Twenty-one members were present and there were apologies from: Monica Hills, Jackie Oversby, Liz Hewitt, Ken Turner, Catherine Breen, Jim and Jean Arnott, Lesley Turner, John and Pauline Illenden, Jean Hall and Malcolm Iosson.
Minutes of the 2020 agm, proposed by Paul Townson and seconded by Marian Waters, were approved
Reports from various committee members had been submitted electronically to the meeting:
Chairman - John Oversby
Welcome to our face to face AGM, after nearly two years arising from Covid-19 regulations. You will hear from the reports tonight, which are on the website, that we have managed to keep the Mid-Berks activities going rather well, in spite of the Health & Safety measures we have had to introduce. The booking system has worked very well, through the website, and thanks must be made to Rita and Mike R for their excellent organisation of this central part of Ramblers Programme activity. Marian has kept our finances in order, especially in respect of the holidays, being on and then off, working so well with Maggie. Brian's website is excellent, keeping us in touch, although his footpaths section has been much diminished as the pandemic took hold. Under the management of Mike R, our ever changing membership details have been kept in order, enabling us to communicate with members via email, as far as possible. Mike C has settled well into the Secretary's role, so thanks to him for taking up that responsibility. Health and Safety has been a challenge, with pre-booking and limitations on walk numbers, and I am pleased that Shirley has taken on that area of responsibility now. Rather unusually, our committee membership has been quite stable which has contributed to our successes. Our Walk Leaders, as we started up a new programme, have been wonderful, although, as expected, we have lost some along the way. We need to recruit more! Thanks go to Paul for his organisation of social events under difficult circumstances. Finally, in this section, welcome to our new members, and, sadly, goodbye to those we have lost. I have edited a couple of newsletters, which have been placed on the website. Many thanks to those who contributed. I have also taken on the role of the Area Committee Chair, and I have been strongly supported by the delegates and by the Region Co-ordinator. Keeping everyone safe has been a major task of the Area Committee, but I am hopeful that Area activity will expand as we move to a new normal.
Finance - Marian Waters
Statement of Current Accounts
Two Bank Accounts are managed on behalf of the group’s members. The Unity Trust Bank Account is for expenses incurred for the group to do with walks, programmes and distribution of same, also AGM expenses and the promotion of walking. The Lloyds Bank Account is our holiday account for all the transactions to do with the group’s holidays.
The Balances are: 2021 2020
Unity Trust Bank 969.25 987.24
Lloyds Account 1,483.01 2.110.32
£ 2,452.26 £3,088.56
Head Office allocates an amount based on the number of members to go to each group every year. This coming year our allocation has been waived as we have sufficient funds in the account. In 2020 we received £296.
The Financial Statement for Unity Trust Bank is attached
The amount in the holiday account at Lloyds is made up of receipts and payments in the year to do with holidays. The remaining balances on the account are:
-Holme Lacy £769 being expenses paid out in October for walk leaders’ expenses and a hotel tip.
-St Ives in March 2022 -£300 being the deposit paid to the hotel
-Gunton Hall in Lowestoft in October 2022 being deposits of n£230 from members.
The remaining unallocated balance on the account is £784.01. £180.69 of which is a head office adjustment from when the account was set up years ago.
Marian Waters
Group Treasurer
October 2021
Membership – Mike Ryall
Mid-Berks membership for October 2021 - 198
New members since January 2021 - 13
The number of members who have left the group over the last year is difficult to determine as the database will only allow viewing for the last three months, but there has been a significant number who have left for various reasons over the last year. Considering that we have had a good intake over the last year or two and the membership at the last AGM was 203, we have had a steady turnover and slow decline in membership. We have had a difficult period since the start of the epidemic where initially walking in groups was completely curtailed and, even though the pandemic is still very much with us, vaccination has allowed us to be safer because the severity of the disease for many has diminished allowing us to continue with group walks subject to some precautions. Some vulnerable people, however, still have to be very careful and may be reluctant or unable to participate. A noticeable serious issue which seems to be prevalent among all of Ramblers groups is the lack of walk leaders which puts our walking programme in jeopardy and also means increased pressure on remaining walk leaders and organisers. We are extremely grateful to the walk leaders who have responded and provided additional walks so far but the only real solution is to try to recruit more walk leaders to relieve the pressure. Additional directives from CO for walk leaders to complete and store risk assessments etc. has had a negative effect on the situation and most groups are asking why this is necessary for a relatively low risk activity where recces will automatically flag up any problems. It would be a great help if other walkers would contribute to providing walks and our existing walk leaders will provide all the necessary support to assist anyone who is prepared to give it a go. Existing walk leaders can help by talking to participating walkers and encouraging them to ‘have a go’.
Walk Programme: All of our walks are now published on the main website and automatically appear on the Mid-Berks website and the Ramblers App. We are currently publishing walks about a month in advance or more if they are available. This is also backed up by sending out copies of the walks by group email to those people who have registered their email addresses. These walks are accessible to other groups so it is not unusual to have people who join the walk from other Ramblers groups or even non-members who would like to try us out. Most walk leaders insist on booking for walks where walkers must contact the leader prior to joining the walk. In this way, using discretion, leaders can limit the number of walkers in a group to a maximum number that they are happy with. This also means that the leader has a list of people attending the walk prior to the walk without having to make the list on the day. Keeping a list for 21 days is still a requirement for Covid tracing. Some walk leaders, however, have reverted to a non-booking system.
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): No updates since 2019
Footpaths – Brian Hackett
Another quiet year as you may expect. My thanks to Jean Hall for finding a blocked footpath to keep me on my toes. We were asked to provide input to the West Berks Council’s next Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) which steers work on the footpath network for the next 10 years or so. There’s a lot of emphasis now on improving access for the less mobile in the community. Reading Borough also asked to comment on how much we use their much smaller network of footpaths. Broadview Farm in Cold Ash, where the landowner has built across the right-of-way and is periodically aggressive to walkers trying to use it, remains a problem. A diversion request has been submitted; both I and West Berks Ramblers have said we will object if this proposal comes up for consideration by West Berks Council. They are currently stalling on how to proceed. The new Area Footpath Secretary resigned before we had chance to meet her. The position remains vacant, I believe.
Website – Brian Hackett
The new-look website seems to be a success, and certainly saves me some work maintaining the walks programme. We’ve added the Newsletter this year, ably written or collated by the Chairman. Other items of interest can be added – just let me know what you would like.
The finances were accepted after being proposed by Maggie Hills and seconded by Margaret Marshall.
Regarding walks, Rita Bintcliffe reported the group had been losing walk leaders and this was making it a struggle to fill a live programme.
This led on to a discussion about risk assessments that walks leaders are expected to do and keep for three years. A number of speakers were strongly opposed to the system. Ali Melabie said there are very few claims involving incidents on walks yet leaders would be bogged down by paperwork, adding ‘the system is crazy.’
Brian Hackett confirmed that dozens of other groups are protesting about the need for these written assessments.
John Oversby said the matter had been raised at Area level but opinions there were divided and no consensus could be reached at the moment. He assured walk leaders he would take up the issue again with the Area committee and represent their views.
However, he counselled the system – which was required by the Ramblers Association insurers – could well be in operation for some time.
Following this debate, committee members were re-elected en bloc.
In any other business Mike Newman urged there should be protests made against parking charges which had been imposed at Windsor Great Park. He said these are now £3 an hour with a £12 maximum. Ali Melabie proposed the matter should be put on the committee’s next agenda.