SUMMARY OF THE THIRTY EIGHTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE MALVERN HILLS DISTRICT
FOOTPATH SOCIETY
Held in Lansdowne Church Hall at 7.30p.m. on Wednesday 23rd March 2011
Fifty-six members plus two guests attended. Sue Hood was re-elected as Chairman. Six other officers were re-elected. Ken & Eileen Allcock joined the General Committee as the new Walks Secretaries and Meryl Cochrane as an Elected Member. Richard Horton subsequently joined the General Committee as the new Publicity Officer. Jim Noon continues as Chairman of the Rights of Way Section, John Allsopp as Chairman of the Survey and Mapping Section and Sybil Heeks as Chairman of the Social Section.
The General Secretary, John Barr, reported that the General Committee had met six times during the year and attendance had been excellent. He went on to say that there was a pressing need to install a replacement Publicity Officer as the current members term of office ended at this AGM. He concluded by reminding the members present of the Society's Constitution.
The Treasurer, David Hughes,presented the accounts explaining that the production costs of four newsletters were met in the accounting year compared with two in the previous year. He said that the Holland Memorial fund of £398 was reduced by £278.37, which was spent building, inscribing and installing the bench. By agreement with the Holland family, the balance will be split between the Air Ambulance charity and the Society. The increase in the Social Section expenditure was largely due to the catering bill for the Christmas Dinner, carried forward from last year.
The Membership Secretary, Wendy Barr, advised that the current membership figure was 173 but there were also 43 members who had yet to pay their subscription.
The retiring Walks Secretary, Jim Bullett, reported that two walks were offered every week throughout the last twelve months although there had been some cancellations due to bad weather but luckily it had not affected the Carol Service walks which were very well attended. Jim went on to say that his thanks went to all those who have supported the walks programme during the time he had been compiling it. His resignation was a decision made, based on his disappointment in not inspiring enough members to offer walks for the last spring/early summer programme. And wished to stress, that for the walks programmes to be filled in the future it is important that all walkers should be prepared to lead walks without continual prompting rather than leaving it to the same few.
The Leisure walks Secretary, Rosemary Knight, said that the leisure walks continued to be successful with between 9 and 27 walkers participating. Whilst the December walk had to be cancelled because of snow and ice, the June walk resulted in a picnic by the river in Upton-upon-Severn. Rosemary stated that new leaders were always welcome and that help and support can be given as to choice of areas and footpaths as well as leadership advice.
The report read out on behalf of the Retiring Publicity Officer, Beverley Shrubb, informed the meeting that an edited version of the walks programme is e-mailed to the Malvern gazette and the weekly walks are usually published in each week’s edition. The walks are also included in the events guide on the newspaper’s website. She said that our walks programme is also displayed on the notice boards in the Malvern Library. Beverley noted that the biggest change had been in the use of e-mail to send the programmes and articles to the Gazette and the popularity and use of our website. We now have virtual visitors from all over the world watching what we are up to thanks to the time and effort that Jim puts into maintaining it.
The Mapping Section’s report was presented by John Allsopp, he noted that the Section had met 5 times during the past year. He went on to say that all 60 adopted walks were now on CD complete with walks descriptions and maps making them easily amended and updated. However, there are still 7 of these walks without adopter’s, so willing volunteers were wanted. The Section intends to place the complete set of Malvern Hills District Boundary walks in their files should anybody wish to access them. The Eileen Holland Memorial Bench has now been built and is in place whilst the Sections normal surveying duties continue as before.
The Rights of Way Section Report was presented by Mike Evritt, he said that during 2010 Society members had recorded walking 1656 miles and had reported 586 obstructions. These figures indicate the condition of the local footpath network and whether it is getting better or worse. For example, in Worcestershire our figures suggest that for the first time in 5 years the miles walked per obstruction reported had increased, showing that the condition of the footpath network was improving. Mike went on to explain the Sections involvement into the legal changes to the footpath network and the various ways and stages in legally changing the PROW network. He explained that dealing with these matters often involves visiting the path and assessing the practical aspects of the proposed changes and sometimes it can also involve research in the County’s Record Office for historic evidence.
The Social Section Chairman, Sybil Heeks, reviewed the social activities that had taken place during the year which included a breakfast walk at the Kettle Sings, an evening of Country Dancing, a charity lunch before Christmas in aid of “Save the Children”, a New Years Lunch from Stifford’s Bridge and a slide show. Two very successful club holidays were held last year, Windermere in the Lake District and Castleton in Derbyshire. This year sees club holidays in The Gower and at Old Hunstanton, whilst the “Week of Walks” will be held during the last week in June as normal with the Club Day Out being centred on Weston-super-Mare and the Mendip Way. There will be a Strawberry Tea in July following a walk based on Fromes Hill. She also noted that there will be a buffet supper at the Swan Inn, Newland on the 8th July and Country Dancing in November. She thanked all of those responsible for organising the holidays and other activities and said that ideas of where to go on the club holidays and people prepared to organise them would always be welcome.
Roger Wicker explained that the role of Walks Secretary has recently been discussed by the General Committee and it is thought that the position, being so important to the running of the Society, could in future need two people. He is pleased to say that we have found two people who have volunteered to take on the role of Walks Secretary (jointly) and their names will be announced at the time of the election of officers later in this AGM. He asked that all the members in the Society offer the new Walks Secretaries full support in putting together a full and varied programme.
Lyn Everitt presenting the Charity Report sad that the Society has done exceptionally well in our fifth year of collection – a total sum of £635.09 had been collected. Whilst it is true that we received one or two generous donations, particularly from the Holland family, it is an impressive increase from the £385 total collected in our first year. Therefore, a cheque would be sent from the Society to the County Air Ambulance at Strensham. The AGM agreed that the charity collections should continue into 2011/12.
Robin Whittlestone of the MHDFS Rights of Way Section gave a presentation explaining the process by which reported footpath problems are handled within the Society. He explained that the rationale behind our need to report path problems was based on the MHDFS Constitution and the requirements of the law about obstructions. He pointed out that very few members report path problems. He explained the role of the defect reference numbers returned by the county which are used if the report is followed up with the county, such as when particular problems are found to be uncorrected and need to be reported again, or if counties have to be nagged about serious and persistent problems. The role of the Survey and Mapping Section in checking earlier obstruction reports to see if they had been cleared was also described. He concluded by saying that the result of this work can be seen in the general improvement in paths walked by members over the last few years.
Chris Gardiner commenced his talk by responding to Mike Everitt about DMMO orders making the point that you can’t always rely on an OS map when comparing it to the Definitive Map which is a public document. Errors arise between the two maps so check before making any statement based on the evidence portrayed on an OS map. He advised consulting the appropriate Parish Footpath Officer (PFO) in the first instance should you come across a footpath defect (obstruction). Footpaths are categorised, 4 being the lowest and 1 being the highest. An example of a Cat 4 footpath is a cul-de-sac path, whilst a national trail like the Wye Valley Walk are Cat 1. A major county walk like the Herefordshire Trail are Cat 2 and most other paths are given Category 3 status. A public right of way cann't be closed by a landowner due to lack of use. A public order would have to be made to close it and this is very rare. A public right of way cannot be diverted by the landowner himself. A diversion Order must be made by the Local authority if a path is to be diverted. It is important that cropping obstructions are reported as soon as possible before the crop is gathered in order that any action can be taken against farmers and/or landowners whilst th evidence remains in place. He also said that when reporting a defect, the person reporting the problem should be careful how they word the defect. For example, “signpost missing” as opposed to “signpost required”; to the walker this may sound like one and the same thing. But to Chris, signpost missing means that there has previously been a signpost installed but is now no longer in situ; in this case he is empowered to simply install a replacement signpost. Signpost required implies that there has never been a signpost in place and a survey is required before one can be erected. Ken Allcock asked if a cul-de-sac path can be reinstated. Chris said: in principle yes with a DMMO, but any alteration to the Definitive Map requires documentary evidence to be presented and agreed before any changes can be considered. Robin Whittelstone asked if the Definitive Map was up to date, for Herefordshire the answer is yes. When asked when the Definitive Map was going on-line, Chris replied that is up to Herefordshire CC not Amey and would probably depend on budget. Jim Bullett asked about the status of PFOs, Chris replied that they are purely voluntary but can claim reasonable expenses. Jim further asked if a list of PFOs exists and can it be supplied to a footpath society such as ours. Chris replied that PFOs are elected by the Parish Council and there contact details should be available, but he would need to check further to find out if there is an actual list and whether it can be released. Mike Partridge commented that what a pleasure it had been to serve as a PFO. Eileen Allcock asked what constitutes a dangerous defect. Chris replied: a rotten bridge, dangerous animals, anything that can cause harm or injury rather than inconvenience when using the footpath network.
Arthur Lee Chair of Herefordshire Rambler’s Association said that he wished to make it clear that the RA should not be seen as “a load of whingers”, but we should all endeavour to work in partnership with all like minded Groups etc. Arthur said that he constantly has to put on a political hat to oppose the imposition of cuts by linking walking with the advantages of walking to health and tourism.
During AOB it was noted that St Richard's Hospice would be holding its Annual Malvern Hills Walk on 21/5/11. Ken and Eileen Allcock advised the meeting that they had leaflets to hand out introducing themselves as the new Walks Secretaries. Ann Colwell asked if any of those present who were going on the Old Hunstanton holiday would like to visit a Nature Reserve.
Sue Hood brought the formal meeting to a close at 21.15 hrs.
Prepared by John Barr
31st March 2011