Our AGM – November 2014

Our AGM was held on Saturday 15th November, 2014 at Macclesfield Tennis Club, and 38 members attended. It was preceded by a 6 mile walk from the Tennis Club, led by Frank Gay, and 27 people enjoyed the walk.

A new venture was held over lunch. Louise Winstanley organised a Bring and Buy walking equipment/clothes sale. The sale raised £69.30 for our Group, and will augment the funding of our Footpath Maintenance Team. Thank you Louise, for all your effort, and members who supported the sale.

Our Chairman, David Gylee retired from the position after 3 years of leading the group, giving valued leadership and guidance. David thanked the many members involved in the running of Ramblers East Cheshire Group in providing a first class service that benefits everyone.

The position of Footpath Secretary remains vacant, but to-date no one has volunteered for this position. The Footpath Committee operate successfully thanks to the many years of knowledge held by the members in footpath matters.

All members of the Committee with the exception of the Chairman stood for re-election and were elected unanimously.

John Edwards was proposed as our new Chairman by Ian Mabon, seconded by Jane Gay. The meeting majority elected John to Chairman.

Next Year’s Budget has been approved by Central Office. Funds for footpath projects and maintenance are available.

The Footpath Maintenance Team led by Brian Richardson has made good progress through the year, and since the start, 123 person day’s attendance with a total of 596 hours being worked.

Membership has declined slightly. However, over the past year, three or four people joined our group each month.

Social programme has been successful, and enjoyed by all who attended the events.

Publicity organised by Roger Norton with the Macclesfield and Wilmslow Express newspapers to publish articles on our walks. Also, thanks to Helen Richardson for co-ordinating the publicity for our walk articles. This publicity has helped to attract new members to our group. Walk articles with a photo are encouraged.

Currently there are insufficient members coming forward to be walk leaders, and the group is addressing this situation.

Ramblers Central Office have issued two documents, “A new governance structure for the Ramblers”, and “The Ramblers: proposals for the next ten years”. Secretary to email these documents to members. Ramblers Central Office is looking for feedback by 31st December 2014, and members are encouraged to respond.

In closing the AGM, Jane Gay on behalf of the Committee and all members presented the outgoing Chairman with a gift to say thank you for his leadership and hard work over the past 3 years. – Well done David.

A walk survey was undertaken for the month of September 2014, and compared with the survey of September 2013. The walks at Patteredale undertaken in September 2013 were excluded to make the two periods comparable. The results are appended this article.
Overall, it was an enjoyable day, and many thanks to Jane and Frank Gay, for leading the walk, and organising the venue, and refreshments

David Bates