The Ramblers Association, East Surrey Walkers Group
41st ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
2PM Saturday 14th November 2023 at St Andrew’s Church Hall, Limpsfield Chart
1. Chairman’s Welcome: Deb Skinner welcomed 45 members to the AGM.
2. Apologies for absence: Steve Hanks, Barbara Bulman, Robert Coupland, Tricia Ross, Jim Burbridge, Pat Manning, Brian Smith
3. Minutes of the 2022 AGM held on the 12th November 2022.
The minutes were available on the ESW website and so were not read out. The minutes were approved by a show of hands.
4. Matters arising: There were no matters arising.
5. Chairman’s Report
The Reports had been made available on the website and Deb said that she did not propose to read them out but made a few points:-
The ESW 40th Anniversary walking festival week had been good but the weather could have been better. The Lunch at the end of the festival was very well attended.
Deb Skinner said that Helen McDonnell had completed her three year stint as Walks coordinator and was stepping down at the AGM. It is a vital role for a walking group and so far no one had offered to fill it.
Deb then thanked the walk leaders, social event organisers, and the ESW officers and members for the jobs they did.
Tony Pearson said that Helen Whiteley deserved thanks for organising ESW holidays year after year and this brought a round of applause.
6. Treasurer’s Report
Karen Holdsworth said that she had requested in her budget for 2023-4 £2000 for kissing gates but this had been rejected by Ramblers and therefore ESW needed to find other sources of funds for kissing gates.
The social events in 2023 had made a total profit of £347. The accumulated surplus in the social fund carried forward to next year was £1313. Discussion on this was held over to AOB (see 11.1 below).
Adoption of the Treasurer’s Report and Accounts was proposed and passed on a show of hands.
7. Officers’ Reports
Membership Secretary
Janette Ruiz said that ESW membership was 462, a decline of 4.5% over the past year, which was similar to other Ramblers groups in Surrey. ESW was attracting new members at a similar rate to other groups in Surrey, but too many were leaving after a year. The Committee was looking to see what it can do to retain new members.
Amanda Whiteley said that when she was membership secretary she had phoned leaving members to ask why they were going.
Rosie Blythe said that some people joined Ramblers because they believed in the ethos and wanted to keep footpaths open, rather than to join group walks.
Mark Fulston said that U3A had walking groups with one organised walk a week. Maybe they could be encouraged to join Ramblers for a wider choice of walks.
Deb noted that during and after lockdown many people had changed when they walked, and who they walked with, and this had resulted in a drop in numbers joining Ramblers group walks.
Walks co-ordinator
Helen McDonnell said that most new members she encountered on walks had a positive experience of ESW. She had also found more people from other groups joining ESW walks.
She had found being Walks Coordinator over the last three years fun and was disappointed no one had come forward to take over the role.
ESW has about 40 active leaders but relied heavily on a group of 12-20 leaders who lead several walks every quarter.
Helen thanked Kate Roffey and Judy Smythson for organising and leading the walk for the London Blind group.
Social events
Karen Holdsworth said that the events had made a profit. She noted that more or less the same people attended all events.
Local Footpath Secretaries
Tony Pearson said that Local Footpath Secretaries respond to proposed changes to the path network and assist in keeping the SCC database of footpath defects up to date. As a result of their work the SCC database for Tandridge is now cleaner with only current defects listed. LFS can also undertake minor repairs eg replacing missing waymarkers, and identifying locations where improvements could be made, e.g. replacing stiles with gates.
Volunteer Path Wardens check for defects and undertake minor work on the path network in their area. SCC provide training.
Richard Mascall said he co-ordinated the twice yearly the SCC BVPI inspections of small parts of the path network in the ESW area. This is undertaken by ESW volunteers and more volunteers are required. SCC provided training on completing their simple pro forma.
Lisa Dunning said that footpaths in the ESW area north of the M25 appeared to be neglected. Tony said that these had traditionally been looked after by Croydon group (although they are not in Croydon) but currently Croydon have no leader for their path maintenance team. Tony said that the parts of Tandridge district north of the M25 are still part of the area for which ESW is responsible.
Ken’s Krew
Deb said that the new SCC volunteer coordinator Tom Chatfield gets on with the job enthusiastically and as a result KK had had a much more worthwhile year.
Deb requested that members report path defects on the CAM system on the SCC website.
KK volunteers often work with volunteers from the Reigate, Croydon, and Mole valley groups.
8. Report on Surrey Area
Deb said that there had been a lot of discussion about rollout of the new Ramblers Walks Manager during the past year but that most groups were now getting on with it. Nigel Poulter added that it works well.
Deb continued that Surrey Area had organised a summer event in Brockham which attracted 70 odd members.
Ramblers nationally had just issued a new draft 18 page Ramblers Strategy document to replace the previous one which has expired. Deb outlined four main themes. She doubted it would be possible for Ramblers to meaningfully measure their success in achieving the four targets. Deb has only until Tuesday to comment on the draft.
9. Election of Officers
Three members of the Committee had now served their three year term and were retiring at the AGM. The following candidates were proposed, seconded, and elected on a show of hands.
Role Candidate
Secretary Theresa Veale
Membership Secretary Tricia Ross
Members without portfolio Roger May and Jim Burbridge
Two members of the Committee were available for re-election and were re-elected on a show of hands:-
Role Candidate
Chair Deb Skinner
Treasurer Karen Holdsworth
The post of Walks Coordinator remained vacant.
11. Any other business
11.1 Funding of Kissing gates and social fund surplus Karen Holdsworth said that ESW needed to raise money to enable kissing gate installation to continue. The gates cost £510 each to buy through SCC. The Committee had discussed running a raffle at social events. This received general support providing there is a separate person running the raffle rather than the event organiser. Helen McDonnell said she would run the raffle at the New Year Lunch.
Tony Pearson said that the Treasurer should request budget from Ramblers for “path improvements” rather than for “kissing gates”. Karen said that she would try this approach for the next budget.
Doug Horrigan pointed out that Ramblers were collecting £15,000 - £20,000 from ESW members each year so it was unreasonable of them not to give more money back to ESW to spend on paths.
The social fund currently stands at £1313 including a £347 surplus from the past year’s events. Deb said that it was prudent for ESW to keep a minimum of £800 (corrected from £500) in the social fund to cover up front costs and to cover losses if an event had to be cancelled at the last moment. This would leave £513 which could be spent either on subsidising social events or on kissing gates or split between the two. Amanda Whiteley favoured spending it on social events. Rosie Blythe said that social events were reasonably priced and that she would prefer the money went to path improvements. Members were asked to vote. 25 voted for the surplus to be spent on path improvements/kissing gates. 6 voted for the surplus to be used to subsidise social events. The motion to spend the surplus on path improvements/kissing gates was carried.
11.2 New Ramblers Strategy Doug Horrigan asked what was wrong with continuing with the old strategy. Deb said that Ramblers had a current focus on access to green spaces for all. She said that Ramblers campaign needed to be tempered with realism, not everyone can do everything.
11.3 SCC CAMS path defect reporting system Roger May asked how many members in the room knew how to use the SCC CAMS reporting system. Only 5 held up their hands. He said training was needed. Deb said that she would draft a “how to” note to circulate to members. Tony Pearson said that there is an explanatory page on the SCC website.
11.4 What happens without a Walks coordinator? Amanda Whiteley asked what happens without a Walks co-ordinator. Deb Skinner said the Committee would clarify in a Notice Board. Deb said that Helen McDonnell had been sending out the Notice Boards as well as being Walks Co-ordinator. Another volunteer was needed to take on the Notice Board role.
11.5 Publicity Pamela Cunliffe said that on a walk she had sought to persuade Merrill to take on some publicity tasks for ESW. Deb said that she had since spoken to Merrill but she is heavily committed to work and family at present.
11.6 Welfare Officer Deb Skinner said that Sue Halsey was stepping down from her role as Welfare Officer at the AGM and thanked her for having done an excellent job. ESW were therefore looking for a volunteer to replace Sue.
11.7 Thanks
Sue Halsey thanked all who had brought cakes and hoped members would tuck in.
Deb thanked Sue Halsey and her helpers for providing tea and cakes.
Amanda Whiteley thanked the Committee for their work for ESW over the past year.