Northamptonshire
Area
Newsletter August 2009
Daventry, Kettering, Northampton, Wellingborough & 20s/30s Groups
Request from Will Lovell regarding Lilford Missing Link Path
We have been campaigning to have this path recognised as public for several years. The Nene Way could come along here and save two crossings of the busy A605. We were encouraged when Northants County Council opened negotiations with landowners. However, the negotiations have now become very sticky. It is time for the RA to act. We need evidence that a good number of people have used the path over a period of a good few years.
The routes in question are:
1. The road from the Pilton Road north through Lilford village, past the post
box to the end of the tarmac by Lilford Home Farm.
2. The path from the end of the tarmac, past Lilford Home Farm, along the field
edge track, past Keepers Cottage, to the start of public footpath NG1 at Cuckoo
Pen Wood (aka Lilford Wood).
What you can do: if you have walked the routes, even only once, please contact Will Lovell (Tel 01933 395174). The evidence will be used to enter a formal claim for a right of way on foot along the above routes.
Your Area Executive would like to wish all our members a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Area Annual General Meeting - Sunday 10th January 2010
Elsewhere in this Newsletter you will find formal notification of our forthcoming AGM. As you will see it is being held at Rushden Scout Headquarters at 3.00pm. These are located behind Orbit Tyres, Brookes Close off Skinners Hill (GR956665). Ample free parking is available two minutes walk away at Duck St (GR956667).
The 20s / 30s Group is hosting the event and have arranged two walks preceding it, starting from the HQ:-
10.00am start - 9 miles (bring packed lunch if
required)
12.00pm start - 5.5 miles
We are very fortunate to have two guest speakers
- Kate Ashbrook, former National Chairman and now a Member of the Board of
Trustees and Eleanor Harris, newly elected as a Trustee and as a younger person
herself well placed to represent the perspective of younger Members.
This will be a good opportunity to quiz the speakers on their views on what is
happening at national level and put our own across to them.
It would be great if we could have a good turnout for this occasion so please
give your support if possible. Thank you.
Contact re walks - J. Hadley (07973) 828897. Contact re AGM - David Craddock
(01604) 455443
Area Executive Committee - Vacancy for Treasurer
David Cole, our present Treasurer, is standing
down at the forthcoming AGM and of course the pressure is now on to find someone
to take on his role.
Its main purpose is to oversee the finances of the Area and Groups in liaison
with Central Office, reporting to the Area Executive and preparing the annual
statement for the AGM.
Previous experience of managing budgets or accounts would be an advantage
although numeracy and not being intimidated by figures are more important. Being
computer literate and contactable by e-mail are however essential requirements
(I cribbed these snippets from the Ramblers national website and more
information can be found by logging on to www.ramblers.org.uk/volunteer)
If your interest is even slightly aroused please do give serious consideration
to joining us. It is a vital role and we really do need someone to come forward.
Please give me a ring if you want to talk it over. Thank you.
Area Executive Committee - Vacancy for Minute Secretary
Pauline Riley is standing down at the forthcoming AGM. The Executive Committee meets 4 times a year + the A.G.M. If interested please contact David Craddock or Roy Talbot or Pauline for further details.
Newsletter Editors - from David Craddock
I am very pleased to report that Joy Tripp of the
Northampton Group has offered to take over the reins of producing this
Newsletter from Steve Sayers. She was co-opted on to the Area Executive
Committee at its meeting on the 19th November and is prepared to stand for
election to the Committee at the forthcoming Area AGM. We are very grateful
indeed to Joy for agreeing to take on this role and hope she finds it
interesting and rewarding.
In saying hello to Joy we have to bid farewell to Steve. As I am sure most of
you will know and appreciate that since Steve took over its production the
composition and layout of the Newsletter has improved beyond recognition. Steve
also took on the organisation of the annual Area Quiz which under his wing has
grown from strength to strength, and he has even agreed to arrange next years
(see separate Item) to ensure continuity - how good is that!
So thank you Steve for all your hard work and commitment.
The Ramblers - THE NATIONAL SITUATION - AN UPDATE - David Craddock
Earlier this year the Ramblers Association re-branded itself as The Ramblers and adopted a new logo. Our annual handbook transformed into a Walks Guide and our magazine which previously was geared largely to imparting information to the Membership became in essence just another walking mag of the sort to be found in most newsagents. You may or may not have approved of these changes but all of you will have been aware of them.
Some of you will also have been directly affected by, and most of you will have heard through the grapevine, about the problems our Headquarters Office has experienced in introducing a new computerised database system which has badly impacted on processing Membership renewals and applications to join. I can only apologise to those who experienced difficulties.
These things were highly visible to the general membership but behind the scenes an awful lot of other developments have recently been taking place. It all kicked off in early July with a letter to Area Chairmen jointly signed by Rodney Whittaker, National Chairman and Tom Franklin, Chief Executive advising us that the Ramblers finances were in a far worse state than had previously been realized and that severe cost cutting measures needed to be put in place to bring expenditure into balance with revised predicted income. The reasons for this state of affairs were given as the effects of the recession resulting in a loss of investment income, falling membership subscriptions and over reliance on unpredictable legacies.
At the same time a second letter was circulated by e-mail from Tom Franklin stating that in future all communications between Headquarters and Area / Group Officers would be by e-mail only in conjunction with a web based information system, replacing all circulars and paper newsletters.
The cost cutting measures included:-
· Scaling
right back on spending for the Wales and Scotland Offices
· Delaying
production of next years Walk Guide
· Re-organising
HQ support services and administration and reducing staffing levels through
redundancies
· Reducing
Area and Group budgets
· Freezing
HQ staff pay levels and voluntary temporary pay cuts by senior managers
the object being to bring expenditure / income for this financial year into line
at about £5m. Remaining Centrally held reserves would stand at around £1m,
down from around £2.1m.
In addition to concerns brought about by these measures it is fair to say, as evidenced by motions put forward at this years General Council (the national policy making body for the Ramblers), e-mails being circulated and web chat that for some time there has been considerable concern about the direction in which the Ramblers is perceived to be moving at national level - away from our traditional strengths of focusing on existing Members, protection of rights of way and walking in the countryside to a more public orientated urban minded type of organisation.
Suffice to say that led by three senior Officers of the West Yorkshire Area who organised a meeting for 'concerned ramblers' from around the country in Leeds in September, at which we had a presence, very strong representations have been made to HQ for an urgent review of present strategies and for a more open and democratic style of management, also for more details to be given on just how this dramatic downturn in our finances came about. A Steering Group was set up to develop plans for future actions, which will include submitting critical and probing motions to next years General Council.
In the meantime Rodney Whittaker and Tom Franklin are holding a series of Regional briefing meetings, aimed primarily at Area / Group Committee Members, throughout the country. I attended one held at Birmingham on 17 November. All attendees appeared to have the same criticisms and shared the same concerns which were expressed very strongly.
I am not sure how matters will evolve but the next General Council being held at Egham in Surrey on the 10th / 11th April is likely to be very important for our Organisation's future direction.
THE RAMBLERS NORTHAMPTONSHIRE AREA
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
To be held in
RUSHDEN SCOUT HEADQUARTERS,
BROOKES CLOSE, RUSHDEN
at 3.00pm on Sunday 10th January 2010
1. Apologies for Absence.
2. Approval of Minutes of AGM held on 16 November 2008.
3. Matters Arising.
4. General Secretary's Report.
5. Treasurer's Report.
6. Membership Secretary's Report.
7. Area Footpath Secretary's Report.
8. Amendment of Area Constitution to add the post of Countryside Secretary to list of Officers.
9. Election of President.
10. Election of Officers and Members of the Area Executive Committee.
11. Appointment of Independent Examiner.
12. Any Other Business
After the formal business there will be addresses by Kate Ashbrook and Eleanor
Harris, both of whom are Members of The Ramblers Board of Trustees.
NOTES
1. Item 10. Nominations are invited
from Members for the above positions.
Officers on the Area Executive Committee are:- Chairman, Vice Chairman, General
Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Footpath Secretary, Publicity
Secretary, Countryside Secretary (subject to approval vide Item 8) and Minutes
Secretary.
2. Motions for inclusion on this Agenda should be forwarded to reach the General
Secretary not less than 2 weeks before the meeting.
3. For a copy of the previous AGM Minutes please send SAE to the General
Secretary.
Signed Roy Talbot (Area General
Secretary)
17 Spring Lane, Flore,
Northamptonshire. NN7 4LS
Future dates for your Diary
Area Quiz – Saturday 27th March 2010
We are staying with the pub quiz format and Nick Price has once again volunteered to be Quizmaster. The event will commence at 7:30pm at the usual venue, Moulton Village Hall in Pound Lane. Entry is free and there is a licensed bar. It was a capacity crowd again last year, please join in and support this event; up to three teams may be entered per Group. For further information please contact your Group Secretary or Steve Sayers
Corby Walking Festival - B/H w/e Sat 1 - Mon 3 May 2010 and Waendel Walking w/e 7th - 9th May
You may recall that the first Corby Walking Festival was held over the same Bank Holiday period this year and our Area fully supported it with a promotional stand on the Saturday and by leading walks on all three days.
It was anticipated that this would be the first of an on-going annual event and indeed planning is now taking place to hold the second which it is hoped will be bigger and better than before. The format will be the same with an 'open' day for all the family on the Saturday at East Carlton Country Park and an extensive walks programme catering for all abilities. We are involved in the planning and propose to again give it our full support, including providing walk leaders.
This Item is by way of advance notice for your diary should you be interested in participating and fuller details will be given in the April Newsletter.
We are also liaising with a representative of Wellingborough Borough Council, organisers of the Waendel Walking weekend, to see what kind of an involvement we could have with that event next year to our mutual benefit. David Craddock
Northamptonshire County Boundary walk between May and August 2010
Look out for future details of this walk on the
Northampton Group web site or contact Chris Eilbeck. This walk will start from
Kings Sutton and will take place over some of the Bank Holiday weekends in 2010
.
Campaign issues -Claim for restoration of 'missing link' at LilfordArea
Rally - Wednesday 9 June 2010
Those of you with long memories will recall that in June 2007 we held a rally at Lilford to promote our cause for restoration of a 'missing link' in the rights of way network at Lilford, whilst in this years' April Newsletter we asked for anyone who may have used the path to come forward and complete forms to provide 'evidence of use'. A good number of you did so for which we are extremely grateful.
In the meantime Will Lovell, our Countryside Secretary, has assiduously continued his research to try and find documentary proof that the 'missing link' has indeed always been there but has never been claimed in modern times as a right of way. This research has been painstaking, involving visits to the County Records Office in Northampton, the British Library at St. Pancras, London and the National Archives at Kew.
Will now believes he has identified sufficient material, some of it dating back to the 1770's, to make a claim for the link to be restored by means of a Definitive Map Modification Order, using this historical evidence and also our user evidence in support of the case. By the time you read this our claim is likely to have been submitted.
Although there is still a long way to go this is
a tremendous breakthrough and is testimony to Will's hard work and tenacity. To
mark this significant development and to showcase what a huge improvement
restoration of the link will bring to the rights of way network, including scope
for a vastly better route for the Nene Way, Area is organising a rally on
Wednesday 9 June next year, in the shape of two or three walks of various
lengths, starting at Barnwell Country Park and with an end or mid-point at
Wadenhoe.
Full details will follow in the April Newsletter but in the meantime please make
a note in your diary now to support this event which Groups are being asked to
put exclusively on their respective programmes. Thank you
Regarding the other campaigns covering Daventry, Pitsford and Yardley Chase; for the moment there is little progress to report in respect of the first two but time consuming research work is still continuing in respect of Yardley Chase. David Craddock
Mailing Service for Group programmes
If you would like to receive walk programmes for all Groups in our Area for the following year please send 3 stamped addressed envelopes (4 if you also want those for the Daventry Group) to Josephine Pettifer, 40 Roberts Street, Wellingborough NN8 3HY. Please write on the back of the envelopes which Groups' Programmes you require.
Please send contributions for the April Newsletter to Joy at 01604 585419 joy.tripp@hotmail.co.uk by the 2nd week of March.
Back to Home page