East Cheshire Ramblers

Monday 20 Apr 26 Committee Meeting 20th April 2026

Meeting at 13:00

Location Macclesfield Tennis Club

Agenda

EAST CHESHIRE RAMBLERS COMMITTEE MEETING 20th April 2026 at 1.00pm Macclesfield Tennis Club, Learning Zone Campus Park Lane Macclesfield SK11 8LF    Meeting called by Maggie Swindells

Attendees	Maggie Swindells	Chair Chair
	Margaret Kemble	Treasurer
	Steve Hull	Secretary
	Anne Ball	Membership Secretary
	Jennefer Mellor	Social Media Secretary
	Louise Whitaker	Footpath Secretary
	Gina Thompson	Social Secretary
	Jeremy Barnett	Committee Member
	Melanie Davy	Committee Member
	Richard Higham	Committee Member
	Terry Pritchard	Committee Member

1.	Apologies and welcome
2.	Minutes of Last Meeting
3.	Matters Arising from the last meeting
4.	Walk Programme
5.	Reports from Officers
5.1	Chair
5.2	Treasurer Report
5.3	Footpath Secretary Report
5.4	Membership Secretary Report
5.5	Social Secretary Report
5.6	Social Media Report
6.	Footpath Maintenance
6.1	Recruitment of New Team Leader
6.2	Storage and/or Disposal of Equipment Currently Held by Brian Richardson
7.	Website
8.	Email and Security
9.	Data Protection
10.	AOB
11.	Future Meeting Dates - 13th July 28th September 2026. AGM 28th November

To be followed by a demonstration and discussion of the latest website.

Reports

Contents

Report 1 Chair. 2

Report 2 Treasurer. 6

Report 3 Footpath Secretary. 7

Report 4 Membership. 8

Report 5 Social Secretary. 9

Report 7 Social Media. 10

Notes of Website Meeting 2^nd April 14

Hub Exploratory Meeting Notes. 18

Cheshire Hub Exploratory Meeting. 21

 

Report 1 Chair

prepared by Maggie Swindells

WEBSITE

A huge amount of progress has made on ECRs new website over the past three weeks. The new site will go ‘live’ on the 1^st June. Roger Fielding, who managed the ECR Website for a number of years established our new ‘test site’ when he moved area. However, he suggested in March, after many, many years as a very successful webmaster, that now was the time for ECR to find other volunteers to move it forward.

Roger has left us a great legacy and this has enabled a small group of volunteers to build on his work to establish a vibrant new site for our members. The new site will allow us to reduce admin time and provide access for members to a range of new online options hosted by Ramblers Web.  The website is very much at a ‘work in progress’ stage but over the next few months we will add more content. A huge thank you to all those involved, especially Richard Higham who has given so much of his own time to secure the success of this exciting new venture.

WALKS MANAGER AND EVENTS

The new website automatically imports walks and events from Ramblers Walks Manager. From the 1^st June we will ask all our walk leaders to post their walks using Walks Manager. We will, of course, provide as much help as we can to support this change through training events, written instructions and guides.

We will continue to produce a three-monthly published list of walks which will be emailed to members.

The Social Calendar will now appear in a new format generated through Walks Manager. An overview of events will appear on the home page and further details can be found in the dropdown menu below Social Events and Training. Members will still receive an email with detailed information about the events.

UPDATE FROM RAMBLERS CENTRAL OFFICE

Over the past two years, Ramblers Board of Trustees has been carrying out a comprehensive governance review.  Draft revised Articles of Association, and new Standing Orders, together with an updated proposals document have now been finalised. They have been subject to final legal review by Bates Wells, and this, along with final proof reading and cross‑referencing checks, will ensure they are ready for approval at the Annual General Council in April.  Any minor adjustments arising from these final checks or from member feedback will be incorporated before the documents are published with the AGM papers for the General Council Meeting on the 25^th April. Central Office do not anticipate significant changes.

CHESHIRE EAST AREA

Following the Cheshire East Area AGM, the three Cheshire East Groups, ECR, South Cheshire and Congleton, met in February to engage in a discussion about a proposal raised by Brian Holmes, Vice Chair of North and Mid Cheshire. A number of topics were discussed and I have attached the notes taken at the meeting by Steve Hull for your information.  As no decision has been taken by Central Office about the future role of ‘groups’ or ‘areas’ it was agreed to revisit this issue at a future point in time.

TRAINING PROGRAMME FLYER 2026 – DATES AND TIMES BELOW

FIRST AID

A basic first aid training course, provided by a registered trainer, with an emphasis on keeping safe in the outdoors was provided in February. All participants received a first aid certificate and ECR provided this course, normally £40, free to 24 members. 

BASIC MAP READING

This is a practical session designed to provide participants with basic training in Map Reading. It will involve a guided outdoor session using the skills gained during the morning session.

ORDNANCE SURVEY APP TRAINING FOR SMART PHONES AND DEVICES

A practical session designed to help walkers use and apply the features of OS Maps App.

BASIC INTRODUCTION TO LEADING WALKS

A day for members who may wish to consider leading walks. We will cover mandatory training, ensure you’re registered as a volunteer, and provide the support you may need to lead your first walk.  This training day is open to all Ramblers members, including affiliated members, in Cheshire East.

ECR WALK LEADERSHIP ‘Thank You’ DAY

A day to celebrate the contribution ECR Walk Leaders make to our walk programme. As well as lunch and plenty of cake we will introducing Walks Manager, a new way of posting walks and adding walk details.  We will provide an opportunity for Walk Leaders to come together to share their expertise and experience.

TRAINING	WHEN	WHERE	FOR	COST
COMPLETED First Aid	COMPLETED Thursday 5th February	COMPLETED Macclesfield Tennis Club	COMPLETED ECR members	COMPLETED Free
Two Walks Manager Workshops NEW	7th May 10.00 - 12.30 13.30 – 16.00	Macclesfield Tennis Club	ECR Walk Leaders	Free
Walk Leader Training for potential Walk Leader Volunteers	Thursday 11th June 10.00- 16.00	Macclesfield Tennis Club	ECR members, Cheshire East Members and ECR affiliated members	Free
Basic Map Reading	Thursday 9th July 10:00 – 16:00	Macclesfield Tennis Club	ECR members, Cheshire East Members and ECR affiliated members	Free
Ordnance Survey App Training	Tuesday 15th September 10:00 -16:00	Macclesfield Tennis Club	ECR members, Cheshire East Members and ECR affiliated members	Free
ECR Walk Leadership ‘Thank You’ Day	Friday 13th November 10:00 – 16:00	Macclesfield Tennis Club	ECR Walk Leaders	Free

Thanks to everyone involved in running the training programme. It wouldn’t happen without you.

WALK LEADERS

We are still extremely grateful to all our volunteer Walk Leaders. Without them we couldn’t run our extensive programme of walks. As always, we are keen to encourage more members to volunteer for this important role. If you would like to discuss this opportunity in person, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me chair@ramblerseastcheshire.org.uk. We will provide you with lots of support and training.

VOLUNTEER VACANCY – PATH MAINTENANCE COORDINATOR

As you know Brian Richardson who coordinated the footpath maintenance projects retired last November.  He brought his own skills and talents to this volunteer role and we are very grateful for the contribution he made to footpath improvements across Cheshire East.

We have sent a request to members to ask someone to take on this important role.  The advert has stated that the role is a very interesting one but it does not require extensive engineering qualifications. We’re looking for someone who is keen to contribute towards maintaining and improving our wonderful footpath network. A person who is willing to coordinate the work of volunteers and work alongside Cheshire East public rights of way officers. The volunteer role description can be accessed here. 

LONE WALKER POLICY

I have been invited to take part in a discussion about ‘Lone Walkers’ particularly in the context of walk leaders who recce alone and footpath inspectors who usually complete their inspections on their own. Ramblers have yet to confirm a date but I’m grateful to those of you who have provided some ideas to share when the meeting eventually takes place.

My thanks, as always, to all the committee for everything you do for ECRs.

 

Report 2 Treasurer

prepared by Margaret Kemble

1. Overview

The balance of the ECR Unity Bank A/c at 13^th April 2026 = £ 7711.38 Cr. This includes payments for the upcoming trips to Llangollen & Buxton.   

 We have received the 2nd quarterly budget payment from the RA of £325.00.

2. Socials & Holidays

Since the last report, we have had the coach trip to Port Sunlight which had a deficit of £35.00    

 

Report 3 Footpath Secretary

prepared by Louise Whittaker

January to March 2026

FP Committee	Helen Gowing has confirmed she would like to join the FP Committee meeting after being an ‘observer’ at the Feb 26 meeting.
2026 FP Inspections	Tony has allocated and communicated parishes/FPs to FP Inspectors. No recruitment necessary this year – some FP Inspectors have increased the number of paths they inspect.
Parish Boundary Changes	Lot of work!!!! FP Database now updated to accommodate parish boundary changes. CEC are supplying e-files so maps can be printed and issued to those FP Inspectors affected by the changes.
Reduction in PROW Maintenance Officers	Only 2 PROW Maintenance Officers currently Peter Atkinson & Richard Ankers] – reduction from 4. Peter is covering all ECR parishes except for Marton & Eaton. CEC has stated ‘with reduced officers we will have to prioritise issue reports and react accordingly’. Good news – CEC are actively recruiting for 2 new officers.
A54 Crossing	Discussions continue with PROW to improve safety of Gritstone Trail crossing A54.
Maintenance Tools	Keith Fitton from Canal & Rivers Trust is able to use some of ECRs old maintenance tools and has collected them. He says they will be put to good use in Poynton.
Meetings Attended	·         Area FP Committee Feb/March 2026. ·         CEC PROW Consultative meeting on 18th March 2026 [Gillian & Neil].
Meetings Pending	·         Meeting with Peter Atkinson [PROW Maintenance Officer] 30th April 26 to discuss problem footpaths particularly those classified as ‘D’.

LW 12^th April 2026

 

Report 4 Membership

prepared by Anne Ball

Membership Numbers

At 12 April 2026 we have 593 members and 26 affiliate members, a total of 619 on the ECR membership list compared with 620 in January.

Volunteer Numbers

We currently have 147 members who fill 217 volunteer roles with East Cheshire Ramblers. These include leading walks, compiling walk programmes, footpath inspection, footpath maintenance and helping with the website.

Walk Leaders

At 2 March 2026, any Walk Leaders who had not completed the leadership requirements were removed from the register of Ramblers Walk Leaders.  Only leaders who have completed the Walk Leader leadership requirements are covered by Ramblers insurance and are certified to lead Ramblers groups walks.

If there are any members who previously led walks who would like to have their roles reinstated, they can contact the Membership Secretary who can re-register them as volunteers. Once re-registered, they will have eight weeks to confirm that they have a relevant qualification or to complete the training modules.  (Having led 12 walks over 3 years will no longer be accepted).

We now have 102 Walk Leaders validated to lead walks.  This includes one new Walk Leader who has volunteered and completed the walk leader training modules online since the new system was introduced.

Walk Coordinators are kept updated with any changes in the list of validated Walk Leaders and should only ask those on that list for offers of walks.

A Walk Leader training workshop has been scheduled for Thursday 11^th  June  for anybody who is interested in finding out about leading walks. The session will cover the mandatory leader training, which qualifies participants to lead walks but there is no obligation to do so.

 

Report 5 Social Secretary

prepared by Gina Thompson

Unfortunately, I have to report the first cancellation I have encountered. Ray Perry evening 6th February had to be cancelled through lack of numbers, this was despite his previous talk being very popular and people asking for his return.

Moving on PORT SUNLIGHT trip 27th March was a great success, our first time using Golden Green Coaches (it would have been unaffordable with Roy McCarthy) they looked after us very well with a good coach and lovely lady driver Wendy. The walking guides who led us around Port Sunlight were extremely interesting we then had plenty of time to lunch, visit Lady Lever Art Gallery or the Museum. Many thanks to Lorraine whose suggestion this was although she was unable to attend.

Coming Up:

Three Peaks Challenge 17th- 19th April organised by Richard Higham me@richyhigham.uk

Curry Night at Potyo Wilmslow 29th April organised by Andy Davies sliponmeslipper@hotmail.com

Thank you Richard and Andy for organising these events!

Llangollen Coach Trip Saturday 9th May organised by Gina Thompson sossececr@gmail.com

Offering 4 led walks:

Anne Ball to lead linear long walk of 11 miles from Horseshoe Pass

Ann Thompson to lead linear 9 mile walk also from Horseshoe Pass

Maggie Swindells & Gina Thompson to lead short walk of 6.5 -7 miles with optional climb

Denise Hutchinson to lead stroller walk of 4 miles.

We currently have 20 places left to fill information has gone out and a second notification has been sent.

Thank you Anne, Ann, Denise and Maggie for leading these walks!

We are looking for a backup venue as sometimes we cannot get the dates we need at Macclesfield Tennis Club. If anyone can suggest a suitable venue at a reasonable price, please get in touch with me Gina Thompson sossececr@gmail.com

If you have an idea or would like to organise an event, please get in touch with me as above

Report 7 Social Media

prepared by Jennie Mellor

A reduction in figures compared to the last quarter, however Facebook reported: Views data affected for 1-4 April 2026 From 1 to 4 April 2026, views data may be undercounted due to a temporary reporting issue. Actual content distribution was not affected. The issue has been resolved, but data for this period may not fully reflect actual performance.

PERFORMANCE 10 March 2026 to 6 April 2026

 

CONTENT OVERVIEW   10 March 2026 to 6 April 2026

 

INTERACTIONS   10 March 2026 to 6 April 2026

 

FOLLOWERS   10 March 2026 to 6 April 2026

TOP CONTENT FORMATS   10 March 2026 to 6 April 2026

Quite a significant reduction in this quarter – however figures may not be accurate!

Notes of Website Meeting 2^nd April

prepared by Steve Hull and Maggie Swindells

Present

Maggie Swindells (MS)

Jennie Mellor (JM)

Anne Ball (AB)

Steve Hull (SH)

Richard Higham (RH)

1. Advert for volunteer

Agreed that we do not need to advertise at present. MS has contacted James Rooney about what help he could provide us with, but there is no need to pursue this avenue further at present.

2. Feedback from NMC and website development

SH reported that he has made contact with John Cresswell (JC) at NMC. Brian Holmes also mentioned David Stearne, but said that he is probably not available at present. JC is willing to provide information to us. RH and SH to arrange a meeting with him to discuss what we are looking for. The meeting will hopefully be by Teams (or possibly Zoom).

Roger Fielding (RF) has provided some password to access our current Wordpress and Joomla sites. RF is now willing to hand over the website work to us as a group.

We discussed how walks would be input into our system in future. There was agreement that this would be done by direct entry into Walks Manager (WM) by walk leaders, but that in the first place there would be an option to use a variation on our current notice board system for those who did not feel competent to use WM without further training.

JM wondered how information would be put on to Facebook and Instagram in future. RH suggested a ‘social media portal’. RH and JM will meet via zoom to discuss Richards suggestion for a social media portal. JM was concerned about security.

We looked at several website systems: the current ECR Wordpress system; the Joomla site as developed by RF; the NMC operational system. The NMC system has many of the features which we need. Hopefully we can cherry pick the ones that we want into our own Joomla system.

We had a long, but productive, discussion of how we could transition to a Joomla website from the current Wordpress based site. RH proposed that the transition should be gradual. In the first instance the Joomla site would only be used for input of walks to WM. There would be a seamless interface between the two sites and functionality would be gradually transferred to Joomla. RH to investigate. The go live date for the first stage was set as 1^st June.

AB said that better instructions were needed for using WM. It was decided to ask a small group of users to test input of walks into WM. The walks input would all be for a fictitious Friday date so that they could easily be deleted. It was proposed that the following leaders be asked to test input into WM: AB, SH, Terry Pritchard, Denise Hutchinson, Gina Thompson, Rob Jackson.

3. Webmail addresses/Google Workspace and appropriate instructions

MS circulated a list of proposed ECR mail addresses using a group licence for Office365. RH said that we could have up to 300 addresses for free provided the people were all registered volunteers. RH explained that there were two types of address: a personal named address and a role address (e.g. chair, secretary, walk coordinator). The role addresses would be assigned to the individuals currently filling the particular roles.

RH set several of us up with our personal addresses, but the system is not yet ready to go live.

4. Information we will require from Roger to access admin rights for Joomla

MS circulated a list of passwords that she had received from RF.

5. AOB

MS said that in future we should ignore the email marketing permission flag on the Ramblers database since none of our emails contained marketing. SH said the only likely marketing in our emails was in the form of links to sites such as restaurant menus. RH thought this did not constitute marketing. SH to investigate how to add the extra addresses into our Mailchimp database.

JM and SH agreed to meet to discuss how we use Mailchimp.

6. Next Steps

MS proposed that we meet again as a group in early May.

RH to look at tying the Wordpress and Joomla websites together.

MS said she would send out a series of emails to members (walk leaders?) to update them on progress with the website and the transition to using WM. The date for going live with WM was set as 1^st June.

RH and SH to arrange a meeting with JC to discuss how he could help us. RH and SH to decide what we need to ask JC.

Timing Scale

Notifications	Draft notifications When do we send them out?	MS	W/B 6th April
Walks Manager Instructions	Draft Walk Manager Instructions for: New User check list Use of ECR Template check list Use of ECR Template with pictures	MS/AB/JM	Completed by 20th April??
Video Instructions	Need new ‘Home’ page for this	MS/RH	Date?
Instructions Test Group	Send instructions to identified group for testing	MS	W/B 27th April?
Walks Manager	Walks Manager ‘live’ on new website	RH	Date?
Link to ‘old ECR website’	Embed links on new website to old ECR website for all aspects apart from Walks Manager	RH	Date?
Improve Joomla home page	New picture and logo Can the tabs on Joomla mimic the tabs on ECR so members know where to find things? i.e. if the was a tab on Joomla for Social events it would take members to that page on ECR?	RH	Date?
Design of new website	Meeting via Teams – date/s to be arranged	RH	TBC
Social Media Portal	JM and RH to meet
Training for WM	TBC if required	MS/AB	TBC
Meeting with NMC	SH RH to speak to NMC about which aspects we need help with		TBC
Emails	Discuss with committee		20/04/26

 

Hub Exploratory Meeting Notes

prepared by Steve Hull

Meeting held at Frodsham 16^th February attended by Neil Collie and Steve Hull on behalf of ECR.

We felt that a lot of time was spent talking about things that were interesting but not about whether a hub was needed, what it should do and how to set it up.

1.  Welcome and participant introductions

There were 8 people at the meeting. Jean Holdcroft of the Congleton Group sent her apologies. Anton Woolford of North and Mid Cheshire Area will produce a summary of the meeting.

2.  Outline of Area / Group structures and mode of operation

The somewhat complex organisation of the other two areas was explained. There was general bewilderment as to how the other areas operated – everyone thought their way was best.

NMC is particularly complicated and appears much more coherent as an area than the others. There is a group which runs walks as we know them, but there is a very heavy emphasis on coach trips. They run a booking system for walks and many of their walks are over-subscribed.

It was less clear how the Merseyside area operates, but probably somewhere between our area and NMC. They organise 'public' rambles based where possible on public transport, but the walks are open to non-members.

South Cheshire organise car shares to walks.

Neil explained the history behind the ‘ghost’ Cheshire East area.

3.  Activities and achievements that might be of interest to other Areas / Groups

Cheshire Walkers issue a weekly newsletter via Mailchimp. They also allow leaders to input walks directly into Walks Manager without the need for further checking.

There was much discussion about how walks were run. In particular the issue of whether back markers needed to be registered leaders. Some groups require risk assessments and a lot more information has to be provided by leaders. Also, the necessity for walks to be recce’d was raised; it was generally felt that they did, but there were exceptions such as for weekends away. Some groups have various WhatsApp groups for leaders. We are exceptional in having multiple walk coordinators for different walk programmes.

We did not get a chance to raise all of the issues listed by Maggie, but most of them were covered elsewhere.

Other groups/areas are less keen on using social media than ECR (for reasons that were not clear to me). The feeling is that putting walks on the national website is a better means of attracting new members.

4.  Ramblers Leader Training compliance / experience and any considerations

Leader training has gone well in all areas. Lists of leaders have been pruned by removing people who no longer lead.

There is the usual problem of recruiting walk leaders. NMC have problems getting leaders for shorter walks.

5.  Issues experienced that other Areas / Groups may have addressed or can contribute to

We raised the issue of First Aid training. NMC seem to be having difficulties in getting central funding for this.

NMC also need more funding from Central Office, but it was unclear (apart from training) what they wanted the money for.

NMC would be happy to discuss their website with us.

6.  Possible activities for future collaboration

By the time we got to this item it was getting close to 9 o’clock and Neil had to be very firm to get footpath matters discussed at all. ECR appears to have the best organised system of anyone. Some people did not see why they should be doing footpath work in their own patches as most of their walks are outside their areas. NMC do not have footpath wardens.

We can see why they don’t look to collaboration across Cheshire in dealing with highway authorities as some areas have to deal with multiple authorities (Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Halton, Warrington, Merseyside).

7.  Book publication - Ramblers in Merseyside, West Cheshire and part North Wales

This was taken out of order. Merseyside have produced a very slim book at a cost of £15.

8.  Representation made to Ramblers 2025 Governance Review

Again, this was raised as time was running out. It is clear that NMC don’t like the proposals for reorganisation of groups and areas. Brian felt that the issue was being kicked down the road. I got the impression that he hopes it might eventually be abandoned altogether.

9.  Possible joint future representation to Ramblers 2026 Area and Groups Governance Review

Brian wanted to develop a unified response to the Governance Review as he thought that our combined views would have a greater weight than that of individual areas. The most important thing he is concerned about is that NMC area might be abolished. This is not the most pressing issue for ECR. Trevor Park thought it would be good to have a joint representation.

10.  Review of meeting (questionnaire) and consideration of any further follow-up 

A paper questionnaire was handed round at the end of the meeting.

Future meetings were left up in the air. The initial proposal was for 4 meetings a year, that was whittled down to 2 and finally to 1. It was generally agreed that the next meeting would not be before the April AGM when the proposals might become final. Brian said that if we have another meeting the agenda needs to be more tightly controlled.

 

Cheshire Hub Exploratory Meeting

Received from Brian Holmes (NMC Area vice chair)

Summary notes of meeting

Present: Brian Holmes - NMC Area Vice Chair (Chairing), Anton Woolford - NMC Area Chair, Julie McCarthy - Cheshire Walkers Chair, Nigel Bird - Merseyside and West Cheshire Chair, Peter Marshall – Cestrians Chair, Neil Collie – East Cheshire Footpath Officer, Steve Hull – East Cheshire Secretary, Trevor Park – South Cheshire Chair.

Apologies: Jean Handscombe – Congleton Chair, Sue Richardson – Warrington Secretary.

The meeting was well received and generally agreed further networking meetings would be useful. Considerable interest in activities and experiences of others and each left with ideas to consider. Mixed views on interval between meetings - one or two per year. Agreed NMC Area co-ordinate and host next meeting at Frodsham timed in line with Ramblers Area and Group Governance Review considerations.

Next meeting agenda to be more focused topic based but with time for idea sharing and general discussion. Invitations to representatives of each Area and Group together with officers relating to selected topics. Emphasis should be on best practice sharing.

Area / Group Structure

Cestrians within Merseyside and West Cheshire (together with Wirral, Liverpool, Liverpool Young Walker, Southport, St Helens, Flexi Group - public transport based and not necessarily Ramblers members)

East Cheshire, Congleton and South Cheshire operating independently within a virtual Area set up to meet Ramblers requirements since formal Area structure dissolved in 2001. (Rotating chair from each Group plus Secretary and Treasurer)

North and Mid Cheshire Area with three integrated Sunday Coach Groups – Vale Royal and Knutsford, Halton and Warrington and Cheshire Walkers operating independently with weekend walks. Has undertaken a recent formal consultation on relationship between Groups and Area. Further detail as submitted prior to meeting – as circulated.

Discussion on Activity

Leader Training: – Ramblers registration.  All groups have successfully got walk leaders trained and registered and do not anticipate any issues for walks programmes. Feeling exercise has raised consciousness of leaders and generally raised standards. Has also served as a bit of a spring clean of leader base. Generally felt leaders now set a high bar of delivery.  EC - 100 leaders (80 leaders / 100 regular wallkers?). Wirral Group – 98 leaders.  NMC Area Walks Programme - 40 leaders. Cestrians - 24. EC holds annual social leader event with a training element. One Group holds social event for leaders to explore leading. Several promote leadership through bespoke support by an experienced leader. CW has a What’s App group for leaders to informally express views and exchange experience.

Ramblers Governance: Mixed views on additional joint input statement to Ramblers Governance Review but sharing understanding and Area positions would be helpful in preparing future individual Area input.

NMC website: NMC operates own comprehensive walks website and booking system. File of printed Website and booking system communications together with guidance documents circulated. Interest shown in learning more about the technical capability.

Walks submission: CW leaders submit walks direct to Walks Manager and published by the leader without requiring second authorisation. NMC Area walks submitted directly by experienced leader to own site and then Walk Co-ordinator uploads to WM. Other Groups require Walks Co-ordinator authorisation.

Recce: CW and EC require recce prior to walk. CW committee review risk assessments. MWC expects recce to have been undertaken.

Medical needs: One Group holds an annual meeting of Walk Co-ordinators to discuss care and handling of walk participants with special medical needs.

W3W: Several Groups use w3w for start point identification. Automatically calculated on Walks Manager.  Several members have App to advise location to emergency service. Question about free to use or fee for some services?

Communications: CW use Instagram and Facebook productively. MWC use Facebook but had to set up new account after access to previous one lost. CW use weekly electronic newsletter to communicate with all signed up members. NMC Coach Groups have had success with attracting walkers through Facebook and run What’s App. Most get visitors from national programme but few become regular.

Footpaths: EC has 40 Footpath Inspectors and undertakes an annual survey of all footpaths in area.

Car Sharing: SC promotes car sharing, usually starting from one of three locations around Nantwich.

Holidays: SC - 3 organised trips away in UK and abroad each year. C – 3/5 trips away each year. MWC own a cabin in north Wales. C have supported another Ramblers Group staying in locality. CE have used services of local Group when visiting Cornwall. NMC have Keswick based walking week.  CW organise 4/5 weekends away each year.

Issues: NMC raised three areas of interest to explore: recruiting leaders for more leisurely level of walking, managing over-subscription of some walks and securing additional funding to deliver comprehensive training programme. One Group has had success holding a social event for members to explore leadership. Bespoke support for potential new leaders is key. Funding is not an issue for most Groups. Some receive funds from Ramble Holidays. A couple of Groups operate two bank accounts, one self-funded for holidays etc. Some Groups handle larger numbers by appointing co-leaders and back-markers. NMC also developing but some leaders still prefer to restrict total numbers.

Book: Produced by members of MWC gives interesting insight to the role played in the area to the formation of the Ramblers. Book available and will be promoted shortly (£15).

Next Step: NMC to coordinate and host next Cheshire Hub Meeting at Frodsham in approximately six months.

(Notes taken by Brian Holmes and Anton Woolford)

Minutes

Present
Maggie Swindells	MS	Chair
Steve Hull	SH	Secretary
Margaret Kemble	MK	Treasurer
Anne Ball	AB	Membership Secretary
Gina Thompson	GT	Social Secretary
Louise Whittaker	LW	Footpath Secretary
Jennefer Mellor	JM	Social Media
Jeremy Barnett	JB	Committee Member
Melanie Davy	MD	Committee Member
Terry Pritchard	TP	Committee Member
Richard Higham	RH	Committee Member

1.	Apologies
	None
2	Minutes of Last Meeting - approved
2.1	No comments received
3	Matters arising from last meeting
3.1	None
4	Walk Programme
4.1	No discussion
5	Reports from Officers
5.0	MS asked that reports from officers be taken as read to allow more time for discussion of the new website and Walks Manager after the meeting.
5.1	Chair – Refer report
5.2	Treasurer - Refer Report
5.3	Footpath Secretary - Refer report
5.4	Membership Secretary - Refer Report
5.5	Social Secretary - Refer Report
5.6	Social Media - Refer Report
6	FOOTPATH MAINTENANCE
6.1	Roger Jubb has agreed to be the contact point for Footpath Maintenance with help from Nick Wild and Chris Munslow. AB will register Roger in the volunteer role of Footpath Team Leader. The expectation is that future footpath maintenance will be ‘slow and steady’ rather than involving large projects.	Action AB
6.2	MS said that the issue of storage and disposal of equipment held by Brian Richardson had been resolved.
7	WEBSITE
7.1	MS thanked Roger Fielding for his many years of looking after our website. She was pleased that RH had taken on the job of getting our new website up and running and thanked him for his hard work in doing so.
7.2	MS demonstrated the new website and there was a general discussion on the facilities it offered. RH said that the aim was to go live with the new site on 1st June, at which point the existing system would be switched off.
7.3	The main immediate impact of the new website will be that in future walk leaders will enter details of their walks directly into Walks Manager instead of using the notice board. This will cut out much double handling of data by the current team, although walks will still need to be approved by the team before being visible on the website. To make this transition easier, documentation and a video about how to use Walks Manager are being produced. There are also two training sessions for walk leaders planned for 7th May.
8	EMAIL AND SECURITY
8.1	RH said that he had obtained a free licence for up to 300 users for various Microsoft applications. The users must all be registered Ramblers volunteers. The applications include Mail, Teams and Word. Some committee members already have access to this system. The immediate impact of this is that we have moved from officers having set up their own emails for their roles to all officers having ‘ramblerseastcheshire.org.uk’ addresses accessed through Outlook and which can be easily transferred when a new volunteer takes on a particular role.
8.2	MS will provide user names and passwords to committee members who do not already have them and to other volunteers who need them quickly.	Action MS
9.	Data Protection
9.1	LW said that the footpath committee needed to ensure they complied with GDPR.	Action LW
10.	AOB
10.1	LW said that it was not within the remit of the footpath committee to arrange memorial signposts for members, although she was currently helping a member on a personal basis.
10.2	JB thanked RH for organising the recent very successful 3 Peaks Weekend, and this was concurred with by the whole committee.
10.3	GT said that she was looking at alternative venues for our events as the Tennis Club was becoming quite expensive and could sometimes be difficult to book. It was agreed that any alternative venue would need suitable parking and catering facilities.	Action GT
10.4	TP expressed concern that leaders could sometimes get to the start of a walk and find that no people, or very few, had turned up. MS said that leaders could always ask members to book for a walk when posting it on the website. RH said that the new website could be adapted to include a booking system for walks, but it was not proposed to do so at present. MS said that we would delay a decision on this.
11	Meeting Dates
11.1	Committee meetings for 2026 were provisionally set for the following dates: Monday 13th July Monday 28th September The 2026 AGM was provisionally scheduled for Saturday 28th November. MS asked that all future bookings for the Tennis Club should go through GT to avoid confusion.	Action GT

Meeting Ended: 3.25pm

The meeting was followed by an informal demonstration and discussion of the latest progress on the new Joomla website.

Group: East Cheshire Group