Guildford Group of the Ramblers' Association.
News
The AGM was held at the Guildford Institute in Guildford on Thursday 13th November 2009.
Besides the business meeting, a comprehensive and entertaining presentation was made by John Baylis on walking in New Zealand.
Elections for the Group's committee resulted in:
Officers
Keith Chesterton - Chair
Phillip Mansley - Secretary
Brian Ross - Treasurer
Chris Cheverst - Footpath Secretary
Pat Camp, Mike Roberts, Metta Baylis
The Chair gave a statistical account of the past year's activities:
This year the total attendance at 1799 compared with 1521 in 2007. This was a record for the Group, exceeding 2004’s 1783. The average attendance was 14.9, above 2007’s 13.8
We are grateful to all our leaders both those who have been leading regularly over the years and the 9 new leaders, who had their 1st go this year.
We ask all those who walk regularly, to take their turn in leading.
It is a pleasure to lead a walk enjoyed by others.
Distances
The walks varied in length between 1.75 miles and 13 miles.
Less than 6 miles: 50 6 to 9.5 miles: 49 10 to 13 miles: 21
There was also 1 Working Party.
Number of Walks
122 (110 in 2006). 1 walk was not recorded, 2 were cancelled from bad weather & 1 working party cancelled from insufficient volunteers. 52 were on weekends (all Sunday bar 7 on Saturdays), 50 on Wednesdays, 4 on other weekdays, 2 on Bank Holidays and 2 on evenings. 100 walks were in Surrey, 2 in Hampshire, 5 in West Sussex, 3 in London & 12 in Dorset (2 weekends away).
14 walks were put on for Guildford’s WalkFest. 80 new walkers came in the WalkFest
Numbers on Walks
The average number on walks was 14.9 (compared to 13.8 in 2006)
The average for weekend walks was 9.7 (9.8 in 2007). There were slightly more on longer walks than on shorter ones.
For midweek walks the average was 21.1 (19.1 in 2007). The longest was 7.5 miles.
The 2 Bank Holiday walks averaged 4.5
The highest attendance was: 45 for Gay & Gordon Mitchell on April 16th
Lunch Stops
Most pub (and café) stops are part of the day’s enjoyment. Some serve excellent food and most give a good welcome to walkers – tho’ pubs busy on Sundays may prefer full meal customers. With the usual cautions on leaders’ different standards, and changes to landlords/managers - below are the recommendations from our leaders.
Specially recommended for excellent food and a good welcome were the Wheatsheaf (Grayswood), Hurtwood Inn (Peaslake), Withies (Compton), Sun (Dunsfold), Cedars (Binsted), Plough (Leigh). These are all old favourites.
Recommended for very good food and good value were: Kings Head (Holmbury St Mary), Bricklayers Arms (Shamley Green), Villagers (Blackheath), William IV (W Horsley), (Seafare (Godalming), Abinger Hatch, Ship (St Catherine’s), Percy Arms (Chilworth), Donkey (Tilford), Stag Inn (Balls Cross)
Suitable walkers’ lunch stop – Bulls Head (Ewhurst), Dukes Head (Brockham), Merry Harriers (Hambledon), Duke of Wellington (E Horsley), Hector’s (Farncombe), The Barn (Newlands Corner), Fairoaks Airport (Chobham), Bockets Farm (nr Leatherhead)
Keith Chesterton
Chair
NOV 2009