Minutes of AGM 2024
The Ramblers Association, East Surrey Walkers Group
42nd Annual General meeting Minutes
2pm Saturday 9 November at St. Andrew’s Church Hall, Limpsfield Chart
1. Chairman’s Welcome
Deb Skinner welcomed 46 members to the AGM
2. Apologies for Absence
Jim Burbridge, Stuart England, Steve Hanks, Pat Glenn, Val Stubbings, Toni Pearson, Rosie Blythe, Sheila Williams, Adam Wilson, Helen Whitely
3. Minutes of the 2023 AGM
The minutes of the 2023 AGM were on the website so were not read out. They were approved by a show of hands.
4. Matters Arising
None
5. Chair’s Report
The report had been made available on the website so was not read out. Deb spoke about her report looking back over her three years as chair. It had been quite busy and she mentioned the many changes that had taken place over her time. There had been the recovery and getting back to the new normal after the Covid restrictions; the introduction of the new Walks Manager along with a new Ramblers website and more recently the removal of Assemble and the introduction of a new Walk Leader Handbook and training modules. She thanked Nigel Poulter for all his work during the changeover and Helen McDonnell who was walks co-ordinator during the switch.
Deb thanked all our amazing walk leaders and flagged up that we always need more volunteers.
Mentioning that Ramblers are keen for all walk leaders to be first aid trained Deb encouraged all to sign up for the forthcoming first aid sessions which have been arranged and for which a notice has gone out. She noted that those who had done the training had found it well worthwhile with tea and biscuits thrown in too.
Deb invited comments or questions on her report and there followed some discussion about the content of the first aid training and what is required for leaders.
6. Treasurer’s report
Karen Holdsworth highlighted that our main source of income is from Ramblers HO. She said that she had recently been informed that her request for an increase in the 2024/5 budget to £1800, to improve access for all, had been successful. £450 for the first quarter has already been received.
Another £200 per annum comes from Ramblers Worldwide Holidays. They have given a code which can be used to obtain a double discount/rebate until the end of this month. A notice will be issued to provide the code for members to use.
No money was spent on purchasing kissing gates this year as we had stock. £330 from the summer buffet raffle and a donation from the Thursday walkers combined have paid for another gate. The kissing gate fund now has around £3000 to take forward installations along the entire length of paths.
Adoption of the Treasurer’s report and Accounts was proposed by Brian Smith and seconded by Helen McDonnell.
7. Officer’s reports and matters arising
Membership secretary
Tricia Ross mentioned that there had been a very small reduction in membership compared to last year with details shown in her report on the website. Last year concern had been expressed that members were leaving a year after joining. Tricia said she had done some follow-up and had found that not to be the case this year. The main reasons people gave for leaving were poor health or because they had liked the idea of walking but subsequently found that they couldn’t fit it in.
Lots more people should now be getting information about our walks via email after the implementation of the latest guidance from Ramblers.
Following a question asked by Amanda Whiteley about the number of ESW members Tricia said there were 461 members including 6 affiliates at the end of September. There was the same number yesterday when she checked, although not exactly the same people.
Social events
In the absence of a social secretary Deb Skinner provided a report on the events and holidays that had taken place this year. She thanked everyone who had helped with these in any capacity. In particular she thanked Sue Halsey and her helpers, Helen Whiteley for organising all the holidays and the summer buffet this year and Angie and Doug Horrigan for organising the New Year’s lunch. As Helen and Sue are now stepping down we will be looking for others to volunteer.
The £330 made from the raffle at the Summer buffet together with the donation from the Thursday walkers has paid for a kissing gate which will installed with a plaque reading “With thanks to ESW and the Thursday Walkers”. The location is yet to be decided and will be notified.
There were no questions.
Walks Co-ordinator
Ron Welbrook said that that the walk statistics for this year and the last were pretty similar. Wednesday walks and short circular walks remained the most popular. Amble walk attendance had increased, whilst the numbers attending longer weekend walks had declined slightly, as set out in his report/the stats on line.
Ron made an appeal for new leaders so that we can continue to offer a range of walks. He asked anyone having difficulty locating the new walk leader training to contact him as he has a link to take them straight to the training on the Ramblers website.
Ron flagged up that there is a Ramblers zoom session taking place on 19 November to explore ideas for recruiting leaders. He gave a big thank you to all existing leaders and announced that in the near future he would like to step down from his role.
Questions arising from walk leaders report
Alan Quayle asked about public liability insurance cover for walk leaders and whether existing walk leaders who have not completed the new walk leader training are covered, as he has contemplated putting 3 walks into the calendar over the Christmas period. Tony Pearson said walk leaders are covered under public liability insurance. Discussion took place about the circumstances in which leaders are/would not be covered under the public liability insurance. Deb Skinner said that from September this year new leaders are required to have completed the on line training modules, have watched the videos and ticked that they have read the handbook before they would be covered and can become a walk leader. The new training is not a mandatory requirement for existing leaders trained prior to September this year.
Vivienne Kerr asked if it would be sensible for all existing leaders to have a copy of the new walk leader handbook. Information was provided that the handbook is now available on the Ramblers website volunteer portal for all walk leaders to access.
A question was asked by Amanda Whiteley about how many active walk leaders ESW currently have. Helen McDonnell replied that when she had stepped down as walks co-ordinator there were about 40 leaders, of whom 25 were regularly active. She thought that the number regularly active now had probably slipped.
Tony Pearson said that ESW needed to concentrate on finding new leaders and attracting younger walkers. He asked that this be considered by the new committee since unless we do something the group will decline in strength. He suggested asking the fast fitness walkers who lead and tend to be in the younger age group whether they could lead walks at the weekend, so that those still working can attend.
Amanda Whitely asked if “Meet Up” had been tried as North West Kent had found this useful as a means of attracting younger members. Deb Skinner said that this needed lots of managing and someone willing to do this. She was aware that some groups had found “Meet Up” successful but others had found it less so as the admin required was too much. A commitment was given that the new committee would discuss and look into this.
Alan Quayle asked why leaders were asked to commit to planning walks in the calendar 3 months in advance. This makes it difficult because other commitments are unknown. Nigel Poulter said it had been required using the past system but it is now much easier to put walks in at the last minute. An email should go out to inform all accordingly.
Local Footpath Secretaries
Roger May provided a summary of the footpath secretaries’ report which was on the website.
He mentioned that CAMS could be used by anyone to report issues with footpaths and asked that members use the link on our website to report path issues to Surrey County Council rights of way section. Members are encouraged to take and upload a photo with the what3words location so that SCC can see the work that needs to be done. This speeds up action being taken. Anyone having problems doing that can get in touch with one of the footpath secretaries.
BVPI – Best Value Performance Indicator – Richard Mascall explained the importance of obtaining facts and figures to feed back to SCC in the bi-annual inspections, as rights of way are constantly under pressure. He asked anyone with an interest in joining the team and having a bit of skill in using maps and technology to contact him.
Ken’s Crew
Barbara Bulman reported that, as outlined in her report on line, things had been going well for the team since Tom Chatfield had been in post at SCC. More tasks are getting completed to improve local footpaths. She urged members to report path defects or to let her know about them.
8. Report on Surrey Area
Deb Skinner reported that Walk magazine and South East Walker are going digital. SE walker was put on the Surrey Area Website yesterday.
Surrey Area would like to invite more of our members to attend their meetings. They hold four meetings per year. Two take place in the evenings using ‘Microsoft Teams’ on line and two take place in person, in the afternoons, at a hall in East Horsley. She asked anyone interested in attending to let her know.
9. Election of Officers
Two members of the Committee had now served their three year term and were retiring at the AGM. The candidates for the new committee were:-
Role
Chair: Helen McDonnell - Proposed by Nigel Poulter and seconded by a show of hands
Treasurer: Stuart England - Proposed by Tricia Ross and seconded by a show of hands
The following members of the committee were available for re-election and were re-elected on a show of hands:-
Role
Membership Secretary – Tricia Ross
Secretary – Theresa Veale
Walks Co-ordinator – Ron Wellbrook
Members without portfolio – Roger May and Jim Burbridge
Helen McDonnell thanked Deb Skinner and Karen Holdsworth who were standing down from the roles of chair and treasurer and made a presentation to them on behalf of the committee and ESW.
Helen said she was really enthusiastic to be taking on the role of chair, would be calling for help if she needs it and would be looking to involve everyone.
10. Any Other Business
Amanda Whitely said that her sister Helen, who couldn’t be at the meeting, had found Karen Holdsworth really great to work with as treasurer and wanted to pass on her thanks and say what a good job Karen had done in her role.
Vivien Moyle flagged up how much ESW owe to Nigel Poulter for all the work he does and there was a round of applause.
Helen McDonnell then thanked all those working in IT support roles and Brian Smith for all his work managing the website for ESW.