With the advent of website information on local group walks enabling local groups to enter and edit their own content, this is being used more and more to the exclusion of useful information in Strider. Some of the groups hardly include any walks in Strider, presumably because, like Wessex, they're either struggling to get leaders, or they're just leaving things to the last minute before finalizing their programmes. What happened to the old system of making groups fully submit their programmes 2 months before Strider publication? In fairness, groups do say check the website for late changes but then is there any point in putting something in Strider which is not very useful? Also I noticed that whilst groups list OS grid references for start point of walks, most no longer provide the OS paper map reference numbers. The devil is in the detail and I question whether these little points collectively are deterring newcomers to our walks. I'm no technophobe and encourage change, but it has to be done thoughtfully.

Nigel Pickett - Wessex Group

LDWA members can take advantage of the discounted offer for OS Maps from TSO Birmingham on p 33 of December 2004 Strider. This provides a 25% discount - 4 maps for the price of 3 - and is post-free, typically with a rapid turnaround. Quote your LDWA membership number when ordering from: TSO (Stationery Office), 68-69 Bull Street, BIRMINGHAM, B4 6AD, tel 0121 236 7017; fax 0121 236 4014; E-Mail TSO Birmingham Personal callers are welcome to the shop in the city centre.

Can anyone remember the details for discounted prices on Ordnance Survey maps from an outlet in Birmingham. The advert appeared in several Striders, but I cannot find it in the latest edition. Just when I want to buy several maps
Thanks
Peter

although it say's i've been a member since 2004 I have been a member a few years longer, i have only ever done challenge walks since 2000 and i am about to do my first ever pub crawl, but it's only because of the people i have met on challenge walks, not the local news in the strider, that has brought me to this discision, i understand it is being led by the Flashing Blade (well i have heard the rumours)
I've only ever seen local groups advertising walks in the strider, do they advertise their walks in the local press like some of the rambler associations do?

Tony, do you not do ANY events at all? The vast majority of events in Strider are put on by local groups. If this "life blood" ceased to exist, who would organise events? I suggest that Scout groups and the like would struggle to fill the void.
If you tramp the hills in solitude, good luck to you, but I for one enjoy the social walks much more than challenge events, meeting and chatting to different people. I usually find that after a day in the hills with other people I have gained a little bit more knowledge or even a different view on a certain issue. Don't knock it till you've tried it.

So as you obviously don't take part in local group walks or challenge events, what other part of Strider should be expanded if group content is reduced ? (LDPs, Peakbaggers ?)

What percentage of members are actively involved in local groups? This should answer the claim that 'local groups are the lifeblood of the LDWA'. Personally, I'm not at all sure that is the case - while for many walking is a sociable thing, for many others it is a very individual pursuit without a desire to be part of a group structure. I come in the latter category - as such, I do find the group news section in Strider uninteresting and probably too weighty in terms of overall content.

Don't reduce the space for local groups in Strider, and (apart from late breaking news) the information in Strider and on the website should be the same. How many members are there who do not have access to the website ? Yes, libraries etc give access, but would you do that ? I'd sooner pick up Strider if I didn't have permanent Internet access. The website is very good now, but it shouldn't be developed in a way which devalues Strider.

The proposal to reduce the amount of space given to groups to publicise their activities is surely unhelpful and I was relieved to see the decision was put off for STRIDER 101. This needs a thorough airing before any radical changes are made. How does this revamped website affect the purpose of STRIDER, should we have more extensive information about groups on the site or should STRIDER do that? Should the site and STRIDER complement, overlap with, or coincide with each other? Are the webmaster and the editor working together on news, LDPs, events? Some members are unhappy about personal stuff now appearing on the www, solution- use e mail addresses not phone numbers on the site. Life-blood? "Clay lies still, but blood's a rover." A E Housman (member of HoE). Time 4 kip, nite nite, Mike.