The Ramblers - Derbyshire Dales Group

ACTING AREA CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The Area Council has met at approximately three-monthly intervals. Normally meetings are held at the home of Joy and Arthur Osborne two of our vice-presidents. We are very grateful to them for their hospitality. Unfortunately one meeting had to be transferred to another venue because Arthur had been taken ill on a walking holiday in North Devon. We are pleased to report that he is once again fit and well. In fact on the date of the last Area Council they had been out walking to celebrate Joy’s birthday.

The individual officers at Area and Group level carry out most of the work of the Area and you can read about what they have been doing in this report and in the Group reports. We are very grateful for all the work done on behalf of the Ramblers by its volunteers, the official ones and all the others who help in any way. Without them it would be impossible for the Ramblers to function. Special thanks go to Frank Ogden who is retiring after a number of years as Chairman of Derbyshire Dales Group.

Much of the work of the Area consists of coordinating the work of the Ramblers in Derbyshire and liaison with other bodies such as the County Council and the Peak District National Park. However during the latter part of 2009 we have been very concerned about the problems of the Ramblers at national level. In May it was found that the organisation was heading for an unsustainable deficit and this necessitated drastic reductions in expenditure including the redundancy of a number of staff. In addition there were a number of major problems with a new computerised membership system and there were difficulties in communicating with Central Office. Our Membership Secretary has been very active in highlighting these problems to Central Office and has been in regular contact with them. Because of the difficulties being experienced, members of the Area Council met with Kate Ashbrook, a member of the Board of Trustees and a former Chairman of the Ramblers. A full and frank discussion took place at this meeting. Since then we have been assured that a balanced budget has been set for 2009/10, communication problems are being tackled and campaigning will continue to be at the heart of the Ramblers work. The Area still has concerns about the Ramblers organisation and will continue to monitor the situation.

Keith Walkerdine, Acting Chairman

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