Hi everyone,

Let me begin this newsletter by congratulating Dave Purdy on completing his 20th LDWA Hundred (see page 50 of Strider). That's more hundreds than the number of biscuits he managed to hand out at this year's Pewsey Downsaround!

Congratulations too, to Jon Sreeves on completing this year's Trans-Pennine 100, and to Lucy Robins, Andy Todd and John Walker on their valiant attempts.

The group has been saddened to learn of the passing of two members, Stuart Sutton and David Drake. Phil Heneghan has written an obituary about Stuart which appears in the latest edition of Strider (p69). David's widow, Cynthia, has contacted me in the last few days to tell me that David passed away in May, adding she was saddened to read about Stuart, as he and David had enjoyed walking together. Our condolences go out to their families and friends.

In this month's newsletter:

• Walk Leaders needed;
• 50:50:50;
• Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Xmas Meal;
• LDWA Matters;
• Afoot In Two Dales; and
• The usual round-up of Forthcoming Walks

Walk Leaders Needed

On page 101 of Strider, apart from my mobile telephone number being incorrect, there's currently a diminishing segment devoted to the Wiltshire LDWA. In short, we don't have many walks to offer you in the coming months, particularly Sunday walks. If you're able to, please show your support for the group, and offer to lead a walk. Thank you in advance.

50:50:50

From Andy Todd:

"As announced in the last newsletter we are running a 50-mile walk this year as part of the LDWA 50th. It would be good for as many of the places to be taken by Wiltshire members. I would like to encourage you all to think about giving it a go, and enjoy some long distance walking. Although everyone should plan to do the full distance, there is no problem getting so far, and then retiring. If you have any questions please ask (andy@andytodd.org.uk). We will also need a small group of people to look after the checkpoints. If you are prepared to volunteer, please let me know."

Annual General Meeting and Xmas Meal

From Andy Todd:

"We need to start thinking about our AGM and Christmas meal. If anyone has a great suggestion of a venue you have recently found, please let me know. And if any of you have a burning desire for a role on the committee, please let me know (andy@andytodd.org.uk)"

LDWA Matters

Some of the key action points from the recent LDWA Group Officer Meeting:

• Within the next month to 6 weeks all members of the LDWA will be contacted to take part in an on-line survey to find out what they use Strider for. The aim of the exercise is to allow the Editor to make informed decisions about the future content of the magazine and ensure it continues to be relevant to members. In cases where members don’t have email addresses, they will be contacted in writing. An early draft of an on-line magazine has recently been launched and there are plans to develop this further.
  
• An independent panel of 5 LDWA members was formed towards the end of last year to look into the structure, roles and ways of working of the National Executive Committee with the aim of identifying ways in which it could operate more effectively.
  
• A big thanks went out to all the local groups who were/ are involved in running events celebrating the 50th Anniversary. To date, across the local groups, we have run 36 events, predominantly walks, the majority of which were held over the weekend of the Big Walk. 30 groups were involved in the weekend and, collectively, our members will have walked over 10,000 miles that weekend.
  
• It was acknowledged that the publication/ availability of the cookery book has been delayed & members were thanked for their patience. The cookery book is in its final draft and contains recipes from the majority of local groups – along with other food related features.
  
• The significant contribution of our past and current volunteers was acknowledged – along with their role in ensuring the ongoing success of the LDWA over the past 50 years. In the past, the LDWA has been fortunate in that a steady flow of volunteers has been available to take on roles. Recently, two things have changed simultaneously, which has altered this position. Firstly, there appears to be less interest in the volunteer opportunities from amongst the members (in large part due to COVID19) and, secondly, the need for volunteer resource has increased (mainly due to the business plan & the need to modernize the Association). In particular, there is a requirement for a lot more volunteers in the Communications area as we try to increase our social media presence (important for raising the profile of the LDWA and engaging potential new members). This situation is cause for concern, it’s an area which urgently needs to be addressed & the help of the Local Group Officers is required.
  
• As well as the 2 national groups, 7 local groups are trialing the use of Meetup. Learning from the trial is being considered with a view to expanding it further and getting other, willing, local groups involved. Feedback so far indicates that advertising walks on Meetup hasn’t resulted in lots more people joining LDWA walks but it has raised awareness of the Association and, as a result of this, we have had new people joining.
  
• In the wake of the pandemic, and recent legislation, Sara Dyer has developed good practice guidelines for Catering on Challenge Events – these can be found in the Challenge Events section of the Toolkit. As part of this, the LDWA will pay for up to 2 members of each local group to complete the on-line Level 1 Food Certificate which is being run by an organisation called The Safer Food Group. The cost of the training should be claimed back from John Elrick. Details of how to enroll on the training can be found in the good practice guidelines.
• A request for further advice and guidance has been raised by 2 groups - particularly around dealing with safeguarding issues on social walks/ challenge events (the type of action that needs to be taken in various scenarios). Deirdre Flegg developed our policy in this area and has offered to put together a guidance session but would like to understand what other aspects of the policy groups/ members need help with. LGO’s were asked to consult with members and let Karen POickering have details by the end of August.

Afoot In Two Dales (AFI2D)

Back in April, John Walker contacted me out of the blue to ask me if I would like to walk the 50-mile AFI2D in July. I gave it some thought, and unable to to find an excuse not to, I said yes. We were joined by Andy, Bea, Clare and Lucy. Lesley drove the short distance down to Richmond for a pre-walk meal, and then again to see us off from Harmby. As with most challenge events, the early pace was brisk, but after Checkpoint 1 at Redmire, it settled down to something I was comfortable with, particularly in the heat.

The first climb slowed me down a bit, as did the main climb up Great Shunner Fell, between Checkpoints 3 and 4. However once on top of both, I was able to slowly catch up with the others. We continued to walk as a group into the night, where I was grateful for our collective light sources to show the way. Despite slowing during the night we made good time, arriving at the checkpoints up to two hours before they closed.

It wasn't long before we were benefiting from an early dawn, and were able to pick up the pace once more. We arrived back at Harmby village hall shortly before 5.30am, to applause from our wonderful hosts.

Thank you to John for driving myself and Andy to the Yorkshire Dales and back. How you managed to avoid that bicycle lying in the centre lane of the motorway I'll never know. Thank you too, to Andy, Bea, Clare and Lucy for your company and patience, and to Andy successfully navigating us around the course.

Forthcoming Walks

Finally, here's the usual look ahead to all the group walks and challenge events that are taking place this month within a 50-mile radius of the geographical centre of Wiltshire.

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That's it for another newsletter. All our newsletters are available via the Wiltshire LDWA website. If you have anything to contribute to future editions, please can you get it to me by the 20th of each month. I look forward to seeing you out on our group walks this month.

Warmest regards

Clive

Secretary of the Wiltshire LDWA
wiltshire.secretary@ldwa.org.uk