MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF
GENERAL COUNCIL HELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER
4th APRIL–6th APRIL 2008
ATTENDANCE LIST
* denotes a member of Council (voter)
PRESIDENT
Chris Smith*
VICE-PRESIDENT
Andrew Bennett*
Geoff Eastwood*
Richard Lloyd-Jones*
Cath MacKay*
Malcolm Petyt*
CHAIRMAN
Kate Ashbrook*
VICE-CHAIRMAN
Ian White*
TREASURER
Denis Fuller*
HONORARY SOLICITOR
Jerry Pearlman*
BOARD OF TRUSTEE MEMBER
Andrew Bibby*
Jo Bird*
Des Coles*
Jacquetta Fewster*
Tom Fisher*
Kate Gocher*
Alison Mitchell*
Terry Pollard*
Brian Reader*
Rodney Whittaker*
Ron Williams*
AGENDA COMMITTEE MEMBER
Elizabeth Lawie*
Eileen Linfoot*
Sylvia Popham*
AVON AREA
Jill Fysh*
David Waterstone*
BEDFORDSHIRE AREA
Christopher Meadows*
BERKSHIRE AREA
Jane Kiely*
Cliff Lambert
John Moules*
BUCKS, MILTON KEYNES & W MIDDX AREA
Tom Berry*
John Esslemont*
John Wainwright
CAMBS & PETERBORO AREA
Roger Coulson
Brian Foster*
Janet Moreton
Roger Moreton*
CORNWALL AREA
Christine James*
Hazel Perham
Graham Ronan
Jane Sloan*
Duncan Thurnell-Read
DERBYSHIRE AREA
Martin Pape*
Carol Shiers
Keith Shiers*
DEVON AREA
George Coles*
Joan Long*
DORSET AREA
Brian Panton
James Scott*
Jan Wardell
Cynthia Whyte*
E YORKS/DERWENT AREA
Malcolm Dixon*
Tom Halstead*
ESSEX AREA
Len Banister*
Mags Hobby*
Colin Jacob
Hazel Jarrold*
FORTH VALLEY, FIFE & TAYSIDE AREA
Chic Nash*
GLAMORGAN AREA
Ian Fraser*
Alex Marshall*
GLOUCESTERSHIRE AREA
Jill Byrne*
Annie Clement*
GRAMPIAN AREA
Anne MacDonald*
HAMPSHIRE AREA
Penny Barncombe
Dorothy Hamiduddin
Sheila Hindshaw
David Law
David Nichols
Owen Plunkett*
Pam Underwood
George Williams*
HEREFORDSHIRE AREA
Sue Jones*
Arthur Lee*
HERTS & N MIDDX AREA
David Dickson*
Norman Jones*
Justin Lumley
HIGHLAND & ISLANDS AREA
Ken Davidson*
Vic Royce*
INNER LONDON AREA
John Archer
Mike Biggs*
Clare Wadd*
ISLE OF WIGHT AREA
Carol Crawford*
Howard Duffus*
KENT AREA
David Law*
Robert Peel*
LAKE DISTRICT AREA
Peter Jones*
Ernie Robin*
LEICS & RUTLAND AREA
Roy Denney*
Karen James
Martin James*
Stan Warren
LINCOLNSHIRE AREA
Stuart Parker*
Colin Smith
Miriam Smith*
Ann Van Spall
Ray Van Spall
LOTHIAN & BORDERS AREA
James Harrower*
Arthur Homan-Elsy*
MANCHESTER & HIGH PEAK AREA
Gloria Gaffney*
Terry Perkins*
MERSEYSIDE & WEST CHESHIRE AREA
Stan Gilroy
Gloria Thayer*
David Wall*
MID LANCASHIRE AREA
David Kelly*
Kevin Matthews*
NORFOLK AREA
Richard May*
Paula Stone*
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE AREA
David Craddock*
Will Lovell*
Maurice Tebbutt
NORTH & MID CHESHIRE AREA
Janice Barker*
John Watkin*
NORTH EAST LANCS AREA
Susan Baxendale*
Jane Donnelly
Christine Harrison
Roger Haythornthwaite
Allan Richards*
NORTHUMBRIA AREA
Ken Hughes*
Rachel Orange*
Paul Roberts
Jonne Robinson
NORTH WALES AREA
Klaus Armstrong*
Max Grant*
NORTH YORKS/S DURHAM AREA
Simon Gotch*
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE AREA
Diane Brandreth
David Hunt*
Andy Perry
Chris Thompson*
OXFORDSHIRE AREA
Patrick Lonergan*
Susan Macguire*
Peter Stone
PEMBROKESHIRE AREA
Chris Morris*
Irene Warlow*
POWYS AREA
Harry Chandler*
Robert Seabrook*
SHROPSHIRE AREA
Trevor Allison*
Vivienne Hodges
William Hodges
Alison Parker*
SOMERSET AREA
Roger Conway*
Mary Henry*
S YORKS/NE DERBY AREA
John Harker*
Neil Schofield*
STAFFORDSHIRE AREA
David Cashmore
Marjorie Cashmore*
Graham Evans*
Harry Scott
STRATHCLYDE, D&G AREA
Jim Lawson*
Barry Pottle*
SUFFOLK AREA
Gordon Leverett*
Neil Mahler*
SURREY AREA
Keith Bagot*
Howard Barrett
Graham Butler
Keith Chesterton*
Denis Holmes*
Connie Norris
John Plympton
Mary Stuart-Jones
Damian Wheeler
SUSSEX AREA
Mike Charman*
Reg Griff
Chris Smith*
WARWICKSHIRE AREA
Michael Bird*
Alan Cumming*
WEST RIDING AREA
Michael Church*
Carl Richman
Christine Stack
Keith Wadd*
WILTS & SWINDON AREA
Joan Crosbee*
Ron Moore*
WORCESTERSHIRE AREA
Peter Wright*
CAMPING & CARAVANNING CLUB
Jim Perry*
Sylvia Perry
DISABLED RAMBLERS ASSOCIATION
John Norris
Rosie Norris*
OPEN SPACES SOCIETY
Donald Lee*
HF HOLIDAYS
Andy Berlyn
David Brooks
Helen Horlock
Keith Horlock*
LONG DISTANCE WALKERS ASSOCIATION
Paul Lawrence*
RAMBLERS ASSOCIATION SERVICES
Clare Bonnick
Elizabeth Evans*
RAMBLERS HOLIDAYS CHARITABLE TRUST
Mavis Rear
RAMBLERS WORLDWIDE HOLIDAYS
Michael Hatch
Tony Maniscalco
GUESTS
David Callan
Helen Johns
Marion Law
Harry Mycock
Angela Parker
Dennis Parker
Nick Price
John Wride
Graham Wright
20’s-30’s
Amanda Bodey
Alison Chant
Rachel Hooke
STAFF
David Abram
Davie Black
Paul Butler
Gwen Campbell
David Carter
Justin Cooke
Lucy Courtney
Emma Daly
Jancy Davies
Janet Davis
Des de Moor
Kathleen Dolan
Tom Franklin
Dan French
Des Garrahan
Richard Granville
Kirsten Hubmann
Richard Jones
Martin Key
Chris Leigh
Adrian Morris
David Murray
Maike Neuhaus
Anwen Parker
Beverley Penney
Sarah Perry
Keith Roberts
Jo Smith
Ruth Somerville
Bruce Sparrow
Eugene Suggett
Fiona Syme
Edward Turner
Simon Waters
Ruth Wembridge
Mariusz Wilczynski
Chris Wingrove
Paul Winslade
Kathryn Wortley
AREA HELPERS
Sharon Benton
Alfred Button
Myra Clare
Ruth Croker
Brian Farncombe
Clive Frankham
Barbara Frost
Colin Hudman
Marilyn James
Claire Jones
Dee Kimbrey
Alan Marlow
Brenda Marlow
Liz McLaren
Andy Nash
John Newham
Gillian Nield
David Nixon
Philip Owens
Evelyn Peckham
Dian Richards
Lynne Shepherd
Stuart Shurlock
James Stringer
Barry Taylor
Gary Taylor
Clive Thompsett
Dale Thomson
Mike Walker
Anne Whitmarsh
Malcolm Wood
1 WELCOME BY OWEN PLUNKETT, HAMPSHIRE AREA CHAIRMAN
1.1 Owen welcomed General Council to Winchester on behalf of Hampshire Area. He spoke about the history, and literary heritage of Winchester and the wider county with its rolling countryside, attractive villages and ancient forests. It offered a wealth of treasures, from unspoilt beaches, glorious gardens and pretty villages to bustling market towns, historic ships and imposing castles. Hampshire was a haven for nature lovers as well as those who simply appreciated beautiful and varied countryside. It therefore came as no surprise that it was the most visited county in the south-east, with around £2.3 billion being spent annually by visitors to the county.
1.2 With over 3,000 miles of footpaths, bridleways and byways, Hampshire’s great variety of countryside offered many different types of walking. The coast, the chalk, the heathlands and the clays differed enormously from one another. As a county, Hampshire had double the average area of woodland, and even outside the forests, trees were an important part of the landscape. The chalk downs were largely the exception to this, with their wide rolling hills. A few large areas of down were preserved, with their distinctive short turf, rich in flowers, and often archaeological interest as well. And of course, the New Forest was a popular area for walking with heaths and woodland of all descriptions. Hampshire’s rivers varied from small brown streams in the New Forest to the Itchen and the Test. Many of the rivers and their estuaries offered wonderful walking, as did the Basingstoke Canal.
1.3 Walkers in Hampshire were fortunate to have more than a dozen long-distance routes, including the South Downs Way, Hangers Way, Test Way, St Swithun’s Way and the Itchen Way, the last having been created by the Eastleigh Group.
1.4 The RA was first established in Hampshire in the 1950s, as the Wessex Area, the first Group being Southampton in 1954. There were now 15 Groups, including Meon and Winchester who recently celebrated their 30th and 40th anniversaries respectively, and two young walkers’ Groups, the Wessex Walkers and the Hampshire 20s and 30s. Hampshire currently had the third largest Area membership with an overall membership of over 5,400.
1.5 3,000 miles of footpaths took a lot of looking after, and the Hampshire RA Footpath Committee worked closely with Hampshire County Council. The latest figures showed that 55% are in good order and 32% need minor repairs. A recent agreement with the county would see the RA more directly involved with problem identification and measurement in this arena in future, hopefully leading to an improvement in the figures.
1.6 According to Hampshire Tourism, one fifth of all visits to Hampshire involved a trip to the New Forest National Park. The South Downs was soon to become Hampshire's second National Park and included the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The RA in Hampshire, and particularly the New Forest Group, played a major role in establishing the New Forest as a National Park, and was currently heavily involved in campaigning for the South Downs National Park. With the reopened inquiry in progress in Worthing, the creation of what would be Hampshire’s second National Park was hopefully very close. There had been a number of public consultations on the issue in recent years and on each occasion the public had shown overwhelming support for the park. The South Downs National Park was likely to be the biggest of the English National Parks, stretching from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east. However there was concern that a large portion, the Western Weald, could be excluded.
1.7 Outside the New Forest the county gained very little access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act. Frustratingly, areas of chalk downland were removed from the map on appeal. However, the welcome dedication of Forest Enterprises estates has since added some significant woodlands to the map.
1.8 The RA in Hampshire was currently involved in protecting countryside from development on four fronts: proposals to build a huge wind-turbine on Butser Hill, one of the highest points in the county; a landing strip, which would cut across a long-distance path; large industrial units in the East Hampshire AONB; and a container port at Dibden Bay, which bordered the original New Forest National Park draft boundary.
1.9 The prospect of coastal access would bring some long-awaited opportunities as well as some big challenges to Hampshire. Of more than 100 miles of coastline, only 60% had public access. Although there was much accessible picturesque coastline along the western Solent and the east of Southampton Water, achieving local consensus to obtain the public access envisaged was clearly going to require some innovative thinking.
2 BRENDA PARKER
2.1 The Chairman reported the sad news that Brenda Parker, who was to have been proposed for Honorary Life Membership at Council, had passed away two weeks ago. The Chairman invited George Williams, previous Chairman of Hampshire Area, to speak to Council about Brenda’s life and achievements.
2.2 In his tribute George said that Brenda had led walks since she moved to Hampshire in 1967. She had been elected to the Hampshire Area Council (then called the Wessex Area) in 1970. In 1972 she had helped to found the North East Hants Group and became their Footpath Secretary. From 1982 until her death, she was either Area Footpath Secretary or part of the Area Footpath Secretariat and she had attended virtually every General Council, either as a delegate or visitor, from 1972 to 2007.
2.3 However, the real value of her work was the inspiration she gave to others, especially with regard to footpath work. As the RA Chairman had said in a message read out at Brenda’s funeral, 'Brenda was the life and soul of the RA in Hampshire for decades, working tirelessly and without complaint to win a better deal for walkers throughout the county. It is thanks to her dedication and commitment that so many people can enjoy excellent walking today in Hampshire and that so many volunteers have been inspired to work with us. We could do with many more Brendas in the RA, and we shall miss her greatly.'
3 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
3.1 Apologies for absence were received from Gwendoline Goddard, Maxwell Ayamba, John Dowding, Alan Mattingly, Paddy Tipping, John Bunting, John and Ivy Alexander, David Grosz, Edgar Ernstbrunner and John Plympton.
3.2 The Chairman reported that John Dowding was seriously ill and said that a card would be sent to him conveying Council’s best wishes.
3.3 In Edgar Ernstbrunner’s absence, Manchester & High Peak Area requested that Gloria Gaffney take his place as a delegate. Council agreed to this request.
4 APPOINTMENT OF TELLERS AND SCRUTINEERS
Tellers: David Nixon, Alan Marlow, Stuart Shurlock, Barbara Frost, Clive Thompsett, Penny Farncombe, Pam Underwood, Dorothy Hamiduddin.
Scrutineers: David Nixon, Stuart Shurlock, Beryl May, Philip Owens, Alfred (Kim) Button, John Newham.
5 NOTIFICATION OF ANY OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business.
6 MINUTES OF GENERAL COUNCIL 2007
It was proposed by Terry Pollard (Board of Trustees) and seconded by David Kelly (Mid Lancashire Area) that the Chairman be authorised to sign the minutes of General Council 2007 as a correct record.
7 REPORT ON ACTIONS TAKEN TO IMPLEMENT MOTIONS PASSED OR REMITTED BY GENERAL COUNCIL 2007
7.1 Chris Thompson (Nottinghamshire Area) commented that Nottinghamshire Area’s motion about a ‘Register of permissive paths’ (motion 3) had been intended to improve the availability of information about permissive paths and access, so enhancing the path network and increasing opportunities to walk. It should have been looked on in that light.
7.2 David Kelly (Mid Lancs Area) said, as a point of information, in respect of ‘Better access to access land’ (motion 6) that one excuse for not using access land was lack of information about access points. Many local authorities seemed to have done little about providing them. David asked if anyone had examples of good practice in that respect.
7.3 John Esslemont (Bucks, Milton Keynes & West Middlesex Area) said that the Board of Trustees had given an assurance that there would be widespread consultation on the issue of ‘Climate change’ (motion 7) but he was concerned that so far there had not been an opportunity for general comment. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, David Murray, Countryside Campaign Manager, said that the General Council workshop on the subject was part of the consultation process and that there would be further opportunity to comment as part of the general review of the RA’s countryside work. Owen Plunkett (Hampshire Area) asked if the RA had joined the coalition group ‘Stop Climate Chaos’ and the Chairman said yes.
7.4 John Harker (South Yorks & NE Derbyshire Area) said that the report in respect of motion 8, ‘Payment of membership fees’, was unintelligible, and asked what it meant. The Chief Executive said that the options were still being considered but that many factors, including the implications for cash flow, had to be considered. At the moment, priority was being given to making sure that the new membership system was working properly.
7.5 Sylvia Popham (Agenda Committee) asked if the Bob Barton ‘Review of led walks’ (motion 10) was available. The Chairman said that copies could be provided on request. Sylvia further commented that it might prove difficult to retain volunteer walk leaders if too much was expected of them in terms of form-filling and pre-walk assessments. For the Board of Trustees, Keith Roberts, Director of Campaigns, said that the report was a great affirmation of led walks as they are presently organised and that the appointment of two new members of staff at Central Office with the specific remit of supporting walks leaders and the led-walk function would mean that the views of walk leaders would be listened to with the object of identifying best practice and encouraging and nurturing the good work which is already taking place.