Derbyshire Area News - Derby and South Derbyshire Ramblers

Derbyshire Area News—Winter 2012/13mensely enjoyable visits to Mallamdale, Lorton Vale, Cumbria and Whitby this year,the latter saturated with autumn sunshine. Thanks to Sue Glithero for her energy inorganising these which were enhanced by good food and interesting walking routes ofvarious lengths.Extra curricular trekking activities have included the Offas Dyke, the French Auvergneand the Swiss Alps. More details of these are on the Amber Valley website under“recent articles”.Gerry White, ChairmanDERBY & SOUTH DERBYSHIREWALKING: Attendance for all our programme walks continues to hold up. In particularour new short walks on alternate Sunday mornings in and around South Derbyshirehave been a tremendous success, with numbers ranging from around 9 to 31. Thewalks are attracting a mix of new walkers plus some old faces who have ‘down-sized’and what’s particularly nice – there’s often a mix of ages. Also, they have a later startof 11.00 am to fit in with using public transport. So many thanks to the organisers,leaders and four legged friends (you know who you are!).We were pleased to see RA President Kate Ashbrook and so many members andfriends turn out for the memorial walk for Keith Walkerdine and Arthur Osborne in August.FOOTPATHS UPDATEOur Practical Footpath workers continue to clip, strim and report problems.BVPI,'Ease of Use' Survey for DCC May 2012 -9 of FP Wardens surveyed 28 paths in S.Derbys. 20 passed. Because the paths areselected randomly the results between one survey and another are rather erratic.Hartshorne FP24 – Proposed Diversion of Path currently goes through what usedto be a farmyard but is now an abattoir. I have accepted the diversion, as proposed.Foston & Scropton Diversion proposal -This appears to be a retrospective diversion.Isuggested a variation on the proposal to avoid a very muddy area where a stilecoincides with the entry/exit for cattle from the farmyard.Dalbury Lees FP26 – It looks as if this long running controversial Proposed Diversionis being finally sorted out. The latest Proposal is for the path to go along the northernside of the Village Hall car park. The rest of this path to remain as it is.Proposed Stopping up of Marston Lane (part), Hatton – Nestle have submitted aPlanning Application (9/2012/0630) to expand their factory at Hatton.David Varley, Footpath SecretaryFinally, a slightly negative observation is that membership is falling slightly so we aremaking more effort to raise our profile and encourage people to join.Kate Lee, Chair10