That was some summer but today at 1000’ on the Pennines winds were gusting to 40 mph, visibility was poor with light precipitation and snow flurries possible……. winter has arrived and I was sorry that I didn’t have my thermals on…… but we have had a great year.
Happily our membership has steadily increased. Local media has given us generous coverage, all of our courses have been fully booked and there has been a steady trickle of new active members wishing to continue their connection with the branch after completing a beginner’s course. We are now in danger of losing our small branch status.
As our area is on the edge of Greater Manchester with excellent transport connections and a superb network of footpaths we are constantly explaining what we are doing to passers by and we are very well known to people from the local villages who we see regularly. One of our special friends is Bill Leonard. Bill likes to get a walk every day and he is out, fine weather or foul, and often stops for a chat; he is a lovely guy with the courteous manner of yesteryear and we love catching up with him. Bill was 100 in September and we learned recently that he survived the evacuation from Dunkirk in World War Two… RESPECT. We want him to keep coming past so we made sure he had somewhere to take a rest on his walk by placing a very big through at a level made to measure for him. We hope he can enjoy it for many years to come.
Throughout the year we have sought to increase our involvement with our local community. Members have helped with work at children’s homes, repairs to village church walls and assisted in passing on skills to groups that want to try and do things for themselves.
In the latter category are a drama group from Facit who wanted help with a collapsed retaining wall. Two days’ hard work and a lot of learning later and we had it all back in place. I don’t think any of us had ever used theatre staging to reach the top of a wall before.
Our AGM last week approved our programme for 2019. We hope it will be as challenging, interesting and enjoyable as our current year.