The Waendel Walkers' Club

The Number 1 Club in the British Walking Federation

Hello and welcome to the website for the Waendel Walkers' Club.  Should you have any feedback or suggestions for content please email me using the link here

Thank you for visiting this website and for your interest in our club.  You can also find our discussion group on Facebook by using the link below.

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Pete Rickwood - Chairman

Latest News - Updated Monday 18th March 2024

Coach Trip News - Update. Our first coach trip of the year will take place on Sunday 14th April. Details of the location and subject to a succesful pre-walk will be based on section five of the Shropshire Way starting at Craven Arms and ending at Ludlow. The booking list is now open and all 48 seats have been booked (a few of these are subject to the £10 deposit still to pay). We can upgrade the coach to a 53 seater subject to availability but would need to know within the next few days. As such I would ask you to please contact us urgentlyif you have yet to book and wish to join this event. As stated elsewhere we will ask for a £10 deposit at the time of booking, with the balance payable on the day. On line bookings will be taken by Facebook message or email but will be considered provisional until the deposit is received in cash or by bank transfer upon request. Final pricing for the trip is £25 per member with the usual £2 uplift for non-members and reduced price for juniors. We hope that you agree that this still represents good value for money for a great day out.

Our next Sunday walk will take place on Sunday 31st March and will be based at the Swan at Newton Bromswold. As this is Easter Sunday we will only be offering a 10km circular route option. As usual the desk will open around 09.30 so please do not arrive before then as the pub may well have had a late Saturday and neither the venue nor the walk leader will be ready for you. We regret we continue to have to make this request but we have had a couple of complaints from our venues and we really do not wish to alienate them and thereby discourage venues from hosting our events.

Membership Subscriptions. Annual membership expired at the end of December 2023. We  would ask all members to pay their 2024 subscriptions (still only £4 per year) at your first walk of 2024. You may also wish to renew for multiple years in order to enjoy the current rate and avoid the future increase in the annual subscription rate. Over 100 of you have now renewed but there are still almost 30 members still to pay their 2024 subscription. If you are one of these please pay at your earliest opportunity, no later then the end of March. If you wish to pay by bank transfer please contact me and I will provide the club's bank details.

Walk Leaders still required. We still need to extend our group of volunteers to organise a walk or two in 2024. If you would like to take this on it would be appreciated and first timers will be fully supported by one of us. For more details please contact our walk co-ordinator Graham Baker using the contact details on the committee page of this website. We need walk leaders for Wednesday summer series events on 24th July and 21st August and also the Sunday walk on 22nd December and the 10k Wellie Womble on Wednesday 27th December from the Old Grammarians.

Financial Status - A Heads Up. It has become apparent that due to ever increasing costs of everything from consumables to postage to coach hire that our outgoings well exceed our income. In the calendar year of 2023 our outgoings exceeded our income by over £1,200. Whilst the club's financial assets are in reasonable shape we cannot continue on this basis. We need to look very closely to the various aspects of our income and take appropriate action. Your committee is unanimous in the view that membership subscriptions should be increased (for the first time in over 10 years) to £5, and also that walk fees should be increased from 50p to £1.00 - the first price increase for at least the 15 years I have been a member of the club. In summary your committee will ask the membership to ratify these proposals at the 2024 AGM to come into effect for the second half of 2024 (walk fees) and from January 2025 for annual subscriptions (new members who join after the AGM in June will pay the increased rate immediately). Finally we will have to make a significant increase to our coach trip pricing, particularly as we can no longer guarantee to fill a 53 seater coach, and we will also be requesting a deposit of £10 at the time of booking, only refundable under serious circumstances. This change will take immediate effect. I trust you all understand the need to take these steps and that you will continue to support us.

Save the Date - 2024 AGM. The 2024 Annual General Meeting will take place on Thursday 13th June at the Old Grammarians HQ at 19.30 as usual. More details will follow nearer the date.