Newsletter - October 2026
Happy October everyone.
Despite it now being Autumn, the weather continues to be unusually kind to us. Sunday's walk, led by Di, promises to be a good one. Hopefully I'll see some of you then. Thank you to all the leaders this summer, who have introduced many of us to the beautiful countryside in the south of the county. Hopefully we will be able to explore this area more in 2027. We do, however, need to continue to offer walks right across our region. With the demise of the Bristol & West group we also need to consider offering walks to the north and west of our region. The easiest way to offer as widespread a walks programme as possible, is for walk leaders to offer walks local to where they live. If you think you have something suitable to offer, please contact Lucy to get in the programme. We're taking bookings for 2027, with me offering to lead the first Sunday walk of the year ... in the Cirencester area. Before that, however, we need to hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and xmas meal ...
Annual General Meeting, Walk & Xmas Meal
The venue, The Old Royal Ship in Luckington, has been booked for up to 40 people on Sunday 6th December from around 1300 hrs. Click HERE to view the xmas menu. Arrangements for choosing and paying for meals will be sent out in due course. Sue will also be sending out the official calling notice for the AGM, so please look out for the various emails in the coming weeks. We still haven't any takers for the post of treasurer. Technically, the group can't continue without any of the key posts, so you would be saving the group if you were to volunteer for this non-onerous post. The committee will continue to talk to members on walks in the meantime, but failing that, I'll resort to phoning members directly. We also need a volunteer to lead the walk that precedes the AGM, please.
Our Walks Programme
As you can see, we only have four walks to look forward to currently. A fifth will be added which will precede our AGM. I'll be submitting my walk details for 3rd January 2027 to Lucy in the coming days.
| Date | Name | Leader | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 4th Oct 2026 | Yews and Downland Views | Di | 18.5 miles |
| Thu 15th Oct 2026 | Champagne Connection | Paul | 15 miles |
| Sun 18th Oct 2026 | Autumnal Jaunt through the Manningfords | John W | 19 miles |
| Sun 1st Nov 2026 | Countryside South of Bath | Bruce | 18 miles |
Forthcoming Walks
Finally, here's the usual look ahead to all the group walks and challenge events that are taking place within a 50-mile radius of Chippenham.
| Date | Name | Type | Mileage | Organiser |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun 4th Oct 2026 | Yews and Downland Views | Group | 18.5 miles | Wiltshire |
| Thu 15th Oct 2026 | Champagne Connection | Group | 15 miles | Wiltshire |
| Sat 17th Oct 2026 | Heart of England Way - Part 3 | Group | 18 miles | Heart of England |
| Sun 18th Oct 2026 | Autumnal Jaunt through the Manningfords | Group | 19 miles | Wiltshire |
| Sat 31st Oct 2026 | A long walk spoiled? | Group | 22 miles | South Wales |
| Sat 31st Oct 2026 | Upper Thames Path (part 1) Oxford circular - New Date | Group | 18 miles | London |
That's it for this newsletter. All our newsletters will be available via the Wiltshire LDWA website. If you have anything to contribute to future editions, please can you get it to me or Sue by the 20th of each month. I look forward to seeing you out on some of this month's group walks.
Warmest regards
Clive
Chair of the Wiltshire LDWA
wiltshire.chair@ldwa.org.uk
