. The Mid-Warwickshire Group Committee, presented Steven with a 40 years‘ service Certificate issued by Central Office and a picture gift at the Group‘s AGM on Friday 28th November 2014 Area Chairman’s Report Once again, Coventry City Council has taken up a disproportionate amount of Area‘s time this year. The council continues to provide a poor rights of way service with poor value for money to hard pressed local ratepayers. After we pressed them on the 109 path claims we submitted to them between 2006 and 2008, which they subsequently ignored, they hired an expensive consultant to find an opportunity to weasel out of doing them. Sadly, she found a way and we will now have to resubmit all the claims using new forms. The council could easily have processed the claims if they wanted to, saving ratepayers‘ money and reaping the benefits by now. Instead, they will just have the resubmitted claims to deal with again next year. We are not going away and will continue campaigning positively to ensure the people of Coventry get the service they are entitled to and deserve. Our use of technology has continued to develop throughout the year. I send out regular tweets from the @WarwicksRambler account. Followers get informed immediately when a new local walk is uploaded to Ramblers Routes, or if there are any other items of interest. Twitter is also allowing us to improve our visibility and communications with other Warwickshire environmental and tourism organisations that follow us, and who we follow as well. Ramblers Routes has grown throughout the year and we now have a pretty good selection of walks around the Midlands which is still growing.