Please Contact Me If You Have Anyinput to Share with the Rest of the World

PENRITH GROUP NEWSLETTER

Issue 62 - March 2017

Affiliated to HF Holidays

Please contact me if you have anyinput to share with the rest of the world.

Telephone numbers of our Chairman, Secretary, Membership Secretary and Newsletter Editor are shown at the bottom of this Newsletter. Alternatively please refer to the website for general information.

WALKS AND PROGRAMME

The May to August 2017 programme of walks should be included with this Newsletter, either posted or e-mailed.It has also been input onto the website.Changes to this programme will be flagged up on our Website when they occur. Walks provided as A, B+, B, B/C, C and Strollers should be appropriate to the standard criteria with a description of route and terrain etc.

All members on walks are advised to carry their own “emergency contact details” and a personal “first aid kit”.General advice is thatleaders and walking colleagues will not be obliged to provide or use any other kit. Back markers particularly, but all walkers, should possess and carry a whistle as a signalling device.

Eden Strollers (Shorter Walks) - TheStrollers programme of walks, May to August 2017, is now available and should now be included on the website. The leader situation has improved with more of the Group offering to lead a walk.If you are prepared to give up one of your usual Wednesday walks to support this programme please contact the co-ordinator Janet Upton (017684 80191), for further information.

It was agreed that from January 2017 the Strollers group should be incorporated more formally into Ramblers. This will mean that walkers who have been out with Strollers for three walks will be considered as regular walkers with the group and required to join Ramblers.

Eden Wheel - The final five walks (year 4), numbers 14 to 18, completing the circuit will take place in June / July 2017. Pre-book all walks with Graham Allan – 01768890390 who can also supply the walk brochure.

Recording Details of Walks and Weather from January 2017 - Each walk leader should record the number of people and the weather conditions forecast (having a possible bearing on number of attendees)on their walks starting from January 2017. These details should be sent to the respective walks Coordinator as soon as possible after the walk who will then compile a report to committee.

Start point of walks (re AGM query) - It was agreed at Committee that we would not publish a grid reference for parking at the beginning of a walk on the website, but that it was fine for a walk leader to include a general starting area for the walk on the website as part of the walk title description. It was felt to be appropriate for any walker wishing to meet up at the start point of a walk, rather than the Rugby Club Car Park, to contact the walk leader in advance for precise starting point information.

Safeguarding Policy Update - The main change to our current policy is that, following lengthy consideration, everyone under 18 now needsto be accompanied by a responsible adult, such as a parent, guardian, teacher or youth worker, when they participate in Ramblers walks andother activities. A full copy of the text received from Head Office is at Appendix A at the end of the Newsletter.

WEBSITE

Calling all potential website ‘Wonders’ - Our Group is looking for a volunteer, know-how-savvy, website data manipulator to co-ordinate the daily activities of our Website and establish further development through liaison with the Website Master who was responsible for ‘building’ it. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, then contact our Secretary. Some progress development has been made allowing downloads to be read directly on the website.Colin Gibbs, our webmaster, has stated that there will also soon be a ‘Social’ side to the ‘News’ section, input by the Social Secretariat, and he was keen to include members’ photographs on the website.

RAMBLERS HEAD OFFICE

A reminder that on the Ramblers HO website -there is a “contact us” page showing questions, answers and frequently asked questions. There is also theMembers area in which, once registered, you will be able to update/amend your personal details as well as gain access to the library of Ramblers Routes.

The Big Pathwatch - Last year 3,000 people walking and surveying paths across England and Wales reported what they found. The report of findings has been in the news together with a new Pathwatch campaign. The scale of the challenge now is to repair and maintain all 140,000 miles of rights of way and walkers and appropriate authorities are being asked to pledge support. Read about the state of our paths in The Big Pathwatch report

Online Survey: How to improve support for Ramblers.

Members are invited to complete a national survey individually if they wished, but close date is by March 31st.

SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

HF Week at Church Stretton 2017 - There are 20 people now booked for the week’s holiday in Church Stretton on 3rdApril. Contact Jean or Cathy as there may be space for a couple of extra places. Options are being explored for Spring 2018.

Acorn Bank walk and garden tour on Thursday 11th May - We have the opportunity of a guided tour in the garden at Acorn Bank.

The Gardener can take a group of up to twenty people. The cost will depend on numbers attending but should be around £2; we will collect the payment on the day. If you are a national trust member then you can park and view the house and gardens for free but non members will need to pay an additional £7.The planned Agenda for the day is to meet in the Acorn Bank car park at 10am and have a short walk (3 or 4 miles), followed by a picnic lunch or you can take your chance in the café where we are allowed to reserve up to 12 places. The guided walk starts at 2pm. The house closes at 4pm so depending on the number of questions on the garden tour you may find time to pay a quick visit inside.

Facility Proposed for those without email addresses to request a Special Notice of Events - Jean Bradshaw has advised that the Acorn Bank visit was nearly fully booked. She added that increasing use of emails to advertise such events meant that members who were not on email could miss them, and proposed that such people who wanted special notice of events could contact her by phone or letter and she would arrange for them to receive these updates.

Ullswater SteamerTrip with Fish and Chips Supper– 4th July 2017 – 7pm to 9pm

Once again we have the opportunity to spend the evening,on board the Ullswatersteamer,enjoying a traditional Fish& Chip supper. The date is4th July andthecost of £18.50, includes supper, two hours on the boat and live music.The boat willleave Pooley Bridge at 7pm and returns at about 9pm.This was one of our most enjoyable events of the past few years and a repeat trip wasrequested by several who responded to our recentsurvey.Tickets areon open sale, and aswe were not able to reserve them without payment. It will be first come first served andwe need to have afirm commitment with full,immediate payment.Cheques made payable to Penrith Ramblers and sent to Jean Bradshaw,3 Stagstones Farm, CA11 8SJ, before the end of February.NB - As of original notice date of 19th February there was a tight timescale for booking so check first about availability. Independent bookings are possible subject to seat availability.

Langwathby Station Cafe

The evening meal at the Café last year was a huge success and plans are afoot to repeat the experience in August or September.

Christmas Lunch

Taking account of the results of a survey (copies of results available on request), talking to members and visiting venues, Christmas lunch has been booked at the Roundthorn Hotel for Friday 15 December 2017. The price this year was lower than the North Lakes and it has the flexibility of ordering 2 or 3 courses and not requiring full payment in advance. In addition, members who had attended a Christmas lunch with another organisation at the Roundthorn, had all been complimentary about the food.

Holiday Abroad

Keep your ears to the ground for a possible visit to Italy in September 2018.

GROUP FUNDS

The details of setting up a new “non-charitable’ account for Penrith Rambler Group is in discussion with Area. This would be in addition to the normal account but would enable certain funds to be ring fenced purely for development and subsidy of the Group activities. It was decided in committee that money from the previous book sales would be needed for printing the next book, on the Eden Wheel, which Graham Allan is in the process of writing, and extra money should be earmarked to fund a navigation and a walk leader course.

FOOTPATHS

Orders - Cross Croft, Appleby. Two orders made by Eden DC. One is as agreed, but for the the other we have lodged an objection. The order would close the railway crossing, next to a housing development. The SoS arranged a public inquiry which opened on the 29th November. Initial discussion dwelt upon whether or not the order was capable of confirmation: the Inspector decided not and closed the inquiry. Last month Network Rail applied to the High Court for a judicial review. The path reopened last September having been closed for about a year under a temporary order made by Cumbria CC.

New consultations

Penrith Grammar School playing field - The new proposal for a change in the footpath crossing the Grammar school playing fields in Penrith was discussed and the committee had no objection to it.

Lake District National Park

In November we will be surveying twelve paths for the national park’s ease-of-use surveys.

National Park Extensions

On 1st August the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks were extended. We expect that the national parks will take over responsibility for most rights of way, but Cumbria CC have not formally agreed yet.The Cumbria Local Access Forum will cease to cover the area going into the Yorkshire Dales National Park, so a result the Cumbria and Lake District LAFs are merging.

COUNTRYSIDE

A number of planning applications with little or no significance were reviewed. A couple of paths from new extension to Yorkshire Dales National Park were passed. Footpath Secretary will receive information direct in future.

AREA COUNCIL

Recent AGM - The main feature of the Area AGM was the attendance of the new Ramblers CEO Vanessa Griffith. She gave the impression of knowing the issues in Central Office and doing something about them.She will facilitate discussions to resolve the long standing issues about the Gordon Walker Chalet rebuild.

She emphasised three nationwide issues:a) Network Rail are basically intending to closenearly all footpath level crossings. Ramblers nationwide are working to ensure the best re-routes etc.b) Following Brexit, Central Office fears that wildlife and environment will take preference over access in future funding for the countryside. c) TheEnglish Coastal path may be in danger in some areas but not Cumbria where it is too far on.

Other Items comprised i) Area are working on footpath and pylon issues relating to the New Moorside power station and the new water pipe from Thirlmere to West Cumbria. ii) Integrating the extensions to both National Parks. Iii) Footpath maintenance is suffering due to concentration onflood repairs.

MoD Proposal - Area Council Representatives reported that the MOD has put in a proposal to de-register Common Land at Murton, Hilton and Burton & Warcop. This would mean the land would become MOD property. The Open Spaces Society is concerned about the effect this would have. Although the land would still be subject to the CROW Act and so would in theory still have Open Access, there might well be issues regarding fencing. Investigations will be put in hand to find out if there are grounds for objecting to the scheme.

PARKING at the PENRITH RUGBY CLUB

It was reported that several cars parked at the Rugby Club during a walk had had stickers placed on them questioning the legitimacy of their parking and drawing attention to parking charges.Ian Davidson from the Rugby Club will be contacted about the matter and future avoidance.

TRAINING

Leader Training for Strollers Group

A simplified Leaders and Navigation Course for the new Strollers Leaders will take place ‘in house’ later this year.

Safety on the Fells

Alan Conway from Penrith Mountain Rescue will give a talk about Safety on the Fells on Tuesday evening 13th June. Arrangements are being finalised for this to be a social event with refreshments to follow the talk and questions. Note that the original date, if you heard of it, no longer applies.

MEMBERSHIP

The membership of Penrith Group now stands at 358, helped by the signing up of a number of Strollers.The number of members receiving correspondence by email continues to increase because most new members give an email address and many of those who have left did not have one. We know that several members do have such addresses but we do not have them on our records.

E-mail Addresses

Our group Treasurer reports that, despite continuing improvement, postage cost of mailing is still high and each member is urged to provide their e-mail address for use by the Membership Secretary. To do so simply send an e-mail message, stating ‘please add my name to your e-mail contact list’, to . The mailing ensures that no-one else is privy to your e-mail details

GROUP OFFICERS and COMMITTEE 2016/17

The full list of Officers and Committee are available in the ‘Contact Us’ section of Penrith Ramblers Website.

FUTURE DIARY DATES

Committee meetings in 2017 on Friday 14th July and Thursday 9th November.

AGM on Friday 27th October 2017.

Social activities and other dates specified in relevant (possibly irrelevant) sections.

Chairman: Graham Allan (01768 890390)

Secretary: Sue Marshall (01768 897159)

Membership Secretary: David Dixon (01768 863155)

Newsletter Editor: Harry Upton (017684 80191)

APPENDIX A

UPDATE TO RAMBLERS’ SAFEGUARDING POLICY

We are writing to you as chairs, secretaries and principal contacts of your area or group to let you know that we have made an update to our safeguarding policy. This is to reflect advice from our partner organisations and part of our commitment to continuous review and improvement of our policies and procedures.Our safeguarding policy for children and vulnerable adultsoutlines how children and vulnerable adults can participate in Ramblers activities, the responsibilities of volunteers and what to do if you have concerns.

What changes have been made? - The main change to our current policy is that, following lengthy consideration, everyone under 18 now needs to be accompanied by a responsible adult, such as a parent, guardian, teacher or youth worker, when they participate in Ramblers walks and other activities.At the moment there are no other substantial changes to the policy, though we’ve taken the opportunity to update and clarify some of the language.

What does this mean? - Unaccompanied 15-17 year olds with written parental consent are no longer able to participate in our activities, and the consent cards we previously issued for 15-17-year-olds are no longer valid.

Why have we made this change? - We’ve been advised to introduce this change by Children 1st to ensure we don’t fall into regulated work with children. It simplifies the policy and avoids potential confusion, reducing the risk of harm to everyone who participates in Ramblers activities, and improves support and protection for our volunteers ensuring we comply with the law.

What do you need to do? - Few 15-17-year-olds currently attend Ramblers walks unaccompanied so the change will affect very few groups, areas and individuals. But all groups and areas should be familiar with the safeguarding policy, so please take this opportunity to refresh yourself by visiting the safeguarding volunteer toolkit.

As well as the complete policy, there are separate documents for groups and areas, walk leaders and participants: you only need the one that’s relevant to you.

Please let all relevant volunteers who might need to know about this (eg. walk leaders, membership secretaries, website editors, publicity officers, path team coordinators) know about the change and direct them to the safeguarding volunteer toolkit.

In particular, note that:

•The Ramblers helps everyone enjoy walking, but we can’t take special responsibility or provide special care. We welcome children, young people under 18 and vulnerable adults on all activities that are suitable for them as individuals, so long as they are accompanied by someone responsible for them.

•Walk leaders and other activity organisers have a responsibility towards all participants, and can turn people away if in their judgement the activity is unsuitable.

•Special arrangements apply for activities directly targeted at children, young people or vulnerable adults: please contact the safeguarding officer before organising these.

If unaccompanied 15-17-year-olds regularly attend your walks:

•Let them and their parents/guardians know immediately about the change if you can, including our reasons for making it

•Make sure walk leaders know that all under-18s now need to be accompanied and consent letters and Ramblers consent cards are no longer accepted

•If someone under 18 attends an activity unaccompanied, it’s best for everyone that they do not participate. Do your best to ensure that they are safe, for example by asking for a contact number and making arrangements with a parent or guardian. Under special circumstances, for example, if you are far from the young person’s home and no-one else is available to ensure they can get home safely, you may choose to include them as a one off. In this case: