One step beyond

One step beyond
Manchester and District Walkers
Inside this issue:
A time of transition
The year ahead ......
My year on the
Committee
A time of transition
November is always a time of
transition for MAD, as the
departing committee members
make way for the new people;
keen to ensure the smooth
running of our group as well as
implement exciting new ideas to
help us grow and develop.
It’s also time for a new person
to lead the newsletter team and
thanks go to Rosie and Jon for
agreeing to do so. Alison and
Carol have kindly agreed to
continue their invaluable help in
sourcing and providing much of
the material you find in here.
In this edition, I have an overview
from Becky; our new Chairperson,
on the committee’s priorities for
the coming year, as well as the
thoughts of some of the
2013/2014 members on their year
on the committee.
Andrew Forbes, Publicity
Officer
News in Brief
Money saving tickets
Running the trails
Dates for your diary
Ten years ten marathons
In the spotlight
The year ahead ………
In the coming year the Committee would like to continue the smooth running of MAD Walkers so that
it remains a popular and successful group where people can get together, walk and socialise.
We plan to do this through:
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Working to ensure that walks take place on the vast majority of weekends throughout the year
and that there are regular evening walks in the summer. Also working to ensure there is good
variety in the length, difficulty and location of walks.
Encouraging more new walk leaders to give it a go and enrolling existing walk leaders onto
the Walk Mentoring scheme to provide support.
Be a visible presence on walks and encourage new people to become members.
Carrying on the thorough behind-the-scenes preparation and follow up for committee
meetings so that they can be effective as they can be.
Encourage people to identify some socials they’d like to happen and make sure those who
haven’t run one before feel encouraged to do so.
Make further improvements to the website in relation to the way people currently add socials
and weekends.
Support people who want to run weekends, particularly new weekend organisers.
Continue the automation of financial records for quicker maintenance; encourage people to
use electronic transfers where possible; and maintain a good balance of the books to ensure
a good level of reserves is available to pay for future socials and weekends.
Engage with local media and clinical commissioning groups to bring MAD to the attention of a
wider range of people.
One step beyond
November 2014
My year on the committee
This is probably the final
message you’ll see from me as
the departing Chairman. In my
Manifesto last year, I spoke of
impartiality, clarity and
cooperation. I hoped that we, as
a Committee, could improve the
position of MAD Walkers and
have a successful year. I hoped
we could increase the number of
volunteers leading events as well
as increase our membership
through publicity and new
connections. How have we done?
Well, thanks to the hard work of
our volunteers, we’ve had lots of
successful walks, weekends
and socials. Through this hard
work, and also through actions by
Committee to reduce spends, we
have turned around a projected
deficit of £600 over the financial
year into a small surplus of
around £50. A great success I
hope you’ll agree!
In the background, financial
procedures and policies have
been either completely revised or
have been produced from
scratch. As painful as paperwork
can be, this was necessary to aid
and improve the management of
group activities as well as help
the volunteers that kindly run
them.
Speaking of volunteers; many new
volunteers came forward this year,
leading to new walk leaders, new
social events, new weekend
leaders and also new contributions
to our group like the regular
Newsletter, which I hope you’ll
agree is informative and
successful in sharing information
with our members. Let’s hope
these positives continue into 2015.
“....... we’re clearly
a great group to be
part of: something I
infer from the far
higher number of
members staying
with us after their
first year than has
previously been the
case “
Through publicity activities, efforts
to connect more with members
and the hard work that goes into
making sure people renew when
memberships lapse, year on year
our membership has gone up by
around 10% to ~330. Given the
massive choice of walking groups
in the Greater Manchester area
and across the different forms of
social media, I hope you’ll agree
that this is a great achievement!
Importantly, we’re clearly a great
group to be part of; something I
infer from the far higher number
of members staying with us
after their first year than has
previously been the case. There
are many more things I can
mention, but I’m out of space so
apologies for anything I’ve left out.
Lastly, and most importantly I’d like
to say a very big thank you to all
our members for their
contributions, hard work and
support. Keep it up!
Chris Wareing, Chairman
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One step beyond
November 2014
My year on the committee (cont…..)
As a newbie to MAD’s committee I’d heard the
same unhelpful gossip as many of you on
negative aspects of being on it. I can honestly
say though that I’m glad I ignored that and got
involved as it’s definitely been an insightful and
worthwhile 12 months. Although Publicity was
certainly busy, it was also fun, and whilst
Committee meetings were sometimes difficult
to fit in (life does tend to get in the way!), they
never felt like they were a chore. I always
enjoyed being part of a hard-working group of
forward thinking individuals: passionate and
committed about moving our group forwards.
I look back on my 12 months as Publicity
Officer with mixed feelings. I’m proud to say I
helped bring new people to the group. I’ve
raised our online profile and engaged with a
wider range of people through various
websites and forms of social media. Meetup in
particular has brought in a lot of new people;
some of whom have stayed and taken up
Ramblers membership. Lastly I also enjoyed
working with Carol and Alison to bring you the
Newsletter: something requested in members
feedback this time last year. However, I’m
disappointed that I’ve not been able to make
progress in other areas. When nobody
nominated themselves for the vacant post of
Publicity Officer I saw this as a great
opportunity to complete some of those tasks. I
will be staying on for 6 months and will focus
on completing and distributing the leaflets,
engaging with local radio & newspapers, and
working with Clinical Commissioning Groups
around the area to get MAD known within
Health Centres and GP surgeries.
The role of secretary for MAD turned out to
pretty much match my expectations. What I
didn’t expect was the considerable time and
effort that I and many others on the
Committee put into organising our big 10th
Anniversary Event. However, the event was
great success and therefore definitely worth
it.
The general role of the secretary involves
putting together the agenda, compiling the
officer reports, and then taking and typing up
the minutes. Although that may sound less
exciting than other roles, it actually means
you are involved in almost everything that
goes on, and of course you are part of the
discussions and voting within the meetings
that help to shape our group.
I have tried to advocate that each time we
set up a sub group e.g. for a particular social
event, that we try to encourage more female
members of MAD to be involved in this. I
think the committee this year has made
more of a concerted effort to ensure this is
the case wherever possible.
Mags, Secretary
Andrew Forbes, Publicity Officer
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One step beyond
November 2014
My year on the committee (cont…..)
The last year has been challenging and
transformational for the way the MAD
accounts are managed. Despite inheriting
problems from a poorly managed main
account, high meeting costs and low
funding from head office, we have made a
modest surplus of £23 for the year across
all activities. Several actions were taken to
achieve this; including the moving of all
committee meetings to a free venue, which
saved our group over £150 a year!
We submitted an application for increased
funding from head office which will see
their funding increase to £696 (£340 this
year).
Over £18,000 has passed through the
account in the last year (compared to
£10,000 in the previous year). A more
efficient process of account automation
therefore became essential and the
accounts are now largely automatically
generated based on the payment
references provided. Transparency has
also improved, with financial summaries
available for all events.
Lastly, our financial reserves remain strong
and at the upper end of permitted levels.
I was voted in as webmaster of MAD
Walkers at the AGM towards the end of
2013. I had several grand ambitions on what
could be achieved including trying to add
weather information to walks! I made a start
on these in the New Year and believed that a
whole new site would be simpler than trying
to add to the existing one. This proved to be
too ambitious.
Work started on the new site, which was
demonstrated at a committee meeting. The
new site contained walks, socials and
weekends. This sounds nearly complete, but
was missing lots of other important aspects,
including historical walks, information about
walking, trains etc. There were also
suggestions on making it easy to add new
pieces of information such as outcomes of
AGM meetings and new policy documents.
I found it hard to maintain my initial
enthusiasm after this and got distracted with
the summer walking season. I've maintained
the site and added a few small tweaks
including a Youtube video on the front page
and the ability to discuss a walk, by clicking
on its title.
Overall, spending a year on the committee
has been a real eye opener into how much
the group relies upon a small group of
dedicated members. Without those who
organise walks, socials and weekends away
there wouldn't be much of a group to be part
of.
Arthur Embleton, Webmaster
David Littlemore, Treasurer
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One step beyond
News in brief
Our AGM is on Wednesday 12th November, in
the English Lounge. Food available from 7pm.
AGM starts at 7.30pm. Only members with an
active Ramblers membership are allowed to
vote so please bring your Ramblers
membership card with you as proof.
Shirley Jenson, one of our newer members,
sadly passed away at the beginning of October.
A fun and friendly lady, who shall be sorely
missed by all that knew her. Rest in peace
Shirley.
---------------------------------------------------MAD recently donated £60 to the National Trust;
requesting that the money go towards the Lake
District Fund and for it to be used for work on
footpaths. The money came from surplus after a
recent weekend.
November 2014
Reminder that Nomad Travel offer us a permanent
15% discount in store and online. The code to use
is MADW15 online. Take a copy of this newsletter
and your Ramblers card for any in-store purchases.
--------------------------------------------------------Dash4it are offering an extra 10% off their usual 30 40% discount for Christmas. Enter code 10more at
the checkout for the extra savings. Ho ho ho.
---------------------------------------------------------Looking for somewhere new to walk? Ramblers
have updated their Find a Walk search tool on their
website. Visit http://www.ramblers.org.uk/find-awalk?ec_as=3AC0DC224FD943DF8C08B844DA46
B9DF for more information
---------------------------------------------------------An online tour of trails around the Peak District is
now available via Google street maps. See
http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2014/11/06/peakdistrict-virtual-trails-go-online-with-google-streetview-images for more information.
Money saving tickets
Duo tickets allow two adults to travel at a cheaper price by one of the adults travelling half price. As
shown below, they are available on many lines into and out of Manchester. More information is
available at: http://www.northernrail.org/tickets/Duo+tickets
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Manchester / Buxton
Manchester / Crewe
Manchester / Liverpool via Warrington
Manchester / New Mills Central
Manchester / Marsden
Manchester / Stoke
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Manchester / Blackpool
Manchester/ Bradford (Calder Valley line)
Manchester / Chester via Northwich
Manchester / Clitheroe (Ribble Valley line)
Manchester / Southport
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One step beyond
November 2014
Running the trails by Alison Etherden
If you love walking in the mountains but want
a new challenge, then how about running in
them instead?
Returning to running after a couple of years
out with injury I set my sights on a 10km trail
run in the Lake District. I figured most people
would walk the first few kilometres as it was a
steep uphill section; followed by a lot of
downhill and a gentle run by the lake. How
hard could it be?
As the day approached my training hadn't
quite gone to plan. I was up to running 5km
on the flat without stopping but encouraged
by my hiking fitness; I eagerly waited for the
run to start.
The route quickly took us onto a steep hill
lined by spectators. As with most of the other
runners, I decided to run it rather than walk,
and surprisingly found that I could keep going.
Not only that but I actually overtook people.
Once out of sight of the start (and spectators),
many people around me slowed down to a
walk. My competitive nature wouldn’t allow
that so I jogged/power walked up the entire
hill, and when others slowed to step gingerly
across a stream, I ran past and jumped
across; getting wet feet, but hey it was raining
anyway and wet underfoot to boot!
As the route flattened out I found a steady
rhythm. Some of the people I’d passed
previously overtook me. I'll get them on the
downhill I thought. And I did. Running down
the hill I nearly missed a spectacular waterfall
and stunning views despite the bad weather.
It reminded me to smile and enjoy the run,
otherwise what's the point?
The gentle run along the lake to the finish
seemed never ending. Then I spotted the
parked cars near the finish. Spurred on by the
prospect of getting over the line I sped up, got
wobbly legs and was forced to slow down
again. Glimpsing the finish again I sped up;
overtaking two people in the process, only for
my heart to sink when I realised the route
took me right round the field before getting to
the finish line. Talk about an unexpected
twist at the end!
When I finished I felt an enormous sense of
achievement. It may not have been a
marathon, and I wasn't exactly near the top
(183rd/273), but it was a challenge for me and
I am looking forward to doing more.
Incidentally there is a marathon trail run if
anyone is interested. More information can
be found at http://www.lakelandtrails.org
Dates for your diary
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All weekends (bar one) contain at least one walk in the lead up to Christmas, including the Santa
walk, and the ever present Boxing Day walk. Reminder that the Santa walk is a ticket only event.
Use the link on the walks page if you want a ticket.
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A few places are still available for the NYE weekend via the weekends section of the website.
Bookings for John Ireland’s Hadrian’s Wall weekend in February open on 8th December.
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A Christmas Ceili is being held on 5th December, the MAD Christmas Party is on 13th December and
a night of Lessons and Carols at Manchester Cathedral is on 22nd December.
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One step beyond
November 2014
Ten years ten marathons
Anthony finished off the ten years
ten marathons series of walks on
the 11th of October. The series,
which started back in April, was
the idea of Sarah Peppiatt, and
helped mark our ten year
anniversary. Walks were lead by:
Sarah, Stephen Smith, Pete Dolan,
Colin Shaw, yours truly, Steve
Rawlins, Anthony Helm and Arthur
Embleton , Across the series; the
walks covered a step-tastic 255 260 miles (a couple were a few
miles longer than advertised!) and
a leg-achingly impressive 13,579
metres of ascent. Well done
everyone!
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One step beyond
November 2014
In the Spotlight: Andrew Forbes
Why did you join MAD Walkers? I wanted to learn some routes and maybe pick up map reading skills so
that I could go walking more with my then girlfriend.
MAD have a lot of competition now from other walking groups in the area. Any ideas on how we can
be more appealing to potential new members? Continue to be organised and professional (but don’t
assume the other groups are not!). Extend into locations that we don’t often walk in to keep interest in
walks high. Look at doing more joint walks with other groups to introduce us to other walkers. Do different
types of walks, e.g. more scrambles, more night time walks, combining a walk with an event such as geo
caching or local festivals. Perhaps offer cheaper affiliate rates (controversial I know).
Tell us one thing from your bucket list Learn to play the drums.
Who was the first friend you made in MAD? Martin Roberts. You gotta start somewhere (sorry mate ;-) ).
What piece of advice would you give to someone who is new to walking? Get the basics right so that
you can enjoy your time out in the open (waterproofs, good quality walking socks, comfortable walking boots
that fit properly and enough food/fluids for the trip). The other bits and pieces you can pick up as you go
along.
Why do you think more men than women lead walks in the group? What could be done to change
this? Not sure I’m the right gender for this but ............ I’m sure there are as many women as men in the
group so is it perhaps something to do with a reluctance to be so prominent and open themselves up to
(perceived) criticism if the walk isn’t fun enough / interesting enough whereas us blokes are a bit more
ignorant to that?? Is it that navigation/OS maps are just not that interesting to some women? Perhaps
jointly leading walks with friends and/or under the guidance of some of the more prominent women would
help?
You inherit money. Do you: a) go on holiday b) pay extra on the mortgage c) buy clothes d)
invest/save it e) use it for car/home repairs I’ve always hated being in debt to anyone so it’d be a chunk
off the mortgage then treat myself.
What two pieces of advice would you give the 14 year old you? The coolest and most interesting people
are those brave enough to be different, not the ones that have all the right gear or those at the centre of
things. The other is to open yourself up to more experiences; you’ll be richer for it.
What line from a song or film best describes you? Probably “I’m not sick but I’m not well” from Flagpole
Sitta by Harvey Danger.
Christmas shopping: is it done in bits and pieces through the year or as a last minute dash around?
It has to be spread out as I can’t afford to buy everything in December and be skint in January.
Jermaine Stewart once sang that we don’t have to take our clothes off to have a good time. Is this
true? Absolutely, and hiking is the perfect example, although perhaps Steve Gough (aka the Naked
Rambler) has a different view on this.
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