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Our Aim is to promote walking as a means of enjoyment, exercise and social contact. We are also active in ensuring that our legacy of footpaths remains open for all walkers.
New Chief Executive UpdateFrom the 110 candidates who had applied for the post, The Board appointed Benedict Southworth as the new Ramblers chief executive. He is due to start on 1st February 2012. Benedict is a keen walker and has more than 20 years’ experience in the charity sector, including holding senior positions in Greenpeace International, “Friends of the Earth”, “The World Development Movement Trust”,” Amnesty International” and pro bono work for campaigning force, 38 Degrees. For the past two years Benedict has worked as a consultant to a long list of high profile charities, providing top- level support on strategy development, mentoring and campaign planning processes. Among others his clients have included “ActionAid UK”, ActionAid International, Christian Aid, European Climate Foundation, Friends of the Earth, and UNICEF UK. (Ramblers press release) Benedict Southworth takes over from Tom Franklin, who after four years as CEO will be leaving the Ramblers at Christmas to become chief executive of Think Global, a charity that aims to help people in the UK learn about such issues as poverty and climate change and find out how they can play a part in creating a more just and sustainable world.
Why not try the Editorial Challenge? This fulfilling and absorbing role will appeal to anyone with just minimal editorial skills but with a flair for word processing. The challenge is to take over as Web Editor of this prestigious journal and inject some much needed enthusiasm to ensure that our readership is kept fully up to date with all the latest announcements, news and views that the Rambling fraternity enjoy. Guidance can be given should you require further knowledge of processing and internet skills so that our more mature readers can access this up to the minute format using some prime examples of yesterdays technology within reasonable timescales. If this is the job that has your name on it, please contact the editor at ear@essexarearamblers.co.uk who will be only too pleased to discuss in more detail, what is required. The post officially becomes vacant at the next Essex AGM at the beginning of February 2012 and will provide a unique opportunity to try out new skills and ideas with all that an Olympic year has to offer.
The Essex Area RAMBLERS’ ASSOCIATION Annual General Meeting 2012 Saturday 4th February 2012, 10:00 to 13:00 Stock Village Hall (Exp 175 TQ694992)
Stock Village Hall is readily accessible by public transport, being served by No. 100 Chelmsford - Lakeside bus route which stops in the village centre and operates direct from Chelmsford in the north, also from Lakeside, Grays, Stanford-le-Hope, Basildon and Billericay Rail Station in the south. No boots in hall
The meeting, hosted by the Friends ES13 group, will run from 10am to 1pm with a break for refreshments
There will be a walk of 4 miles, starting from the Hall at 2 pm
Guest speaker : JANET DAVIS - Senior Policy Officer
Plus a presentation by Gary White and Andy Reynolds from Essex County Council on the Digitisation of the Definitive Map. Both ECC and Jane will address the meeting at a time considered appropriate by the Chair who will also designate a break for refreshments
AGENDA
1. Welcome by the Chair, David Harvey 2. Apologies for absence 3. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting (05/02/11) item 1 4. Matters arising 5. The Annual Report item 2 1. Chair’s report 2. Treasurer’s & Secretary’s reports 3. Reports from Officers (reception of written reports) 4. Reports from Groups 6. Formal Reception of the Annual Report 7. Election of Officers 1. Constitutional: President; Vice President(s); Chair; Vice Chair; Treasurer; Secretary; Footpath Secretary; Countryside Secretary 2. Others: Membership; Public Relations; Webmaster; Assistant Secretary; Communications. 3. Election of Honorary positions (President; Vice Presidents) 8. Election of Area Council Representatives (in addition to those appointed by Groups) 1. Affiliated organizations - maximum of five 2. Individual members - maximum of five 9. Election of Delegates to General Council (21-22 April; Gilbert Murray Conference Venue, Manor Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 2LH). 10. Election of representatives for the Ramblers Greater London Forum 11. Nomination for Board of Trustees 12. Election of Auditor 13. Motion to General Council : 14. Other motions from Groups or Individuals 15. Any other business – notified to and accepted by the Chair prior to the meeting. 16. Thanks to the Host Group from the Chair 17. Address by guest speaker
Following the AGM there will be short meeting of the Area Council with a two item agenda:
1 The election of the Executive Committee 2012 – 2013.
The following is an extract from the Constitution:
2 The formal confirmation of the appointments of Countryside & Footpath Secretaries: COUNTRYSIDE SECRETARIES Area Countryside Secretary David Harvey Chelmsford Borough Terry Foster Basildon District Geoff Forward Braintree District David Harvey Brentwood District Gordon Fairgrieve Castle Point & Rochford District Mike Berry Colchester District Mags Hobby Epping Forest District & London Borough of Waltham Forest David Weekes Harlow district Vacancy Maldon District Kevin Ascott Southend Unitary Authority Vacancy Tendring District John Wolton Thurrock Unitary Authority Hazel Jarrold Uttlesford District Alan Goffee London Boroughs of Newham Joan Bullivant London Borough of Havering Joan Bullivant London Borough of Redbridge
Ian Shaw David Weekes. See Epping Forest. London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Michael Cullen
FOOTPATH SECRETARIES Basildon District Geoff Forward Braintree District Katherine & Paul Evans, Brentwood District
Vacancy Bob Turner Chelmsford Borough John Pavitt Area Footpath Secretary & Colchester Borough
Mags Hobby Peter Cozens
Harlow District
Maldon District
Kevin Ascott Jim Woodcock Southend Unitary Authority George Cox Tendring District
Wally Webb Hazel Jarrold Uttlesford District Alan Goffee London Borough of Barking & Dagenham Michael Cullen London Borough of Havering Joan Bullivant - new London Borough of Newham Joan Bullivant - new London Borough of Redbridge Martin Howells - new London Borough of Waltham Forest David Boote Assistant Area Footpath Secretary Vacancy
Minutes of the Essex Area Ramblers’ AssociationAnnual General Meeting held on 5th February 2011
1. The 40 members from 16 of our groups were welcomed by the Chair, along with Justin Cooke from Central Office and Simon Taylor from ECC PROW team. The Chair especially welcomed any new faces to the meeting who hadn’t attended an area AGM before. 2. Apologies were received from Dave Hitchman, Maureen Taylor, Derek Gillard, Les Townsend, Val Pickford, Jo Harrison, Terry Foster, Maureen Gourley, Ruth Melling, Lucy Fletcher, Chris Barclay, Pauline Spratt, Mike Whiteley, Richard Iles, Mike Berry and Michael Cullen. 3. The Minutes from the last AGM, held on 6th Feb 2010, were accepted and signed as correct. Proposed: Kevin Ascott Seconded: Gordon Grout. There were no matters arising. 4. The Chair added to her written report stating that the Ramblers are more than just a walking group and are involved in all aspects of rights of way work. The Ramblers needed to retain existing members as well as recruiting more members. When the Essex Area first started there were eight groups. As the number of groups grew then there was less support for Area projects. The Chair hoped that by moving the location of the AGM around the county then more local members would become involved. The Chair thanked everyone for their support during her three years in office and apologised for not during as much as she should have over the past eight months due to illness. 5. The Treasurer hoped that the presented audited accounts were self explanatory. As he was standing down he thanked the Executive Council for their advice and assistance over the last three years. The Treasurer reiterated the process of groups submitting budgets to cover their funding for Ramblers charitable activities. He gave thanks to the groups who don’t submit requests for additional funding. The budget process is now a lot better. The Chair gave thanks to Norman for his work over the past three years. 6. The Secretary added to his written report stating that Essex County Council were in the process of reviewing the Saffron Trail route devised by Dave Hitchman. It is hoped that the route will be added to the OS maps in the future. The Secretary also reiterated the budgetry process which was highlighted in some group reports along with the goal of the Ramblers to end 2011 with more members than at the start. One of the areas to be looked at is the relationship between the Ramblers and Affiliated Groups. Tom Franklin, Ramblers Chief Executive, has asked Essex Area to assist with this analysis. 7. Reports from other Officers were noted as were reports from each of the Groups. Ann McLaren explained the Non-walkers Meals group which holds monthly get-togethers; details of which are published in the Essex Area Update. 8. Len Banister explained the background to the West Essex group report regarding the statement on dissatisfaction with the groups capitation from Area and the criticism of Essex Area in providing funds to the group. As West Essex hadn’t made any request for additional funding, through the budgeting process, they were not justified in making the claims as noted in the group report. 9. The formal reception of the Annual Report was proposed by the chair and all agreed. The motion was carried. 10. Elections were held with the following results (new holders in bold). a. President: Dave Hitchman b. Vice Presidents: Ann McLaren & Kevin Ascott c. Chairman: David Harvey, Proposed Ann McLaren Seconded Mags Hobby d. Vice Chairman: Len Banister, Proposed Ian Hynd Seconded Boyd French e. Treasurer: Paul Evans, Proposed Alan Goffee Seconded Len Banister f. Secretary: Kevin Clark, Proposed Len Banister Seconded Roy Carpenter g. Footpath Secretary: Mags Hobby, Proposed Roy Carpenter Seconded Kevin Ascott. This is Mags last year in the role. It’s a busy job and totally different from Group/District Footpath Secretary. h. Countryside Secretary: David Harvey, Proposed Mags Hobby Seconded Len Banister. i. Membership Secretary: Roy Carpenter, Proposed Colin Jacob Seconded John Champ. j. Public Relations: Ken & Margaret Adams, Proposed Ann McLaren Seconded Len Banister. k. Webmaster: Ian Hynd, Proposed Len Banister Seconded Boyd French. Ian indicated that this would be his last year in the role and would be standing down at the 2012 AGM. l. There were no nominations for Assistant Secretary. Request for volunteer would be made in the Essex Area Update. m. Communication: Maureen Taylor, Proposed Len Banister Seconded Kevin Clark. 11. There were no representatives from affiliated organisations but Michael Cullen and Adrian Vincent-Jones were elected to represent individual members on the Area Council. Proposed by Alan Goffee and Seconded by Mags Hobby. 12. Mags Hobby, David Harvey and Kevin Clark were elected as delegates to General Council. 13. Joyce Whiteley and Joan Bullivant were elected as representatives on the Greater London Forum. Len Banister is already chairman and we can have up to three representatives from groups in the London Boroughs. 14. Jim McWhirr was appointed as auditor. Proposed Norman Berry Seconded Hazel Jarrold. 15. It was agreed to put forward the following motion to General Council “This General Council is concerned at the lack of information on progress with the Campaign Policy adopted here in 2010 regarding gaining access to woodland, river banks and canals subject to exclusions of domestic areas. Given the newly perceived threat to such areas by the possible sale of Forestry Commission assets, this Council urges the Trustees to take positive action forthwith.” Proposed by Brian Collings Seconded by Kevin Ascott.
Justin Cooke, from the Ramblers, stated that Woodland and Canal Sides paths come under his remit. The Ramblers has been working behind the scenes with the British Water Ways Charitable Trust helping to make the PROW more friendly and usable. The Charitable Trust has only recently been set up as a charity and the Ramblers have also been assisting with this. Riverside paths will get greater access. With the government announcing plans to sell of Forestry Commission land will lead to greater focus by the Ramblers.
Hazel Jarrold stated than the perception is that we’re not kept up-to-date with Central Office work.
16. Ann McLaren outlined the Olympic Walk. a. The idea behind the Olympic Walk is to provide a lasting legacy for the Olympic Games. b. The walk will link the two Olympic sites in the county and can be completed in 7 days, measuring around 74 miles extending to the main Olympic site at Stratford. c. A leaflet will be produced along similar lines to the existing Essex Way leaflet, showing maps and places of interest. d. The leaflet will also detail 14 half day walks along with Olympic Walk. e. Organisations such as Essex County Council will be involved right from the beginning. f. The Olympic Baton walk will take place from the 20th May 2012 until the 26th May 2012. Groups will be asked to volunteer to lead a day. g. The Baton walk will be done by Two Car Tricks as there are not many options to use public transport. h. Area Council have approved a budget of £1000 to be used to cover publicity. 17. As there was no other business, Hazel thanked the Colchester group for hosting this year’s AGM and gave thanks to the tea/coffee team. Hazel would be contacting all groups in Essex requesting hosts for the 2012 AGM. 18. Justin then gave a talk on Coastal Access. a. Justin started his talk by stating that Coastal Access is still going ahead, despite all the government cutbacks being announced. b. The process is halfway through the first stretch along the coast at Weymouth Bay. This is due to be completed in time for the Olympics in 2012. Natural England’s (N.E.) final report is due out at the end of March. The Secretary of State has to agree the report. c. The next five stretches given the go ahead are in Somerset, Cumbria, Durham, Norfolk and Kent. Each stretch will take around four years to complete the analysis creation of the route and paths, starting with N.E. gathering information on the current state of the area in question. The information gathering phase includes walking around areas with local landowners. The final report is submitted to the Secretary of State for approval. The Landowner can comment on the report findings. The report covers access for walkers and pedestrians. If other access types are possible then these will be included. d. N.E. review of Coastal Access includes looking at the cost of any new paths or upgrading existing paths. They decide where the paths should go, including access land (spreading room). N.E. has the power to instate spreading room on landward side of path where applicable. N.E. has already decided where this spreading room should be without involving the Ramblers. The Welsh Ramblers have produced reports one each stretch of coastal access stating where the paths should go. This process should be adopted by all areas. In Weymouth, local groups have produced very detailed reports on where the paths should go. It’s in N.E.’s interest to agree with Ramblers findings making any issues easier to correct. e. The Ramblers has published a guide to Coastal Access which provides a background to this process. f. There is a large role for the Ramblers in this process and to help the Ramblers have set up a process to enable volunteers to help. Each area has a Key volunteer, not necessarily someone from the Ramblers. Central Office has arranged for these volunteers to receive training to enable them to use N.E.’s process in making surveys, knowing what they are looking for. The training also provides sample coastal areas to see if the volunteers get the same route as N.E. g. As with all areas there will be ‘Problem Areas’. N.E. has to balance a number of objectives including paths being close to the sea, having a sea view, safe as well as land owners land management with public access. h. Some of Essex’s coast might not be identified as coast as it is an Estuary. Estuaries are not part of the overall coastal path. Where possible the path will follow the estuary and cross at the first crossing point. The transition between coast and estuary is defined as the point where salt water and fresh water meet. i. Estuaries present their own problems as one side might be ok and the other side may have problems. N.E. doesn’t have duty to allocate coastal access to estuaries, which could have quite an impact in Essex. j. When Rights of Way disappear when cliffs collapse the official line of the ROW remains in place. With ‘rollback’, the line of the ROW can move over the adjacent open access land. N.E. is obliged to move the path infrastructure as the path moves. If there are obstacles, such as gardens, N.E. is obliged to revisit the access. k. Kevin Ascott stated that a survey of Essex coastal paths had been conducted. Essex County Council confirmed that they had been in contact with N.E. l. Another area where there could be problems is the 150 MOD sites around the country. Some will be opened up, but have strict controls in place on keeping to the designated paths, due to unexploded ordnance. Also Marinas, Holiday/Caravan parks and Private Beaches all present problems. Most golf courses don’t present problems as there are generally provisions for paths. m. N.E. is slow at identifying the next areas to be tackled. Weymouth was pushed to the front due to the Olympic timescales. n. N.E. was timetabled to complete the analysis in 10 years. It now doesn’t have any timescales and there is no indication that any new areas will start next year. Budgets and manpower issues may cause the project to stall. The Ramblers will be lobbying N.E. and the Secretary of State to ensure that other stretches are looked at. o. Once the paths are in place N.E. have a duty to maintain their condition, which they may pass onto local authorities with sufficient funding. p. With regard to Islands, if you can’t walk to it then it’s not part of the mainland. They are not of the scheme unless the Secretary of State says so. q. Nature reserves with limited access will be identified in the N.E. report and they may well do a full impact survey. The spreading room could be repositioned due to nesting birds for example. r. Sea walls can be included as part of the project if not already in use.
19. Hazel thanked Justin for his very informative talk and closed the meeting. David Harvey, the new Area Chairman, thanked Hazel for her hard work over the past three years.
Ramblers Greater London ForumTo many London Ramblers it is possible that, if they have heard of the RGLF at all, it is as a result of the walks it has organised round the London Loop and the Capital Ring. Whilst those on the Forum regard its function as a good deal more than mounting events of this nature it does fit well with our objectives that we are keeping our eyes on the strategic routes across the capital. As with everything else, funds are short and it will be important for us to make sure that London Boroughs and Transport for London maintain the six long distance walks. We also want to reinvigorate the campaign for the additional 32 routes, The Green Network, which an earlier forum did so much do research and develop; it is likely that future walks that the RGLF organises will feature these. In the meantime, the Olympics draw closer. Whilst walking for enjoyment is, as yet, not classed as a sport, the Ramblers approach to walking fits perfectly with all the notions of Legacy that the organisers of the Olympic games are trying to promote. It is entirely relevant that we are linking some of next year’s activities to the build up to the event. In this context our national Get Walking for the Games flagship event which runs from Saturday 26 to Sunday 27 May next year will enable Groups from all over the country to put on a short (8km) walk accessed by public transport. Given that Get Walking for the Games will be a nation-wide and centrally inspired event, the RGLF is interested in encouraging Groups, in addition, to mount a much more individual activity which could have strong recruitment possibilities. The Olympic Flame will travel to within an hour of 95% of people in the UK, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey during the 70-day Olympic Torch Relay, which starts in mid May. The actual route will soon be published but the main stopovers have already been announced. We have circulated extensive information to Ares but the main points on the route from the point of view of RGLF Areas will be Chelmsford 6th July (from Ipswich 5th July)
Then the torch goes to:- Cambridge, Luton, Oxford, reading, Salisbury, Weymouth & Portland, Bournemouth, Southampton, Guernsey, Jersey, Portsmouth, Brighton & Hove, Hastings and then to-
Dover 18th July Maidstone 19th July Guildford 20th July (it is planned that Dorking will be the mid-day stop) Waltham Forest 21st July Bexley 22nd July Wandsworth 23rd July Ealing 24th July Haringay 25th July Westminster 26th July It is hoped that Walk to the torch, the RGLF campaign, will supplement other Olympic-related activities Groups may be planning. There are three significant characteristics to the Torch Relay. The route itself the midday stop, and the overnight stopover. All three provide a target for a group. The overnight stops promise to be quite lavish affairs and there will undoubtedly be opportunities, in addition to well publicised walks, for Groups to take stalls and hold recruitment events. The RGFL will circulate more details of the way your Group’s ideas can be supported when they become available.
ASK NOT WHAT YOUR AREA CAN DO FOR YOU BUT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THE AREA The Area officers exist to promote effective communication and coordination amongst the Groups that are established throughout Essex. The above is what we do in cooperation with the Groups throughout Essex but if you wish to contact us directly with your ideas drop us an e-mail at the address below. Remember its your Association, without you, we wouldn't be able to get beyond this page! If you have any comments on the above or any other pages within this site please contact the editor at ear@essexarearamblers.co.uk
The Ramblers’ Association is a registered charity (England & Wales no 1093577; Scotland no SC039799) and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no 4458492). Registered office: 2nd floor, Camelford House, 87-90 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TW |
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If only Essex looked
a little more like this
. Although our landscape is a little flatter
and usually contains more mud, one of the prime functions of Area is to maintain contact between Central Office and the
various Groups that have been formed across the County. Close contact is maintained with Members of the National Executive by sending delegates along to National
Council meeting and from time to time promoting motions to be considered at
national level. We also ensure appropriate distribution of capitation and supplementary funds that are necessary for the efficient running of the Groups. We also have an undertaking to help set up and support formation of new Groups to meet the needs of developing communities across Essex and an involvement in how London is providing for walkers.