Ramblers Association Doncaster Group
Minutes of committee meeting held on 21st September 2015 at Wheatley Hotel
Committee Members Present; David Gadd, David Horne, Wendy Atkinson, Dennis Neal, Catherine Palmer, Marion Thompson, Jim Elvidge, Peter Gravestock, Owen Evans, Kerry Foreman, Tony Liversidge and Martin Wyman.
Also attended ...Cynthia Elvidge.
1. Apologies
Apologies received from Tony Marsh and Dave Binnington.
2. Minutes of previous meeting 20/07/2015
Minutes confirmed as accurate WA/DN.
3. Matters arising from those minutes
- Ref. Matters arising 20/07. No developments to date regarding a replacement for the Membership Secretary. DG will include in the newsletter and website news. CP asks on walks if anyone is interested.
4. Correspondence
None.
5. Finance
DH referred to the statement: £252 had been received from Area to pay for the roundels and £258 regular funding. As we didn’t spend anything in July/August the bank balance is healthy.
6. Rights of Way Report
The number of footpaths reported on this year is now up to 308, with more walked but not as yet reported. Perhaps we might reach, or surpass, our last year’s figure of about 75% walked out of a total of 588 footpaths.
It has been discovered that there is a discrepancy between our numbers and those at DMBC, to a significant extent. This is being addressed by the group, however in the meantime DMBC has reported to the BPW that we walked about half of the paths last year, but on further discussion that figure has been accepted by DMBC to be 75%.
The variation in numbers of paths for each square has been a concern for the past years. Some squares have few paths, some have a very high number, and steps are being taken to try to share the workload between square walkers and any volunteer who will help in this area. If anyone knows of new volunteers who would help in walking some footpaths please ask them to contact our RoW team.
The major problem of working with old black and while maps and difficult to discern Parish boundaries continues to cause difficulties. We cannot alter the tools we are given, however the rights of way footpath website, www.rowmaps.com has been shown to be of help in many instances.
Only two maintenance sessions have taken place since the last Committee Meeting in July.
The first was on August 5th when two kissing gates were installed in Moss, replacing two very old broken stiles. An awkward location making it difficult to get materials to the site, but fortunately it was dry making it possible to get the DMBC van nearer than was originally anticipated.
The second session was in Barnburgh on September 9th when repair work was carried out to the 'boardwalks' on Barnburgh FP No 3. The damaged walkway has been on the RoW list of outstanding works for some time, but it had not been possible to carry out the work on the grounds of cost. The repairs should result in a few more years of use before more extensive work is required. This has saved DMBC a sizeable sum of money.
The dates for future RoW volunteers sessions have been included in the next Walks Programme. They are all on a Wednesday.
DG asked why there had been the discrepancy between our numbers and DMBC. WA replied that it was due to the way our walkers reported, some only reporting unsatisfactory paths rather than both satisfactory and unsatisfactory as requested by DMBC; it transpired that Julie Guest will no record a path as walked unless it is explicitly reported as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. So if walkers report problems but say the remaining paths are satisfactory the latter will not be counted as walked.
Also some walkers did not report paths that were urban, too short, unwalkable, or went nowhere. WA had requested a list of paths the ‘needn’t be walked’ from Julie Guest; JG had worked on this but eventually replied that all Rights of Way were the Council’s responsibility. MW added that it cost money to Extinguish a RoW. OE thought all paths should be reported by Ramblers whether walkable or not.
The RoW Committee will consider what could be done.
7. Social Report
Nothing to report.
8. Walks Programme
The Programme is at the printers. OE thought it would be ready by now, CP added that it was important for the date of the AGM. PG added that all the walks were already on the website.
9. Area Questionnaire
DG was not present at the last Area meeting and had not yet received the minutes. There had been nothing significant in the responses, but a sub-committee had been formed to consider the information. WA asked why the Questionnaire had been created, DG replied that it was part of a ‘Strategic Review’ instigated by Area after the Central Review faltered. However, Central Office has now appointed a person to advise Areas.
10. AGM 2015
DG asked if all present were willing to stand again, except for CP who is standing down. KF tried as usual to be requested to stand down, but DG insisted he was very welcome even if he cannot attend all meetings. Referring to the meeting attendance DG pointed out that the Committee was healthy and functioned well.
DN said he would be happy to continue as Social Secretary but would stand down if anyone else wanted the job. Likewise DG as Chairman.
The AGM will be on Saturday 24th October at Finningley Town Hall, starting 7.00pm.
11. New shorter walks programme.
(DG asked JE if he was continuing with the Wednesday evening summer walks, JE replied yes.)
OE had circulated an email concerning Harrogate Ramblers who put on a very varied programme of walks. He did not necessarily mean shorter walks, rather alternative walks on a Tuesday and Saturday. If a strenuous 12 miler was proposed, could there not be a shorter walk made available, and vice versa? CP suggested that the Tuesday and Saturday walk arrangers might be able to take the lead in this, and request alternative walks. TL thought that there might be a shorter walk say once a month.
MW had suggested that a group interested in shorter walks might be organised informally, and walk on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of a month, for example, when there were no public transport Thursday walks. PG thought this idea should be followed up and we should be asking if there was support for shorter walks. DG proposed that this be mentioned at the AGM, and a flyer be included in the next mailing suggesting say leisurely 7 mile walks from 10am – 2pm on Thursdays, anyone interested to contact the Group Secretary.
DH thought that such an initiative might encourage more ‘figure of eight’ walks on Tuesday and Saturday.
12. AOB
The meeting closed at 20.21pm