Sibford Walking Group Action Plan

Phil Hilton writes: Many thanks to all of those who attended our walkers meeting at the Wykham Arms yesterday evening March 4th. Your input was most valuable, and thank you to Deb for hosting.

I thought it would be worthwhile summarizing the points that were discussed and the agreed actions to be taken going forward. 

1. Phil Hilton will be leaving the village by the end of March, and so will not be able to lead the walking group thereafter.
2. Attendance on the fortnightly walks has been low compared to years gone by.
3. Many people would like to walk more regularly but the current 2 hour walk is just too far or too strenuous.
4. It was generally accepted that trying to do a combined walk that satisfied the needs of both long and short walkers was logistically challenging and severely restricted the choice of routes.
5. There seemed to be  strong support for the creation of two separate walking groups – a 2 hour walking group as currently exists, and a new 1 hour walking group for those less active.  Two separate group leaders would therefore need to be found.
6. Both groups would organize walks every alternate week as the current arrangement, but the day of the week for each walk would need to be driven by the availability of the group leader .
7. Christopher Steane offered himself up to be the leader of the 2 hour walking group, and suggested that Wednesdays would be the best day for him to lead.   
8. Christopher highlighted the fact that there would inevitably be days when he will just not be available, and on such occasions there will need to be a deputy or deputies who can take over a walk on short notice. It was agreed that the WhatsApp Group Chat could be used to pre-empt such a situation, and regular walkers could either take over the lead of the planned walk, or just substitute it with a more familiar walk known to all.
9. Sue Bannister offered herself up to be the leader of the new 1 hour walking group,  provided a trial walk to test her hip goes ok. Sue would like the 1 hour walks to take place every alternate Thursday, starting at the village hall at 10.00 am prompt.
10. For the 2 hour walkers there was general support for an earlier  9.30 am start, particularly if the walk in question was longer than average or if the start and finish point was some distance from the village. Christopher to decide whether to make all 2 hour walks commence at 9.30 or just the longer/ more distant ones. 
11. The new regime will start in April, with the first 2 hr walk led by Chris on Wed 1st April and fortnightly thereafter. The first 1 hour walk led by Sue will be on Thursday 9th April and fortnightly thereafter.
12. Walking dates for the month ahead will continue to be published in the Sibford Scene and displayed on the Sibfords website. If the leaders do not wish to be burdened with this monthly task, then perhaps we could ask for a volunteer to provide Tim and Tony with the dates by the appropriate deadline.