Minutes of Arun Adur Ramblers Walks Leaders Meeting
|
Date and time: |
Friday 9th February 2024 12.30 p.m. – 3.00pm |
|
Venue: |
Ferring Village Hall |
|
Present: |
Chair Stuart Clarkson (SC) Walks Programme Co-ordinator Kate Melville Brown (KMB) Treasurer Martin Oborne (MB) Secretary Neil Clark (NC) Social Secretary Joanne Clarkson (JC) Membership Secretary Lesley Ann Johnstone(LJ) Webmaster Gavin Faulkner (GF) Minutes Karyn Prowen (KP) |
|
Also present: |
Approximately 30 of our Walks Leaders |
|
Chair introduction |
Thank you to everyone for commitment and turning up today. This meeting is not about how to lead a walk, our walk leaders already manage this very well, it is about working towards the guidance and framework that Ramblers HQ have suggested |
|
Walk Leader’s draft guidance Questions/ comments from the floor
|
The guidance advocates consistency on each walk not just in our group but in all ramblers groups. Note the following topics: Ongoing risk management The new DRAFT guidance currently contains 36 pages. A few days prior to our meeting SC attended a Ramblers HQ meeting to discuss this. Ramblers admitted they had received a massive amount of, overwhelmingly negative, feedback. They were taking this on board and looking to publish new guidance of no more than 8 pages. The main thrust being that walks should be risk free. We manage the risk in order to look after people. Reason for a talk before the walk is to go through risks on the walk. Part of risk management involves doing a prior recce of the walk as near to the day of the walk as possible. Weather Weather is taken into account. Walks are cancelled for challenging weather conditions. This can be up to the last minute and is published on the website and on the Wassap group. It is part of ongoing good communication between the leader and the walkers. Cattle How do we deal with them especially if they were not expected on the walk after the recce had taken place? Be aware of cattle with young. Walk quietly and confidently past them. Country lanes Walking on country lanes for any distance is high risk. The Highway Code classes a group of Ramblers as a slow moving vehicle. Keep to the left NOT facing the traffic mindful that the group may need to move if faced with a corner where visibility is low. The walk leader and the back marker should preferably be wearing fluorescent clothing. Such clothing is not provided by Ramblers so it is up to the leaders if they wish to purchase a fluorescent gilet or the like. Ratio of walk leaders to walkers This is the most contentious issue with the new draft guidance because the ratio suggested is low i.e. 1:8. This is not something that we would want to enforce given that we are walking on low risk terrain and we invariably have several people on every walk who themselves are Walks Leaders Back marker There should be a back marker on every walk and this person should be aware of the walk in case the leader becomes incapacitated. Pace The walk should be at the pace of the slowest walker. We naturally encourage all walkers to our walks. All walkers have a responsibility to themselves and others i.e.: having appropriate, or at least not totally unsuitable, walking gear. To be physically fit enough to not endanger themselves. To be able to maintain a steady pace so as to allow the group to proceed at a reasonable pace without continuously having to make unnecessary stops. If on the day a walker causes an issue that overly delays or detracts from the groups experience a discussion between that days Walks Leader and the individual should be held to remind the walker of their responsibilities. If a pattern emerges with the same individual over a number of walks the Chair will discuss the matter with them. ICE (In case of emergency)details. Ramblers HQ suggest the use of contact cards. These should be carried on every walk in case someone gets into difficulty. There are issues with cards getting wet or people simply not having them on the walk. Keyrings have been provided in the past but were not robust. ICE details are on Smart Phones. Smart Phones (iphone and Android) can be accessed for ICE details without knowing the owner’s code. Most ramblers will automatically be carrying their phones on walks. First Aid It is not necessary for walk leaders to be first aid trained on our leisurely / moderate South Downs walks, only on technical walks (a mountain climb etc). A quick show of hands confirmed that many Walk Leaders carried a small personal first aid kit. Though not compulsory SC recommended that all Walks Leaders did so. Mike - Generally back markers are chosen on the day so this is not always feasible for the back marker to know the route beforehand SC – A short discussion between the Walks Leader and the chosen back marker and a photo of the route being taken by the back marker should be sufficient. Joanne - Should the walk leader carry a copy of the walk or have it on their phone in preparation for the back marker? SC– whatever works best for the Walk Leader John B - How do we ensure consistency in this situation? SC - As long as the back marker has access to the walk whether that is a paper copy or on the phone it does not matter. The back marker does not always need to be a leader as long as they are aware of their responsibilities. To provide consistency we all as Walks Leaders have to ensure the back marker is aware and has access to the route. This could be as simple as the Walk Leader saying, “if something happens to me, the route map is in my jacket pocket”. Gez - Ideally back marker should have a whistle to draw attention to the leader if they are losing sight of him/her. SC – A good idea. Not compulsory but one we as Walk Leaders should try and promote. As with all things… whistles will not be provided by Ramblers. Many manufacturers incorporate a whistle in the strappings of their walking bags. They are readily purchasable from outdoor gear shops. The Walk Leader and back marker should agree how they will communicate with each other if necessary during the walk. This could be as simple as arm waving. Chris - Leader should have sight of the back marker before they change direction on walk. SC – Again, a good common sense idea. One for the Walk Leader to manage on the day with the back marker. Kevin - I’d like to emphasise that on every walk there should be 2 sets of high vis for the walk leader and back marker for consistency SC – As mentioned before, Ramblers are not going to fund hi-vis clothing. This would only really be needed when walking on unpaved country lanes shared with road vehicles. In these circumstances it’s a matter of “see and be seen”. Remember that the highway code says that a group of pedestrians walking on an unpaved road should keep to the left, i.e walk in the same direction as the traffic is moving. This means that the back marker is the first person an oncoming vehicle will encounter. What we need to avoid is the back marker wearing all black clothing for example and being hard to see by a driver. Min - One idea that covers incidences where someone might take a comfort break then ‘lose’ the group is if people use ‘Share Location’ on their phones. This is v easy to set up and it is something that the walk leaders could incorporate in their walk introductory talk at the beginning of the walk. SC – Sounds like a useful idea but I really think It’s the role of the individual and the back marker to ensure no-one gets lost during a comfort break. |
|
Putting your walk on the web using Walks Manager Kate MB Stuart: Mike: |
The Walks Manager platform
Leisurely is a slower pace and easy terrain with minimal or no stiles Moderate is technically a brisk pace with stiles maybe hills and more challenging terrain. Categories are listed on the Ramblers website.
Our walks tend to be on Wednesdays and Sundays but this is not prescriptive. Any day and start time is fine. It is up to the leader. Log out Go onto main Ramblers site https://www.ramblers.org.uk/support-us/volunteer-resources Log in to Assemble in with personal log in details Bring up list of walk leaders click on your own. Complete first page with walk details. It is straightforward to complete and user-friendly. Walks can be put on for others. NB There appeared to be an Issue about putting in contact details. This needs to be looked at. Some people were experiencing problems adding their walks. Description It is important to remember that this is the ‘shop window’ of the walk and needs to be appropriately descriptive. Although there is a large core of regulars who know many of the walks new people have to be considered and also visitors coming to W Sussex for the weekend. Add main details e.g. terrain, stiles, mud, cattle, photos if applicable, picnic (7 miles or more). Mid morning coffee break is usual on all walks. Car parking very important because this is usually an issue. Car sharing is encourage but is up to individuals to organise. There are prompts on the website for leaders when they complete this section. The walk meeting place Once you know the post code of the meeting place go to the map which automatically appears once the details have been uploaded. Pick up the pin and put in exactly the place where the walkers meet. The site then works out what/three/words and the grid reference Only committee members and Erica can publish onto the site. Kate MB manages the walk programme List View on the site shows all the walks coming up This is a great system online and I would encourage people to use it. However it is not mandatory and we rather you led a walk than worried about putting up the details. It is very generous of Kate to upload the walks details for people but it is better that they do it themselves. Once you are used to the system you will find it is easy. NB to walk leaders look at other walks going on at same time so that we are not replicating walks |
|
How to report a footpath issue David Purcell (DP) |
Volunteer role. Footpath problems can be reported directly to the county council. Don’t assume that an issue has already been reported. It usually hasn’t. DP reports about 20 every quarter. Each report has a new issue number. Benefit in number of people reporting the same problem shows that the footpath is in use. Used to be very difficult to report the walk. A lot of info was required to report the issue. The system has now been replaced with a new user friendly reporting tool. Key: take a photo with smart phone. When the photo is uploaded to the platform embedded within it are the details needed for the location of the issue How to find the new system West Sussex county council report a problem Report a problem with a Right of Way - West Sussex County Council
The phone will have recorded where the photo was taken so the map details snaps to nearest footpath. This happens automatically on most phones. It automatically populates the path number, route code etc. Complete broad category e.g. obstruction, animal, path ploughed or cropped over select the nearest to the problem Then put in priority mindful of the priority ratings which are listed Put in personal details. Council will respond and explain that either the local access ranger has been made aware of it or it is the responsibility of the landowner. Can take days to receive an email. Photo up to 10MB can put in additional photos up to 4 Excellent system much easier and intuitive then it was before. Works very well. |