and Ramblers and Hillwalkers Minutes [amended]of the Committee Meeting held in Waitrose Community Room on Tuesday ,24th October 2017.

Present: Jenny Kane [Chairman], Phil McElroy [Secretary], Moira Allan [Treasurer],Fiona Taylor, Fiona Denman, Peter Allan, Karine Davison [Minutes] , Dave Clark, Peter Bartos, Thea Stanton, Anne Maxwell, Hazel Miller.

1. Apologies were received from Sheila Crawford, Imogen Johnstone, Janette Swanson [Minute Secretary]

th 2. Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday. 20 July 2017 were accepted and agreed.

3. Matters arising: In response to Family Walking Group request, Michael Lane will lead a walk in Mugdock . Dave to source Family Walk information for 21/4/18. Mini Bus organised for walks. AGM will be noted in programme.

4. Reports as circulated and attached:

* Chairman’s Report – accepted. Because of change of venue for Christmas Lunch, cost is now £22 . * Secretary’s Report - accepted. * Treasurer’s Report – accepted. Moira confirmed contribution of £30 to Anne to cover expenses incurred in sending cards to members on behalf of the group. Any surplus Funds to 30th Anniversary year. * North Area Report: Item 4. Area AGM will be noted in our programme. Item 4 B Scottish Council 2018: When considering ,as requested, a possible motion , Peter B proposed a campaign to improve Mobile Phone cover to aid safety. Item 6. After some discussion re request for link to Ramblers’ website , it was agreed keep our site as it is. Noted that Ramblers website is not easy to navigate when attempting to find group information.

th 5. 30 Anniversary Celebrations /Braemar Update– Invercauld Hotel, May 2018. Jenny intimated cost is approximately £240 pp. Have 54 names and Waiting List. Meeting will be held in January to check details of walks already in hand from previous visit, and arrange Leaders.

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Fiona T is willing to lead a new walk without a recce. Also, walks discussion and costing of mileage for bus company, and any extras, to be considered by January. * Ceilidh on 5th October 2018 – Booking requested at Milngavie Bowling Club a cost of £60 to £100. * Celebratory Flyer in next programme to ‘save the date’ . Jenny is organising this.

6* Algarve Holiday 2018. Update – Peter B The limit of 37 participants was reached very quickly and a number of members are on the waiting list. Attempts to involve an external tour company (Ramblers Holidays, HF, Jet2 Holidays, Preferred Travel etc.) were unsuccessful. Group was too large, Jet2 package expensive. At present we need 22 rooms. Three smaller hotels in Western Algarve (a better walking area) are being considered. Local bus company is available for transport. A group of Leaders is being established. No recces. Info from several sources will be used. Duration is one week, departing from between Sunday 2nd and Wednesday 5th Sept.2018. Basic information to be given to Fiona T by the end of November. *Thanks noted to both Peter and Helena for the excellent organisation of the Sumava holiday, and the time Peter has already spent on this Algarve 2018 holiday.

7.AGM 10th Nov.2017. 7pm for 7.30 in Fraser Centre. Catering /Speaker - Sheila requested confirmation of Baking contributions from the Committee. Suggested approx. 12 small items per member. This was agreed. Speaker is Alan McBride, Park Ranger from Mugdock CP. He will bring necessary equipment. Donation/Gift discussed. * Phil to arrange 30 Copies of Agenda , Minutes of 2016, and Treasurer’s Report by 28th October. Noted that Eleanor Peacock will attend on behalf of North Strathclyde Area Council. Karine will meet and greet.

8. Webmaster Roll. –Committee were delighted to hear that Fiona Denman has agreed to takeover from Peter, a time has not yet been finalised. Peter had already indicated that he is willing to work alongside his successor as necessary.

Page 3. 9. Grading of Walks. – Quite full discussion took place on grading of walks and the widening gap between A,B and C+ walks. It was decided to hold a meeting with Leaders and members on Tuesday 23d Jan 2018 . Dave has agreed to Chair and to provide publicity. This will be an Open evening to discuss re-grading walks to bridge gap, Leadership, Leaders’ Guidelines, Walk Etiquette, and hopefully will have input from Walkers. Also to emphasise the need for more Leaders, particularly for C Walks. It was noted that seven C walks need a Leader for next programme, and if members even occasionally volunteered , it would cover this problem. Suggested that Leaders should meet twice annually.

10. Social Event Suggestions.- Phil gave Sheila’s proposals for next session. 2018 January 25th , Curry Night [Ashoka in current programme].February, Street School. March, Quiz Night. Clydeside Distillery noted for possible future visit .

11. AOCB.- Wednesday Morning Walkers information for Christmas Lunch on 6th December at Cyan, to be given to Fiona T.for Breaking News. Also that Wednesday Wanderers will resume walking on 10th January 2018, and Wednesday Morning Walkers on 17th January. Phil to order 50 Walk Reports and 30 ICE cards.

11. Date of Next Meeting. Monday 4th December 2017. In Milngavie Leisure Centre Café` Area. at 7pm.

Reports for Committee Meeting on Tuesday October 24th Chairmans Report for Tuesday 24th October Xmas Lunch Unfortunately, we have found it necessary to change the venue for our Xmas Lunch. Our original booking for Buchanan Castle Golf Club has been cancelled due to circumstances out with our control. Many thanks to Burton Morrison for his assistance in dealing with this. We have placed a booking at Buchanan Arms Hotel Drymen on Saturday 9th December from 12.30 - 4pm, 3 courses for £20 with tea /coffee .The hotel has agreed to our using their car park for serving the mulled wine etc which Sheila an her team are organising. Fiona Taylor has been notified of change of venue as she has kindly offered to lead the Xmas Walk. Peter will put this on breaking news and Committee asked to spread the news of change of venue. Anniversary Celebrations Our Holiday Weekend Trip to Braemar has been well subscribed and we now have 52 booked for the Invercauld Hotel in May 2018. Deposits have been banked and walk details will available early next year. Anna McLaren's Funeral A number of members attended this and were made very welcome. Anna's family have been in contact and wished me to pass on my thanks for such a wonderful turnout The Ramblers were mentioned many times during the service. Jenny Kane 10th October 2017 Secretary’s Report for meeting on 24th October 2017 Michael Lane has agreed to lead one walk in April 2018 to help with the Ramblers Family Walking Group pilot. With support from Glasgow, Paisley, Helensburgh and , , Cumbernauld and Kilsyth groups, they will run a fortnightly programme from February to May 2018 The North Strathclyde Area AGM & Members walk falls on Sat Jan 20th. Dave has been informed to keep this date free on the walks programme. Members will be sent a Notice and the Agenda in December. The next Scottish Council AGM will be held in Aberdeen on 10 and 11 March 2018. Walk magazine have been informed of Pam Lee’s success in completing all the Munros. Hopefully, we’ll see her photo in the next issue! Patrick Scott, the Walking Festivals Programme Manager at Ramblers’ Central Office, has advised that the dates for the next Walk About festival are Saturday 26th May to Sunday 3rd June, 2018 Ramblers Scotland are launching a new campaign this autumn called “Out There” to encourage more people in Scotland to appreciate the country’s amazing landscapes and world-class access rights and it will also increase Ramblers Scotland's social media presence. Phil McElroy 16/10/2017 Treasurer’s Report No 1 a/c – Main Account Balance at 13/10/17 - £286.46. Only payments so far £8.40 for recce expenses and £12.68 (Sep & Oct) for net hosting service. No advice yet from Area regarding new financial year’s funding but would expect to hear soon with first payment due about mid November. No 2 Self-Funded Account Balance at 13/10/17 - £3330.68. High balance just now as £1560 of Braemar deposits. £378 has been paid in for the Fife bus and £31.93 paid out for guides and a map for the Algarve holiday. The Annual Balance has been completed and Graham Duncan audited the accounts on 13 October 2017 with everything being in order. These have now been forwarded to Mike McManus, our Area Treasurer. The end of year balance for each account was – Main Account £307.54 and Self Funded Account £2984.61. As the Self Funded Account includes £1560 of Braemar deposits, the net end of year balance, for Area purposes, is £1424.61. This means that both accounts have finished, at the end of the financial year, within the recommended limits. However a cheque for £270, for the Fife bus, had been paid out before the end of year and before the deposits were paid in which, technically gave us a surplus of approximately £200 and, per recent e-mails, we could perhaps contribute this towards 30th anniversary celebrations. There was a surplus from the Czech holiday of £591 and refunds, of £17 each, have now been sent to all participants. Items to discuss Contribution to anniversary celebrations. Moira Allan 12/10/2017 Programme Editor’s Report for Committee Meeting 24 October 2017 A change in a walk proposal for the last programme was received at the last minute and the walk programme co-ordinator did not pass it to the programme co-ordinator in time for it to appear in the printed programme, so an item had to be put on Breaking News. However, had the walk leader proof-read the final programme as requested before it went to the printers, they would have realised that their revised walk had not been included, and it could have been rectified at that stage. Can a plea go out to all walk leaders to check fully the final version that the walk programme co- ordinator sends out, to avoid such unnecessary errors in the printed programme. Fiona Taylor 2/10/2017 Membership and Mailing Report October 2017. NUMBERS As of 30th September, there are 304 members. During September, 2 members joined, and 4 lapsed (>3 months overdue subscription). On 1st October the annual subscription increased to £35.00, an increase of 50p. MAILING The September to December programmes were ready and posted in good time. A notification of the AGM and committee nomination form was included. At the moment I am holding 18 copies and 43, 2nd class stamps. The notification of Area AGM will be delivered to me in the first week of December for inclusion with the next programme’s mailing Hazel Miller. 11/04/2017 Webmaster's Report In the last Month eight folders have been added to the Gallery which includes three folders from the Club holiday in the Sumava Mountains and also photos received from out on walks with the C walkers, Wednesday Wanderer's and the A/B walkers. I hope everyone enjoys viewing the photos. Several regular viewers will have seen the change to the typeface in the Breaking News page although none of the other pages are affected. It looks like we are stuck with this situation at present. Everything on the website appears to be up to date at the moment, let me know if any changes are necessary. Peter Allan, Webmaster Access Report for committee meeting 24.10.17 WHW project with Milngavie in Bloom.Milngavie in Bloom again obtained a Silver Gilt in the The Beautiful Scotland competition.We are continuing to help maintain and further develop the planting at the beginning of the West Way, with ramblers attending for two sessions already this autumn. There is a further date arranged for October 26th . Up to 9 ramblers have been offering their input. A group of them have also assisted with turf laying.A date for a lunch is currently being arranged by Milngavie in Bloom for an informal soup and sandwich lunch, as they wish to thank us for our continued involvement. EDC Access Forum Alistair Kyle in EDC has changed his post within the council and the role of Access Officer has now been taken over by Nicola Duenus. A meeting of the Access Forum took place on 4.09.17 which I attended, (minutes attached). It was proposed that the investigative EDC walking tour which had originally been proposed to take pace in September be organized to take place later in the year but there has no further notification about this. IJ 11.10.17 Minutes of East Access Forum 04 September 2017 18:00 – 20:00 Item Agenda Action 1 In attendance:Councillor Jim Gibbons, EDC Councillor Susan Murray, EDC Gail MacFarlane, Strategic Lead - Roads and Transport, EDC,Nicola Duenas, Access & Paths Development Officer, EDC,Eric Gotts, ScotWays,Imogen Johnstone, Bearsden & Milngavie RamblersJimLawson,StrathkelvinRamblers,JimMcLachlan, Forth & Clyde Canal Society Apologies:Robin Cole, Scottish Canoe Association,Lynn Cree, Milngavie Community Trust,Tom Gray, Community Council,Sue Hilder, Resident/Glasgow City Council Access Officer,Jackie Gillespie, Streetscene Project Officer, EDC,Kirsty Logue, British Horse Society,Pete Morgan, Glasgow Mountain Bike Club,Julie Paton, Forestry Commission Scotland,Lisa Roberts, National Farmers Union, Scotland,Barbara Walker, Disability Representative 2 Access Forum Consultation. Since the last meeting new elected members and access officer have joined the LAF and it was considered a good opportunity to review the guidelines and discuss the current membership and structure.The ‘Terms of Reference and Procedural Guidelines of the Access Forum’ require some minor changes and will be circulated to members for comment and agreement. GM/ND Contact members of the LAF to see if they are still interested in ND participating and if not would another representative from their organisation like to join the LAF. Diversify the representation of the members on the LAF by improving communication and arrange an open meeting to introduce interested parties and potential new members to the LAF. ALL Eric Gotts no longer represents EDC as an elected member on the LAF and his service as chair has ended. Councillor Gibbons was appointed the chair and Councillor Murray was appointed vice chair of the LAF. Minutes/Matters arising (Circulated) Review of the Core Path Plan is still something to be considered in the future. ALL FC and FES district / area maps and contact details have been collected and circulated. Contact Forestry Commission to see how Core Paths can be better promoted in and around Lennox Forest – ongoing ND Investigate installation of new stile next to locked gate at foot of Station Road . Land owner has been contacted and is agreeable. ND Obtain land ownership details for Bardowie Wood – ongoing ND Closed Waterside Bings bridge – GM informed the group that the bridge is beyond repair and is to be demolished. A feasibility study will be carried out to determine future options and costs. 3 Round Table Update JL informed the group of an overgrown path to the south of the railway line in Lenzie being difficult to access. ND JG informed the group of a problematic sign at Barloch Moor off Mugdock Road which stops the hedge cutting and causes a problem now with overgrowing vegetation. ND SM asked if it was possible to create an cycling loop.ALL ND informed the group about a meeting to discuss the problem of commercial dog walkers in Lennox Forest attended by the Forestry Commission, EDC Community Safety, EDC Trading Standards, Community Police Officer and Mugdock Country Park Manager. Large numbers of dogs are being walked off lead and at times out of control which has led to a series of complaints. The Forestry Commission are planning a national campaign to promote good behaviour amongst dog walkers and are investigating a dog walking loop further into Lennox Forest. Commercial dog walkers would seem to be increasing in number and are causing concern in other locations too. 4 Access Forum Tour Suggestions so far are: · Douglasmuir Quarry follow-up on last year’s site visit. · Potential for Torrance to Birdston link following path of former Kelvin Valley Railway. · New Campsie Glen path. · Closed Waterside Bings Bridge and surrounding paths. · Fernlea Woodland – development’s impact on paths. Final order and date to be confirmed. Further thoughts and ideas are welcomed. Report for social events from July to October 2017. July: Guided tour of Glasgow University-Gilbert Scott Buildings on 25th July 2017. This was attended by 20 Ramblers and proved to be both informative and extremely interesting, led by a quietly enthusiastic young lady who clearly loved her University. Access was gained into the Chapel, but unfortunately not the Bute Hall, due to other events being on. A successful event and a trip down memory lane for many attending. August: Forth and Clyde Canal Boat Trip on Mon 28th August 2017, from the Stables to , then Bishopbriggs and back. A most successful event with 42 booked and 40 attending. A lovely evening, weather wise, with a stop at Nicholson Bridge in Kirkintilloch to pick up Fish suppers, then on to Bishopbriggs. The Fish suppers from Ghiloni’s in Kirkintilloch were excellent and judging by the happy noise on board, a great night was had by all. Definitely an event that will be repeated again in the future. The crew on board the Voyager were first class. September: Beetle Drive on Thursday 21st September 2017, held in the Fraser Centre, Milngavie. This took place with a final number of 20, 5 tables of 4 and 8 rounds of games. Great fun and it was amazing just how competitive it became as the evening progressed. Tea, coffee and cakes were provided at the break and the overall prize-winner was Karine Davison with Phil McElroy as the runner-up. October: Guided tour of Glasgow Central Mosque, Govan on Tuesday 10th October 2017. There were 19 attendees and the tour lasted for one hour. Questions were asked about the 5 pillars of Islam, amongst other things and the guide was clearly an enthusiast. Tea and biscuits was provided at the end. Forthcoming events: November:AGM on Fri. 10th Nov 2017 December: Ramblers Christmas Lunch at the Buchanan Arms Hotel, Drymen-Sat 9th Dec 2017 January 2018: Curry evening in Bearsden- venue still to be confirmed, due to a recent fire in the Ashoka. February 2018: Back to school in Scotland Street March 2018: Quiz Sheila Crawford 16/10/2017

Report of Meeting of N. Strathclyde Area Council on Sat. 30th Sept 2017Rainbow Room, Quaker House. Elmbank Cres. Glasgow.at 10.30am 1. Group Funding. The fourth instalments of Group funding for the current Financial Year have been transferred to the Groups’ accounts. 2.Area Training Coordinator. Appointment of Muriel Hanlon , a new Committee member to both her Group, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, and to North Strathclyde Area Council [NSAC]. Further discussion took place on need and desire for First Aid Training which was noted. Jim Lawson [Chairman]indicated that funding should be available from Ramblers Scotland, but areas might share attending a course, if hall was hired for larger numbers. 3.New Access Officer for East Dunbartonshire: Nicola Duenas was appointed on 14th August 2017 , replacing Alistair Kyle. 4.Dates to note: a] Area AGM: Groups are asked to keep the date walk free if possible. Eighth Annual General Meeting of North Strathclyde Area of the Ramblers’ Association will be held in the lower hall, Lenzie Public Hall, Lenzie, Kirkintilloch on SATURDAY, 20TH JANUARY, 2017 at 10.00 a.m. for a 10.30 start. Group will host. It is hoped to follow the meeting with a walk . B] Scottish Council Meeting: Treetops, Aberdeen . 10th /11th March 2018. C] General Council Meeting: Bangor University. Wales. 7th/ 8th April 2018 Have we any motions we wish to raise for either of these ? 5 .West of Scotland Family Walking Group DRAFT Programme starting on 4th February 2018 , contains 8 walks, one of which Mugdock Circular on 21st April ,is being led by Michael Lane . Should we have this Programme on Breaking News and/or highlight Michael’s walk –if he wishes. 6.Glasgow Roadshow: 9th Sept. At Session on Media, I was asked if we would allow a link to our website, in order that anyone accessing Scottish Ramblers would be able to click and find us, as they can do with most groups using the Ramblers website setup. Having a FB page is recommended. Static, with basic info ,contacts and links. Similarly ,that type of Information for Meet-up can be given to Liz Hunt [NSAC] Next Meeting : Quaker House. 11th Nov.‘17 at 10.00 for 10.30am FOLLOWED by Access Meeting in afternoon at 1.30pm for 2pm. KMD 16th OCT.2017

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