LONG DISTANCE WALKERS ASSOCIATION O Kent Group Aim: to further the interests of those who enjoy long distance walking NEWSLETTER Ernie Bishop: 1927-2016 M obituary and tributes inside Ernie Bishop with two other Kent chairmen Brian Buttifant (centre) and Peter Barnett (right) with a young Don Newman (left) KENT GROUP NEEDS YOU: PLEASE COMPLETE OUR MEMBERSS SURVEY AND YOU MAY WIN A !25 GO OUTDOORS VOUCHER - INSIDE Number 99 April 2016 www.ldwa.org.uk/kent Photos from the Sevenoaks Circular Walks 2016 by Bryan Clarke !M#$#%&#$#&'(&$#)* ! " #$%&!'!()* ) ** + +,--.,-- "** %)) ,#" $%&!-. ,*##/* 0##!!) *2(#0##2 )*3)**'4 , #)M6/ 7 (*8* 9: * / !M#'%&#'&#')*! ( **" " $%& !() 9) ** + ' 0 $'-123 ##*!-#"** *# * ,#0 !! 2 ! 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On the main event, the weather was so foul that the organisers abandoned the QsummitsR option at the start, so all entrants did the QordinaryR route. Ernie therefore had a unique record in this event. On the 1982 Pilgrims Hundred, Ernie was the main organiser and his sketch maps graced the route description. He was on the organising committee for the 1992 Invicta and 2000 Millennium Hundreds, both High Peak hosted by Kent Group. He instigated the Hundred Database using record cards in the days before computers. In 1986, he handed over to George Foot, who set up the current computerised system. Ernie organised the Andredsweald Circuit from Groombridge (and later Forest Row) from 1978 to 1990. He then organised the annual High Weald challenge walks from the mid 1990s until Neal and Jan ORRourke took over in 2006. Ernie was born in Wimbledon, his family later moving to Ewell, near Epsom in Surrey, and later Margate. He did two years National Service, and after that trained to be a chef, but later switched to the insurance industry, where he remained for the rest of his working life, rising to become CEO of British Reserve Insurance, based in Tunbridge Wells. He met Celia, who lived in Westgate-on-Sea, while he was living in Margate, and the couple were married for 64 years. They lived in Flimwell, just over the county border in Sussex, for 30 years, before that living in Tunbridge Wells for 15 years. National chairwoman Gail Elrick paid tribute to Ernie at the LDWA AGM, held at Buxton on March 13. She said: OErnie was an LDWA stalwart. He was a great walker and did lots of different jobs for the organisation. He was one of the old guard and it is very sad that members of the old guard are going.P Kent Group chairman Brian Buttifant also paid tribute to Ernie at the start of the Sevenoaks Circular on March 20. Kent Group has made a !100 donation to the Alzheimer's Society in ErnieRs memory. Ernie is survived by Celia, son Peter, daughter Sally and the coupleRs five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Our thoughts go out to them at this time. The above photographs are from Ernie’s walk (with Peter Barnett) across France to the Mediterranean WALKING WITH ERNIE by Andrew Melling I will speak of Ernie the walker, of how walking made us friends, and of some of his walking achievements. It was not Ernie, but Peter Rickards and Brian Buttifant I first remember meeting on entering the Sevenoaks Circular in 1976, having newly moved south of the River. Peter encouraged me to join the LDWA Kent Group and I found myself one of a (then) small group regularly meeting for social walks. We enjoyed a pre-Christmas meeting at the Bull in Otford which became our AGM although non-members (like my wife) were also there. We had no formal structure for a while but then we needed a chairman and Ernie was chosen. I soon found him to be a good chairman, with ideas for social walks and bigger projects. I brought years of experience of overnight challenge walks in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire and thought I should be a match for any walker, but I could not match the strength and stamina of Ernie in particular. You would not have known that from our social walks because Ernie was a ‘clubbable’ walker and we always kept together. The friendship was not just about walking: although not a walker, my wife enjoyed the company of Ernie and Celia, and of Peter and Moira, and Brian and Brenda. Now for some random memories: In the days before all day opening, the walks Ernie led seemed to pass plenty of pubs nut none at lunchtime. In 1979, Ernie proposed walking the Kent section of the North Downs Way in two long winter stretches. In January the plan was for some of us to meet at Harrietsham, leave our cars and get to Dover by train. Heavy snowfall stopped the trains so Ernie drove us to Ashford from where trains to Dover were running. Approaching Harrietsham the following afternoon I was flagging so, with Ernie’s car keys in my pocket, I hitched back to Ashford to collect his car and meet them all at the station. In February we did much the same, walking from Harrietsham to the county boundary and that started a tradition of winter night hikes. A new walk had been proposed from Gravesend to Eastbourne to be called the Wealdway. In 1978 we walked the proposed route in three sections, led by Ernie. The route was finalised and opened at a ceremony at Camp Hill in September 1981. Some of Kent Group walked there from Gravesend and a few of us stayed at Ernie’s overnight for a pre-dawn start from Eastbourne. Ernie led the way, to have a badger cross the path in front of him. At this time we were working on Ernie’s big project – the Pilgrims 100 – a 100 miles plus event. We had a weekend in Winchester YH to walk out a part of the route while Ernie spoke his route description into a pocket dictating machine. After some time on the LDWA national committee, Ernie became national chairman. He and Celia had a party on the weekend of a Sevenoaks Circular combined with a meeting of the national committee. Of course the committee members, mostly from the north, had to enter the Circular and grumbled at the mud and the stiles – not the easy walk they had expected. The LDWA ran its first 100 mile challenge event in 1973 and, by 1989, Ernie had completed ten of them. His fastest time was on the 1981 Cumbrian 100. Not content with walking 100 miles in 23:30 hours, he went on to walk another 25 miles, taking just under 31 hours to complete the extended route. (By comparison, the time limits for the 1973 Downsman 100 were: First Class – 36 hours; Standard – 48 hours). 6 In our own Pilgrims 100 in 1982, we had an extra 40 mile loop. Ernie completed the 100 in 28:44 hours and the full route in less than 43 hours. The 1983 Snowdonia 100 had an ‘ordinary’ route and a high-level ‘summits’ route with the same total distance but much more ascent and descent. Ernie did the marshals’ walk and was the only one to complete the ‘summits’ option. On the main event, the weather was so foul that the organisers abandoned the ‘summits’ option at the start making Ernie’s achievement unique. On retiring from a career in insurance, Ernie and a friend, Peter Barnett, walked across France from the Channel to the Med, meeting their wives, Celia and Pauline, down there for a more relaxed holiday, camping. Ernie’s energies were applied to organising as well as walking. He was a main organiser of the 1982 Pilgrims 100 and his sketch maps graced the route description. He was on the organising committees for the 1992 Invicta and 2000 Millennium 100s. He instigated the Hundreds Database, using record cards in the days before computers, In Kent, he organised our Andredsweald Circuit from 1978 to 1990 and our High Weld Walks from about 1994 to 2006.