Hi Everyone
There’s a few things that I wanted to bring to your attention:

New Ramblers Branding

You may have noticed/seen emails from Ramblers head office, that there is a new logo & new branding for the Ramblers: Brian has updated the ESW website, & I have updated the Surrey Ramblers website. You will note, if you look at them, that the colours are different. There is a palette of colours to choose from, so the various different Ramblers sites around the country will all be similar, but different.

Walk Leader Training
After the inevitable 2020/2021 Covid Lay-off, walk leader training (in person) is back on in Surrey! There are currently two courses on offer – Wednesday 6th April at Wotton, near Dorking & Saturday 9th April at Farnham. There’s more information & booking form on the Surrey Ramblers web site
https://www.surreyramblers.org.uk/163-leader-courses-2022.html
To attend (& to be a walk leader), you need to be registered on Assemble, which , for those who don’t know, is the Ramblers’ volunteer portal, where you will find quite a lot of information, documents &, fairly new, an online Foundation course in Walk Leading, which gives an overview of current Rambler’s policies. It is hoped that everyone who attends the walk leader training course will have done the online foundation course.
Whether you’re new to walk leading or want to brush up on your leading skills, this is the course for you! If you’re not already a leader, please consider becoming one - & if you have any questions, just ask whoever’s leading your next Ramblers walk. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to give advice & we do try to offer a “buddy” system for new leaders, so you wouldn’t just be thrown in at the deep end!

Proposed Solar Farm, Edenbridge
It has been brought to my attention that there is a proposed 61-acre (I believe) solar farm on land west of Hilders Lane & south of Monks Lane, Edenbridge. Whilst it is in Kent, it is just outside the Tandridge border & is an area in which ESW quite often walk.
There was a “consultation event” in Edenbridge at the end of January, which we have clearly missed, but there is an opportunity to give feedback on the company’s website https://locogen.com/gaywood-solar-project/?fbclid=IwAR1rS0g_VCGYoLpROTn0rdzPMsNM-Q0mvJv24WbXZxStM3tW8OysmhQgj00

It is expected that a formal planning application will be submitted in Q1 2022 – which is now. I have given my personal feedback via their website & also ticked the “I’d like to be kept informed” box. Much like the TfL questionnaires about the emission zones, the questions they ask are, in my opinion, skewed to give the answer(s) they want – i.e. Do you agree that in the UK we should be developing renewable energy to help address the global climate emergency? & Do you agree that using solar power to generate renewable electricity is a useful way of reducing emissions? Clearly the “only” correct answer to both those questions is yes! They offer the options of yes, no & other, but if you tick other (as I did) there isn’t an opportunity to explain why you answered that. There are, however, further down, a couple of free text boxes where you can put across your views.
I personally have no problem with solar panels (I have some on my roof), what I do have a problem with is putting solar panels on agricultural land, thus taking that land out of food production, be it pasture for animals or arable land.
Please take some time to look at the proposal & make your views known – especially if you’re not in favour! So far as I can see, the route doesn’t affect any footpaths directly, but there are two paths that are quite close to the proposed solar farm.

Local Footpath Secretary needed
As you may have seen on a recent Notice Board email, we are looking for a new local footpath secretary to cover Tandridge West, i.e. the parishes of Nutfield, Outwood, Horne and Burstow.
The principal function of this volunteer role is to help maintain and improve the state of the local rights of way network in the four parishes by reporting and liaising with Surrey County Council to help resolve issues. Occasionally there are applications to the County Council to divert paths and these are reviewed and responded to. A role description is attached and support and advice will be readily available from the other 3 Local Footpath Secretaries covering the Tandridge district.
Protecting and maintaining rights of way is a core purpose of The Ramblers. If you join our group walks or walk separately, you have a vested interest in having decent local paths so please consider volunteering for this role. If you would like to have a chat to understand the role in more detail, please contact Tony Pearson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Publicity Officer needed
We also need a new publicity officer! You may have noticed various articles on local points of interest that have appeared in local parish magazines etc. This is what we need the publicity officer to do & if they were also able to update the Facebook page, that would be fantastic! Is this something that you think you could do? I think the role should only take a minimal amount of time – a little research & writing of articles occasionally (plus occasional FB updates). If you’re interested, please contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Thanks for reading!
Kind regards
Deb Skinner
Chair East Surrey Walkers