From: VBR Committee
A number of subjects were discussed at a recent Area Meeting which have a direct bearing on our activities as follows:
Leader recruitment and training
VBR currently has 27 qualified Walk Leaders but, except for those who have done the Walks Leaders Training recently, all will be deregistered by Ramblers in the near future. Instead, unqualified Leaders will be invited to requalify by either carrying out the training modules or declaring that they have led 12 walks in the past 3 years. On this basis, VBR will have only 7 Leaders who qualify by experience and "a few" who have done the training. We are reliant on these seven but even more so on the other 20 who lead just a few walks a year as well as those members who help with recces.
Not surprisingly, this caused some disquiet judging by the Group Reports, but after extensive discussions in the break-out sessions, the general consensus was that members should just get on and do the training!
Walk Statistics
At the Area Meeting in April, one Group had suggested that we should report on walk number statistics based on the Register of Walkers collected on smart phones etc. at the start of every walk. The VBR report for April to June 2025 was as follows:
- Walks completed - 17, 12 Sunday walks and 5 (short) Evening Strolls
- Distance covered - 120, average 7.1, max 10, min 4.5 miles
- Average numbers of walkers - 13, max 24, min 5
- Different Walk Leaders - 14
- Currently qualified Walk Leaders - 27
- Walk Leaders qualified by 3 years' experience - 7
- Different walkers - 47 of which 12 were from other groups
- Summary - most of our walkers are also VBR Walk Leaders.
Reporting ROW problems
Ramblers used to have their own method of reporting rights of way issues called Pathwatch, but this has been superseded by Nottinghamshire County Council's ROW CAMS System. This is now live and can be accessed here. Here is a snippet of NCC's excellent map which shows stiles and gates as well as rights of way. You can see the map without have an NCC Account, but you have to log in to report a problem using a Username (all capitals, no spaces) and an email address. So we encourage members to try it, but please keep Paul Fenton our ROW Officer informed at pfenton400@aol.com .
Health and safety and a reminder about incident reporting
One of the disappointing features of Rambler's latest guidance on Walk Leaders qualification is that the organisation concentrates on Risk Assessment whereas this is only part of the process of managing risk. This should include feedback to Groups about incidents from which we can learn how to deal with things better. This does not take place because Health and Safety, and in particular Safety, are never discussed at Area meetings. This will be a subject for discussion at the next Area Meeting in October.
It is gratifying therefore to receive the following message from Ramblers to encourage Groups to read and act upon.
While rare, incidents can sometimes take place during group walks, paths and access work, or at social events. If an incident takes place that involves injury, property damage or a near miss, this needs to be reported to us as soon as possible (within 10 days). If there is a serious incident, this needs to be reported to us on the same day the incident takes place. Please complete an Incident Report Form, which can be found here and send it to incidents@ramblers.org.uk.