Annual General Meeting 2019


MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
CUMBRIA GROUP LDWA

Held on: Sunday 20th October 2019 at 17:00

Mae’s Tearooms, Uldale

 

 

PRESENT:

Andy Armstrong (Walks Secretary), Janet Arnison, Helen Beatham (Treasurer), Neil Beatham (Events Secretary), Roger Burgin, Jim Crockett (Quartermaster), Tony Deall (Chairman), Trish Dunant, Clare Edgar, Dave Evans, Pat Evans, Allan Ousby, Angela Robinson, Louise Smith (Group Secretary), Martyn Smith

APOLOGIES:

Steve Bowles, Mark Hawker, Barbara Young

MINUTES OF 2018 AGM:

These were read and agreed as a true record. One amendment had been made; under Election of Officers:
‘Helen will obtain the necessary form from the bank for a change of signatory’. Change of signatory issue’ should have read Jim, rather than Helen.

MATTERS ARISING:

There were no matters arising.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT:

Copy Attached.

Tony reported that he had been Chairman of the group for the past four years but that he felt that it was time for him to stand down as he had not been able to walk with the group for some time, however he would very much like to keep in touch with the group and its activities. He thanked members of the committee for their work over the past year and expressed disappointment over the cancellation of the 2019 Mardale Magic event. His focus for 2019 has been the Hadrian Hundred, where he was involved with the route planning, entries, website input, first aid cover and the baggage checkpoint at Dufton. He stated that some Cumbria LDWA’s share of the surplus funds from the event would be used to pay for this year’s AGM meal for group members who helped at the event. He then outlined his involvement with Cumbria LDWA, since he joined the group in 2002, in particular, the Three Rings of Shap and the website.

GROUP SECRETARY’S REPORT:

Copy Attached.

Louise reported that it had been another successful year for the group in terms of the variety and scope of the monthly walks and our involvement with the Hadrian Hundred at the Dufton baggage checkpoint and other locations. She expressed disappointment at the cancellation of Mardale Magic and the fact that Cumbria LDWA would not be able to offer its own event on the challenge walk scene. She suggested that, as a small group, a way forward could be collaboration with neighbouring groups, such as the ‘Spring in Lakeland 50’ which will take place in April 2020. She explained that Lakeland group had already made an approach to us regarding providing checkpoint assistance on the Loop 3 route. She reported that the Cumbria LDWA Facebook page is slowly gaining more interest and activity and that the core of ‘active’ members remains at c. 15, with Allan as the newest member. There are 116 on the ‘Primary Members’ list on the LDWA admin site. She thanked the other committee members for their support over the past year, in particular, Tony, the outgoing Chairman, who has given the group so much of his time, energy and expertise since 2002. Tony was presented with a card and small gift from the group.

WALKS SECRETARY’S REPORT:

Copy attached.

Andy gave an overview of the past year’s group social walks and thanked past, present and future walk leaders. He gave details of leaders, location and attendance, starting with the 2018 AGM walk, where we started with 13, lost 3 and gained 1! The group has walked 779 miles in total, since he took over the position of Walks Secretary but for the year Oct 2018-Sept 2019 we have walked just over 217 miles with an average attendance of 10.1 (up on 2018) and average mileage of 18.1 miles per walk (slightly up on 2018.) We have walks planned for each month until August 2020.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Copy Attached.

Helen reported a closing balance of £2123.66. The opening balance, following the 2018 AGM was £1766.19

£75.00 was paid to the Great Northern Air Ambulance Service as a charitable donation.
£81.00 was paid for the Cumbria LDWA banner

£4.00 was received for two Helm Wind badges.
£500.00 was received as our share of the surplus from the Hadrian Hundred

Neil gave an overview of the Mardale Magic accounts following the cancellation of the event on the 16th August, including monies received and subsequently returned to competitors. He explained that nothing had to be paid for the hire of Shap Memorial Hall.

CHARITABLE DONATIONS:

Neil reported that Alan Yeats had asked for his Mardale Magic entry fee of £12.00 to be donated to the Mountain Rescue and proposed that Cumbria LDWA should make a donation to Penrith Mountain Rescue of £75.00, which would include Alan Yeats’ £12.00. All agreed with this proposal. Tony asked that a copy of the receipt from Penrith Mountain Rescue be sent to Alan Yeats. Neil agreed to contact Alan to explain that his £12.00 would form part of a wider contribution.

QUARTERMASTER’S REPORT

Jim reported that he will continue to keep the Group equipment in storage and Tony thanked him for doing this. The number of Three Rings badges remains the same as in 2018.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS:

Tony stood down as Chairman. Neil proposed Trish and Andy proposed Jim. Trish noted that in view of Jim’s willingness to take on the role and of his long standing membership of the group, she would not proceed. Clare seconded Jim and he was duly elected as Chairman

The remaining officers were prepared to stand for another year and the committee for 2019-2020 comprises:

Chairman:               Jim Crockett
Group Secretary:     Louise Smith
Walks Secretary:     Andy Armstrong
Treasurer:               Helen Beatham
Quartermaster:        Jim Crockett

EVENTS SECRETARY’S REPORT: MARDALE MAGIC

Neil reported that Mardale Magic, due to take place on Saturday 21st September was cancelled on Friday 16th August due to both lack of entries (11 at the point of cancellation) and insufficient help available from within the group. He expressed his disappointment that the event could not take place, particularly that it became apparent at a late stage in the planning that members were not able to assist on the day. He stated that he would not repeat the event. Jim queried the contents of an email sent to group members about the cancellation of Mardale Magic due to lack of support by group members. Discussion took place. Neil explained that the email was a statement of fact and not intended to be personal. He reiterated that cancelling the event had been disappointing and noted that the date of Mardale Magic had been agreed at last year’s AGM. Roger suggested that a line be drawn under Mardale Magic. Louise agreed that it had been disappointing not to be able to offer Mardale Magic and suggested that assisting on the Spring in Lakeland 50 could be a way forward and a means of Cumbria group contributing to the wider LDWA community.

HADRIAN HUNDRED

Tony said he had been very impressed with the assistance that group members provided at the Dufton baggage checkpoint and elsewhere.

SPRING IN LAKELAND 50 EVENT

Louise reported that Tony Willey of Lakeland Group had enquired whether Cumbria group members would be prepared to assist on a checkpoint for the Spring in Lakeland 50 event, on 18-19 April 2020. The event will comprise three loops, one of 18 miles and two of 16 miles and our assistance would be required on Loop 3. The checkpoint is likely to be the Abbot Hall Social Centre in Kendal, which will be open during the evening and into the night   Any members assisting on the checkpoint will be offered free entry to Loop 1. Food and supplies would be provided at the checkpoint. Louise asked whether anyone would be interested in helping with this event and the following members expressed interest: Roger, Angela, Tony, Allan, Clare, Andy. Louise will contact Tony Willey to offer our assistance and to request further details. These will be circulated to the group.

HELM WIND WALK

Andy reported that 2 badges have been sold. Angela has a certificate but would also like a badge. There are 19 badges remaining.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

There was no further business.

DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING:

The next AGM will take place on Sunday 18th October 2020 at Mae’s Tearooms, Uldale.

The meeting closed at 18:11

SIGNED ……M L SMITH (Group Secretary)

 

Chairman’s Report

Welcome again to what is, I believe, the start of our 32nd year in existence. I have only been a member of the Group since 2002 so for details of events prior to that you will have to consult more senior members.

I have been privileged to have been your Chairman now for four years but I feel it is now time to step down to allow my successor to take the Group forwards. Sadly I have not been able to walk with you this year and following further recent major back surgery it seems unlikely that this will change soon. I do look forward with great interest though to learning more about the monthly walks which have been enjoyed.

I would like to thank Louise for continuing with the Group Secretary’s role and for organising this evening so well. Thanks also to the other Committee members for their work and commitment over the last year. Helen is settling in well to her financial duties and Andy continues to organise our programme with great efficiency.

It is disappointing that Mardale Magic had to be cancelled due to insufficient entries and I’m sure Neil will be updating us on that.

My LDWA energies this year have been largely consumed by helping the Northumbria group in delivering the Hadrian Hundred. This was very successful despite adverse weather over Cross Fell threatening to derail things on the day.

My duties included producing the Route Description and GPX file for the Event which involved many hours both in the field and on the computer. I also assisted Janet in her role as Entries Secretary and Mark with website input as well as arranging the First Aid cover.

In addition I organised the baggage checkpoint at Dufton Youth Hostel at which so many of you helped so selflessly. There will be a chance for comment and feedback on this later in the meeting.

In recognition of our Group’s involvement we received a share of the surplus funds from the Event and it is proposed to use some of this to pay for this evening’s meal for those who were involved.

If you can humour me briefly I would like to summarise my involvement with the Group which has given me so much pleasure over the years.

I joined the Group at an Emergency General Meeting shortly after retiring in 2002 when it was in dire straits with a tiny and reducing membership. Despite my appearance on the scene we survived and subsequently prospered.

I did a stint as Walks Secretary from 2003-2006 before serving as Group Secretary for the next 10 years then to sink gratefully into this comfortable Chair which now becomes vacant!

Ably assisted by Barrie and Barbara the Three Rings of Shap kept me busy for 10 years from 2005. In addition I organised several ‘Away Weekend’ trips namely the Furness Way, Borders Abbeys Way, Dales Way, Lady Anne’s Way and Wolds Way.

Somewhere along the way it became possible to have our own website as part of the main LDWA site. This has gradually evolved to where it is today and contains a great deal of information about our historical activities. There are Walk reports dating back to 2006 as well as a wealth of pictures and other information.

I am happy to continue to look after the Group’s website in the short term and to input Walk reports and other items as necessary if the new Committee so wish. It would probably be sensible, however, to appoint a new webmaster in due course.

Thank you.

Group Secretary’s Report

Firstly, thanks to Tony for his suggestion of this new venue for our AGM. It is ideally placed on our walk route.

The past year has seen a good variety of social walks, the first of which was the War Memorials walk, led by Trish, which took us to a number of sites to the north west of Carlisle, on the way out to the Solway, as well as memorial sites within the city boundary, on a glorious day. During the winter months, we enjoyed some excellent low level walks, including the Kirkbampton Circular, led by Clare, the route of which returned via the Watchtree Nature Reserve at Great Orton. Andy’s ‘Halls, Henges and Castles’ April walk took us to a range of historic sites across the Penrith hinterland. There were some ‘hidden gems’, such as the fortified farmstead at Clifton Hall, nestled between the M6 and A6 but largely hidden from view. The welcome arrival of spring also brought the ‘Bluebell Finale’, led by Pat. The route took in the spectacular High Cup Nick and at the end of the walk, Flakebridge Woods saved the best until last with the beautiful carpets of bluebells, the walk truly lived up to its name!

The highlight of the year, however, was our involvement with the Hadrian Hundred. It was the first experience of Hundred events for many of us. Our tasks at the event were twofold, to organise the competitors’ baggage at Dufton Youth Hostel and to run the checkpoint at Dufton Village Hall, under the direction of Tony. Many of our team spent a convivial evening with members of East Lancashire LDWA, who were preparing breakfast for competitors in the Village Hall. After a joint meal at The Stag, we were invited for coffee at their extensive accommodation in a number of cottages beside the Green. The calm before the storm! Around midnight, the competitors started to come through. It was humbling to see competitors arriving having successfully navigated over Cross Fell in the most appalling weather conditions, in complete darkness! Neil, Mike (from Kent LDWA) and I, along with the guys from Raynet were in our checkpoint ‘bubble’, warm and dry with access to food and facilities! The team at Dufton Youth Hostel spent a strenuous overnight shift, reuniting competitors with their baggage. Understandably, many of the competitors retired from the Hundred, given the conditions. Cumbria LDWA members were also to be found at other locations on the route; Martyn at the next checkpoint beyond High Cup Nick and Clare at the event centre in Hexham. It was a privilege to be part of the LDWA flagship event and to help contribute to its success.

Our own challenge event, unfortunately, did not have the same degree of success. Mardale Magic was due to take place on Saturday 21st September but had to be cancelled. The reasons for this were twofold; lack of entries and lack of assistance for the event. Competitors often wait to see the weather forecast before committing themselves to enter but having said this, entries were low by mid-August. Secondly, it became apparent that there would not have been enough people from the group to assist on the day. For small groups, an event cannot be viable without the support of the majority of the membership. Other groups, such as Lakeland and Nidderdale achieve this but without the luxury of a large membership this is not an easy task. The Three Rings of Shap was an extremely hard act to follow and it was heartening to be able to offer a scaled down one-day event to stay on the LDWA challenge event scene. Inevitably, circumstances change and what appears to be the status quo is always a temporary state of affairs. Cumbria LDWA was no longer able to punch above its weight (as we did with the Three Rings) but as a group, we could still offer an event to the wider LDWA membership. Personally, I felt it was disappointing to close the chapter on this. The way forward, regarding offering a challenge walk event, is the decision of the membership. As the situation stands, Cumbria LDWA will revert to offering a monthly social walk. No doubt this will be the subject of further discussion tonight.

On a more positive note and perhaps a way forward, is that we have been asked by Tony Willey of Lakeland LDWA to run a checkpoint in Kendal on their ‘Spring in Lakeland Rings’ event in April 2020. I’m certainly keen to do this, particularly if we are not going to be offering an event ourselves. It would be good to be able to assist a neighbouring LDWA group with whom we share a common love of the outdoors and long distance walking. I have some details from Tony Willey, which will be covered later.

The Cumbria LDWA Facebook site continues to gather a gradual following, so I’ll persevere with it. The walks diary for 2020 is already filling up, with some interesting walks in prospect. Our membership has remained stable with the core of 15 or so active members (there are 116 on the list of primary members) and this year we have welcomed Allan to the group. We look forward to his walk in December.

Finally, thanks to all the committee members for their work over the past year, Tony, Jim, Neil, Andy and Helen. Thanks to Helen for taking on the role of treasurer last year and to Jim for sorting out the signatory change minefield! Particular thanks to Tony, who is standing down as chair this year. Tony has been involved with the group since 2002 and he was instrumental in nurturing and developing it to become the group we have today. He was the mastermind behind the ‘Three Rings and his co-ordination of that event was outstanding. Tony, we very much hope that you keep in touch with the group and here is a token of our appreciation.

We look forward to a successful 2020.

Louise Smith

Group Secretary
Cumbria LDWA

October 2019

LONG DISTANCE WALKERS ASSOCIATION: CUMBRIA GROUP
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 20 OCTOBER 2019 - TREASURER'S REPORT
           
           
  Income Expenses  
Date Description Amount Description Amount Balance
21-Oct-18 Opening Balance £1,766.19     £1,766.19
27-Nov-18     Gift to Great North Air Ambulance Service £75.00 £1,691.19
25-Jan-19     Purchase of Cumbria LDWA Banner £81.10 £1,610.09
14-May-19 Sale of Helm Wind Challenge Walk Badges £4.00     £1,614.09
15-Aug-19 SiEntries (Mardale Magic) £105.20     £1,719.29
19-Aug-19 Assistance on Hadrian Hundred £500.00     £2,219.29
20-Oct-19     Reimbursements for Mardale Magic £95.63 £2,123.66
           
20-Oct-19 Closing Balance £2,123.66 Change In Year £357.47  
           
           

Helen Beatham
Group Treasurer