Dear Wilts LDWA member and associate member,

I have some very good news:

WE CAN NOW HOLD WALKS WITH UP TO 30 PEOPLE!      and

LEADERS CAN CHOOSE HOW MANY CAN JOIN EACH OF THEIR WALKS.

Wilts committee believe this is an important step forward for our group and strongly recommend that we adopt it.

Since Lockdown our group has split into several smaller, “private” groups, with limited interaction and the longer this goes on, the greater the risk. There are many reasons for this but the most significant have been:

1. A dislike of extra rules for walking from the NEC – we agree.
2. Many walkers feeling safe from C19 only in small, known groups – we understand.

I became unpopular for a while with the National Executive Committee (NEC) for representing your views on rules to them! I tried, they heard and I hope some good has come of it – we are not alone in our opinions.

For all of us, Gov’t rules have limited numbers to 6 per walk to be legitimate. For many that has not been enough.

To their credit the NEC have done a deal with Sport England which allows LDWA, effective now, to walk in groups of up to 30 with government approval. This is great news but there is a price to pay, and this is where we need your support and cooperation, without which we believe that we’re stuck with 6 max until C19 has gone.

The price is paperwork for leaders and cooperation from walkers, plus some admin for the committee. Please bear with me and read on with an open mind.

To summarise:

• There is an “NEC Social Walk Risk Assessment”, which involves leaders ticking boxes. This must be uploaded by the Walks Secretary along with the (existing) list of participants after the walk.  https://ldwa.org.uk/website/downloads/toolkit/COVID-19_Social_walks_risk_assessment_and_rules_v2_0.pdf
• There are new “Brief Guidelines for Social Walks Leaders” dated 18/8. These are long because they were written to help novice leaders, with additions for C19. Crucially, they now read like guidelines, not instructions. https://ldwa.org.uk/website/downloads/toolkit/Leading_Social_Walks_Guidance_v2_0.pdf
• There are some FAQs, which do help. https://ldwa.org.uk/website/downloads/toolkit/13082020_LG_Zoom_Question_and_Answers_V2.pdf

Five key points to emphasise:

• The walk leader decides on the max number of walkers. Any number up to 30 incl leader. It could still be 6.
• Walkers must follow Gov’t and LDWA guidelines.
• Risk assessment is entirely optional for 6 or fewer, incl leader.
• These requirements are for the C19 pandemic/until further notice and we hope eventually to see them go.
• This deal with Sport England only applies to LDWA official walks. Ramblers have negotiated a similar deal for their members. It will not apply to any “private” walks, therefore still limited to 6.

We feel that the extra requirements for C19 protection are manageable, and the benefits far outweigh them. Hence we recommend it.

Bruce Barclay, our Walks Secretary, will shortly be issuing an email asking for leaders to volunteer walks, with guidance on what’s needed. He will include the same links as above.

I will be submitting walks. I hope many of you will do the same, so I’ll see you “there”.

Best regards to all,

Graham Instrell

Chair

Wilts LDWA