News and Social Articles

 NEWS AND SOCIAL PAGE INDEX:

1: AGM Agenda

2: Minutes of 2025 AGM

3: Group Chair Annual Report

4: Treasurers Report

5:Members Christmas Lunch

6: Christmas Menu

7: Minutes from Committee Meeting August 2026 

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ROTHER RAMBLERS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

SATURDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 2026 AT 2PM

AT ROBERTSBRIDGE VILLAGE HALL, STATION ROAD, ROBERTSBRIDGE

AGENDA

1.       Apologies for Absence.

2.       Approval of the Minutes of the AGM held on 1^st November 2025.

          (Proposer and Seconder required).

          Copies are available online and in the hall today.

3.       Any matters arising from these Minutes.

4.       Approval of the Accounts for the year end 30^th September 2026.

          Copies are available online and in the hall today.

5.       Chairman’s Report.

6.       Election of Committee Members *

          Wil Morris              - Group Chair

          Phil Martin              - Secretary

          Sue MacGregor       - Treasurer

          Perry Puddefoot       - Web Administrator

          Peter Cridland         - Membership Secretary

          Jackie Bennett         - Walks Secretary

          Suzanne Hicks         - Social Secretary

* The above have all indicated their willingness to stand for a further term unless ??!!

          Approval is required for all of the above nominations.

7.       Appointment of Auditor/Examiner.

          Neil Whines has kindly agreed to continue in the role for a further year.

8.       Brief talks by:

          Stephen Woodall – Area Footpath Warden.

          Chris Holden – Outgoing Web Administrator.

          Lynne George – Sussex  Guild Craft People Spinning and Weaving.     

          Suzanne – Christmas Lunch

9.       AOB.

Minutes 2025 AGM

ROTHER RAMBLER ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

1ST NOVEMBER 2025 AT ROBERTSBRIDGE VILLAGE HALL

Present:          Wil Morris (Chair), Jackie Bennett (Walks Secretary), Jane Banks (Social Secretary)

                        Peter Cridland (Membership Secretary), Sue MacGregor (Treasurer), Phil Martin

                        (Secretary) plus 21 members.

Apologies:      Carolyn Brown, Daphne McIlroy, Jeff Thompson, Alison Sosa and Chris Holden

Wil welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending.  He thanked the present Committee for their efforts over the last twelve months.  In particular, Jane Banks, who is standing down as Social Secretary after this year’s Christmas meal in December.  A replacement is required  - please see Wil or any other member of the Committee if you are interested.

Wil expressed his sorrow at the sad news that Nick the husband of Chris, our Web Administrator, passed away recently, and said that all our thoughts are with Chris at this sad time.  It was agreed that a donation would be made to charity in Nick’s memory.

He welcomed Malcolm McDonnell from Sussex Area Ramblers.

Approval of Minutes of AGM held 19/10/24 – Agreed. 

Proposed – Peter Cridland.   Seconded – Candy Cridland.

Matters Arising from Minutes of AGM held 19/10/24 – None

Approval of Accounts for year ending 30/9/25 – Agreed. 

Proposed – Heather Rae.   Seconded – John Geaney.

(Neil Whines has indicated he is willing to act as our Auditor for a further 12 months). 

Comments on Committee Member Reports – None received.

Election of Committee for a further 12 months.

Chair               - Wil Morris

Secretary         - Phil Martin

Treasurer         - Sue MacGregor

Walks Sec       - Jackie Bennett

Web Admin     - Chris Holden

Membership    - Peter Cridland

Social              - Jane Banks

All of the above have indicated their willingness to stand for a further 12 months except Jane Banks who is standing down as Social Secretary after arranging this year’s Christmas Lunch.

Proposed – Jane Kemp.   Seconded – Candy Cridland.

AOB

Jackie Bennett – our Walks Co-Ordinator gave a short presentation.

She began by thanking all of our Walk Leaders.  Ramblers UK have indicated that all Walk Leaders must be “fully trained” by completing the on line package or by leading 12 walks over the past three years.

Jackie went on to say that following the Group’s Training Day held on the 1^st October we now have 27 fully trained Leaders – great news.  Rother Ramblers have carried out 103 walks during the past 12 months with distances between 4 to 11 miles, some brisk, some slower over varied terrain.

Jackie (and the Committee) would like to set up a “Buddy System” to aide Walk Leaders with recces.  Anyone interested to join this initiative should contact Jackie.

Training Day this year was considered to be a great success and Jackie asked if anyone had ideas for the New Year.  Sue MacGregor asked if IT training could be a possibility.

Finally, Jackie said she would be willing to run one to one courses on Walks Manager if anyone was interested.

Malcolm McDonnell from Sussex Area thanked us for inviting him to our AGM and gave a short talk about the National Trust’s proposal to flood part of the Cuckmere Haven and the effect this will have on footpaths.  Sussex Ramblers are objecting to the planning application and it is hoped that individual walkers will also object to the “Stopping Up Order”, details of which will be published on our website, once they become available.  A full copy of Malcom’s notes and a map of the area concerned are attached..

Wil

High Weald Walking Festival

Wil told us that Rother Ramblers had led three walks this year (Wil, Heather and Jackie).  The Festival attracted 624 walkers over 58 walks – only two walks did not attract any participants.

The date for next year’s Festival are 12-20 September.  If anyone is interested in leading a walk, pleased contact Wil.  There will be a change of advertising strategy for next year’s event with more emphasis on magazines and social media. 

Rother Ramblers Walking Trip

Is it time for a change?  Ideas please.  There are voting slips on your chair.  Options for 2026 are:-

Malvern Hills/Wye Valley, Peak District or Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog). The trip will be end of June/early July 2026.

Peter Cridland – our current membership stands at 314 and this figure is fairly stable.

John Harmer – John asked who our representative on the Area Committee was.  Wil advised him that although he had been to some of the meetings we have no specific rep.  The subject will be discussed at our next Committee meeting.

THE MEETING CLOSED AT 2.35 PM

Group Chair Annual Report – 2026

As in previous years, I would like to start by thanking our committee for their hard work and support throughout the year. As a group we are fortunate to have such dedicated volunteers to steer the group, introducing new ideas and making sure we continue to be welcoming, friendly and forward-thinking. We are pleased to welcome two new members to the committee; Suzanne has filled our Social Events vacancy, and Perry has taken over the role of Web Administrator. Already we are seeing the benefits of introducing some fresh faces with fresh ideas.

With Perry taking over the website, it allowed Chris to step down from her committee role. For several years she has been active in introducing changes to the way we do things, including developing our new website, which has been such a success, and arranging training for our volunteers so that we remained compliant with our insurers. During the difficult Covid period she was very supportive of me as Chair, and I would like to say a personal thank you for her support during this time. The good news is that she will not be going far and I’m sure she will continue to play an important part as we move forward.

This leads me to my own role as Group Chair which I have done for several years. In an ‘ideal world’ the Chair should serve a term of three years before stepping down and I strongly believe that a change would benefit the group. A new person would bring new ideas and enthusiasm. I shall say more about this at the AGM, and there is further information on our website homepage. If anyone is interested in finding out what is involved, please let me know.

Once again, our volunteer Walk Leaders have delivered an excellent programme, offering more than a hundred walks so far this year. Extreme temperatures have made this an unusual year, forcing the cancellation of some walks, something that was extremely rare only a few years ago. Coordinating the walks programme is probably our most demanding role. Throughout the year, Jackie has supported new volunteers and encouraged everyone to update Walks Manager and lead a walk. Her persistence helped us maintain an almost full programme, but this required considerable effort. We have gained some volunteers this year, but we still need more. Currently we have thirty-three trained leaders which seems adequate, but when you break down the numbers, this includes four pairs, and due to other commitments and circumstances, we have several ‘inactive’ volunteers. The reality is that the true number of walk leaders is nearer twenty-two which puts pressure on this group to lead more walks. My thanks to everyone who has led a walk this year.

We are looking for ideas for our walk leader training day, if you are considering volunteering, please come along or speak to Jackie or any other committee member. There is plenty of help and support available including the ‘Buddy’ WhatsApp group which has proved successful in providing partners for recce’s etc.

The walks programme has had something for everyone, and we have introduced a few new ideas. The ‘weekend challenge’ when we walked the 1066 Walking Trail on consecutive days was well attended and enjoyed by everyone. Another success was the short ‘reporting path issues’ training walk. Pett was chosen at random, and we welcomed Stephen Woodhall, East Sussex Footpath Officer, who accompanied us on our route. It was an opportunity to discuss and identify issues with stiles, markers, fingerposts etc. followed by a short training session on how to report such issues on the council website. Several defects were reported and it was encouraging to see a positive response from the council, with all the issues resolved relatively quickly. We will arrange similar walks next year.

I have mentioned some of the committee members and the roles they undertake but the other members of our committee have also carried out significant work throughout the year.

Pete is the first point of contact for any potential new members. Membership remains consistent at around 300 and although we lose a few people annually, we seem to gain others to replace them. As mentioned earlier we will be looking at ways of attracting new members during the next period.

As our treasurer, Sue keeps us compliant financially and is the point of contact for financial matters with Ramblers central office. As we have already experienced, funding from central office will be tighter controlled this year with very little scope for additional money. We are in safe hands.

Our secretary, Phil, keeps us all in check dealing with correspondence from outside parties, giving gentle reminders of approaching deadlines as well as keeping minutes of all our meetings.

We again supported the High Weald Walking Festival, being represented on the organising committee and leading four themed walks. We have gained several new members through the festival over the years, which shows the benefit of continued support. Feedback from this year’s event is still being gathered and I am unable to share any further information with you currently. Hopefully I shall have it in time for our AGM. Ideally, we would like to lead more walks in support of the event, if you are interested or would like further details of what it involves, please contact me.

For our eighth annual walking holiday, we visited the Peak District. The National Park provided excellent walking and once again we were fortunate with the weather. As always, the trip was well supported, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Each year I think to myself that it may be the last trip that I arrange but seeing how much it means to our participants and how much they look forward to it, I have decided to set myself a target of ten trips. Next year we will base ourselves in another National Park, Bannau Brycheiniog (previously known as the Brecon Beacons). I have been working on the details which I hope to share with you soon. Details will be published on our website when they are available. The 2028 trip will be my last one, and we will return to North Wales, an area where we have shared so many memories. Hopefully someone else will then take over the organization, and the annual walking holiday will continue to be as popular well into the future.

 Wil Morris – Chair of Rother Ramblers.

Treasurers Report - 2026

ROTHER RAMBLERS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON THE 27TH AUGUST 2026 AT THE GABLES, ROBERTSBRIDGE

Present: Wil, Jackie, Sue, Chris, Phil Pete, Perry Suzanne.

Apologies: None

Matters Arising from Minutes of Last Meeting held on the 28^th May 2026 – None

 Wil welcomed Perry (new Web Admin) and Suzanne (Social Secretary) and thanked them for offering to fill the vacancies on the Committee.

AGM

This year’s AGM will be held on Saturday 7^th November at Robertsbridge Village Hall at 2 o’clock. The hall has been booked from 1 pm to 5 pm.

We have asked Lynne George (Sussex Guild Craft People – Spinning and Weaving) and Steve Woodall (Local Footpath Warden for East Sussex) to give brief (15 minute) talks.

There will be the usual refreshments available and books and a raffle stall to raise money.

A photo quiz will also be arranged of places we have visited on our many walks in the past.

WIL

The High Weald Walking Festival will run from Saturday 12^th September to Sunday 20^th September 2026 with numerous walks available – see the HWWF web site for full details.

Rother Ramblers are running 6 walks – thanks to all the Walk Leaders involved.

Wil is looking for suggestions for the Annual Trip 2027 with a return to Derbyshire or the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) as possibilities. The end of June/early July are provisional dates.

CHRIS

Could we please encourage all Walk Leaders to claim expenses for recces. Forms are available on the Website and hard copies will be available at the AGM.

Flyers advertising Rother Ramblers. We still have a few left over from the Northiam Village Fayre and Jackie will hand these out at the upcoming Bexley Church Fete. Chris will order a new supply and Perry will investigate the cost of QR codes

The Website will be up-dated with Perry’s and Suzanne’s contact details.

SUZANNE

This year’s Christmas meal will be held at the Blacksmith’s Arms at Ninfield. The date of 9^th December was suggested and Suzanne will contact the pub to see if this date is available.

Jackie will contact Jane Kemp to see if it is possible to run a short walk before the meal.

Suzanne also hopes to arrange a further social event in February or March.

SUE

Finances Current Account £1431

Social Account                         £305

                                                     £1736

Cash                                             £130

                                                     £1866

Sue has been advised that the funds from Ramblers UK will be cut this year but this should not prove a problem.

Sue will arrange the floats for this year’s AGM.

PETER

Membership Numbers

We currently have 291 members – in the last quarter we have had 11 new members, 21 leaving, 10 lapsed and 11 resigned.

JACKIE

We currently have 33 Walk Leaders on our register BUT several have not put on walks recently. Jackie will continue to chase.

AOB

It was decided to run a Training Morning on Thursday 28^th January 2027 at Mountfield Village Hall for Rother walk Leaders. Peter C has offered to run a session.

Group Subs are available for the OS Maps App (ps Since the meeting it has been established that Group Subscription is no longer available for OS Maps App)

THE MEETING CLOSED AT 11.30AM.