Our New Membership Secretary - Pat Hancocks

I took over as membership secretary from John Stone last December when John was already very ill and gradually I’m getting to understand how the system works: the routine of monthly updates from Central Office, the 4-monthly issue of the walks programme, the network of distributors who so generously give up their free time to deliver the programmes.... I’m even getting to grips with spreadsheets and address labels though I don’t think I’ll ever be fully computer-literate.

My background is in the Civil Service, from which I retired 7 years ago. The most relevant part of my career, as far as walking is concerned, was at the start when I was a map research officer for the MOD, involved in the production of mapping for the Army and the Air Force. And no, it doesn’t mean that I’m really, really good at reading maps

I worked in London, in Whitehall, and we lived in Hertfordshire, a pleasant county with good walking in the nearby Chiltern Hills. However, Mike was very involved with Peak Rail and I used to accompany him occasionally when he came up to Matlock at weekends: over the years we made friends here and got to know the countryside of the Peak District so when we retired we decided to move. For me, there was the added attraction of being back in the Pennines because I grew up in Teesdale and love the scenery of moors and dales.

I’ll end with an apology and a request. There have been problems with the membership information coming from Central Office and consequently not everyone gets the walks programme on time. Some people may miss out altogether though I hope such cases are rare. To those, I apologise. The request is that any mistakes or problems are notified to me so that I can try to rectify them. Please e-mail me at pathancocks@f2s.com.

Thanks.

PAT HANCOCKS