Yes 14000's

Hi Lisa and David, as you had the choice of old or new number that information will not help in discovering wether it is old members rejoining or new members joining and not renewing at all again I presume your number must be around 13000 to 14000 as these were issued in 1993 when it says you joined for the first time. I have e mailed the membership secretary before asking for information on numbers issued and recieved no reply.

Hi Richard,

We did retain our original membership no. If I remember right, we were given the choice to retain our old no. or have a new one.

Hi Lisa and David, can you tell me when you rejoined for the second time did you retain your original ldwa number you were issued with or another number as this could be part of the reason we have more numbers issued than paying members. on the subject of your last post the reason that the monetry difference is only 2 pounds on some walks is that all helpers on ldwa events are volunteers so if you did the ldwa hundred members pay 60 pounds non members 80 pounds which is 25% more so likewise on a challenge walk of 6 pounds for members the equivelant non member would be 8 pounds .the most diffucult bit is how many members or non members turn up on the day after seeing the weather and how they feel,as a lot of events are now full this is becoming less of an option.as you do running events as well as ldwa you will be amazed how cheap our events are and you get well fed into the bargain.

I think to make membership be of benefit, there should be a greater entry price difference on events between members and non-members. Sometimes the extra cost for non members is 1 or 2 quid, so can see why they would not bother joining. Also the events are incredibly good value anyway in comparison to commercial running events.

Hi Rhiannon, to be able to do the graph would take much more information than i have,most early members still paid up have been bitten by the hundreds bug at some time in their history, once you have sampled the hundred it seems that you are more lightly to stay a member even if you no longer walk such distances.one interesting set of figures to hand is at 28/2/2009 last number issued 28043 with 5600 paid up .at 27/2/2012 last number issued 32369 with 7735 paid up, so even in that short time 4326 new members with only 2135 still members as mike says most early members kept renewing as they were probably genuine long distance walkers.also there are or were 54 members who joined in 1972 still members now 53 as Chris Dawes is unfortunatly no longer with us rip.

Hi ''number crunching Richard''........ my chum Mike (5267) reckons that the wider growth of knowledge of the LDWA is based on the greater appeal of our type of events globally, certainly you can read about 'us' in more articles and mags than 25 years ago! However he also reckons that what would be interesting is a vertical bar graph showing the actual paid up members by member number....first bar numbers 1-1000, 2nd 1001-2000...thus about 35 bars. Then it would be easy to see the turnover, clearly the earlier numbers will be lower because of retirement etc but it would also show the volume. He would guess that the line would be ascending sharply at first then flattening out as we get toward the last year.......... maybe a similar graph of actual paid up members in any one year since inception

We rejoined last year after a lapse of a few years, mainly because we had taken up doing road running races. However, after missing the fells and wanting to get back into the excellent LDWA events again, we rejoined to benefit from reduced entry fees.
So far we have only managed to do one event this year, the Anglezarke amble as many events do not allow dogs, we cannot & wont do events without our dog as he must come with us. Even though the Anglezarke stated no dogs, after emailing the organisers they kindly said we could bring him if we were (obviously) responsible for him. Most of the time we see an event we fancy it says no dogs, so unfortunately for us we might not renew again this year as we are restricted by the number of events we can do, to make membership of benefit. Would really really love to do many more and do hope that organisers can be a bit more relaxed on the dog policy......please......woof woof!

I'am no marathon runner more a plodder 5-7hrs over the distance as I like to enjoy myself and the countryside because there is no pressure to go fast as you get when you enter a trail or fell race which are all about who can go the fastest. I must say the LDWA has many good events to choose from and which i have enjoyed on and off for the past 5years or so but their are also a lot of events that are not put on by the LDWA and are just as good with distances from 12miles upto 50+miles and are aimed more at trail/fell runners but still cater for the likes of me eg CP closing time that would suit many a steady walker but still been a challenge some are listed in the event pages of strider. For me I no longer feel that I gain much from been a member of the LDWA ,its not an issue of cost as my running club,Orienteering club,TRA and FRA memberships cost the best part of £60 a year its more a case of not meeting my needs any more.

Thankyou Dave for your honest reply, our events are for walkers , runners and those in between.maybe that our 25 mile events are to short for your marathons but we notice some of our events are now being extended to 26.5 miles,to cater for runners as 25 miles is plenty for a fairly slow walker like myself.

I let my membership laps for a few years and then rejoined again this year online on a whim,hoping to take part it a few events and take advantage of the discount to members, but the events that I have done have not been organised by the LDWA so no savings made.13 pounds may not break the bank for many but those who are members of other clubs and associations eg FRA,TRA running clubs etc may find that membership to the LDWA which may be used once or twice a year 13 pounds too much. For me I can not see myself renewing again as my plans for the next coming year are based on events which in the main are not organised by the LDWA and aimed more at runners.

I am a bit of a number cruncher and have been following ldwa numbers issued for over 10 years ,in june 2002 ldwa last number issued was22347 with a active membership of 6329, in june 2012 ldwa last number issued was 32940 with an active membership of 7283 so 10593 numbers issued for a gain of only 954active.I know a few have died as recorded in strider but by joining on line have we made it to easy to join up on a whim only to let it laps next time for renewal 13 pounds will not break the bank surely.possibly we are getting people joining up to get a place in the hundred cheaper and do not do another .what do you think?