Winter 2011 Newsletter

WINTER  NEWSLETTER 2011

Future Activities

16th January 2011 Sunday B New Year Lunch walk The walk will be 5 miles followed by a 2 or 3 course lunch for £15 or £17.50 plus tea/coffee (excluding tip) at the Elmdon Dial.  Please contact John on 01223 843717 for a menu. Cheques should be paid up by Christmas.

Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd`April 2011 – Coach/hotel trip to Dovedale – Just 2 twin rooms left at the Peveril of the Peak Hotel in the White Peak area of Derbyshire.  The total cost, including the coach and all gratuities, for 2 nights dinner B&B, is £165 for a shared room and £185 for a singly-occupied room [all allocated at this stage]. We will depart from St John’s Innovation Centre, Cowley Road, Cambridge at 11am on 01 April (with a prior Ely pick-up if required), returning to Cambridge late on Sunday evening. To guarantee a place please send a non-refundable deposit of £30 to David ASAP, with cheques payable to Cambridge Rambling Club (final payments due by 31st January).  Please contact David (01223 81192 if you wish to be put on the waiting list for late cancellations. Please let David know your car registration number if you intend to park at the SJIC.

Saturday May 7th 2011, LONDON WALKS. Hampstead and Highgate areas. For full details send SAE to Audrey  after 1st April 2011 when full details will be available.

3rd July 2011 Sunday B bring and share meal An 11 mile Sunday B walk will be followed by a bring and share meal in a garden in Cambridge.  Contact Victoria on 01223 573813 or Miranda on 01223 881588.

Sunday 17th July 2011 – Summer Outing. Angela is planning a trip to the Woodbridge area of Suffolk, close to Sutton Hoo. Offers of leaders to Angela please (01223 872128). More details in the next newsletter.

Sat 3rd –  Sat 10th September 2011. Lake District Week, Borrowdale YH, nr Rosthwaite. 20 places reserved in 2 and 4/6 berth rooms. Self catering will be available if required.   Overnight cost for room only will be £20 per night in 2 berth rooms and £18 per night in 4/6 berth rooms. Please note that this does not include transport which is undertaken personally. Anyone staying outside the hostel is welcome to join the walks, and to take evening meals at the hostel. Offers of Moderate walks and leaders especially welcome!  To secure a place please send David a deposit of £50 payable to ‘Cambridge Rambling Club’. Final payment will be due 31 May 2011.

Friday 7th to Sunday 9th October 2011 – Haddon Hall Hotel, Eastbourne. Gateway to exploring the South Downs We have reserved 43 places in twin/double and single en-suite rooms at this well recommended hotel, which is situated just off the Grand Parade. The cost for 2 nights’ dinner, B&B plus coach is £105 per person. The coach will leave Cambridge on Friday morning, returning on Sunday evening. On the way we can visit the National Trust property Sheffield Park Gardens at £7.30 each (NT & RHS free) which must be booked in advance To reserve a place please send a non-refundable deposit of £35 per head to Meg or Pat payable to Cambridge Rambling Club.

Saturday May 5th – 12th 2012, Hassness, Buttermere, Lake District. Advance notice that the Club has booked the entire Hassness guest house for early May 2012. There will be 21 places available and booking will be through Ramblers Holidays Ltd. Single rooms are limited – most are twins. More details in the next newsletter.

Hostel (& similar) Trips: Hostel trips are informal, with walks on Saturday and Sunday and overnight accommodation. Trips a long way from Cambridge are often for 3 nights or more. ‘A’ walks are guaranteed, with around 6 hours walking; ‘B’ walks depend on a volunteer leader – please do offer! Travel is normally in cars and we try to arrange car sharing. All bookings are handled by Jill Tuffnell, with cheques payable to ‘E G Tuffnell’. Please book with deposit or payment well in advance as the full balance must be paid at least 8 weeks before the trip. Offers to drive or requests for a lift to Jill please.  You are very welcome to book your own B&B or hotel.

* Stour Valley Bunk House, Friday 11th to Sunday 13th February, (2 nights). We have booked all 20 places for exclusive use of this new self-catering bunkhouse close to the Stour Valley Way and the estuary/ coast south of Ipswich, with a pub nearby for evening meals. The cost is £35 for 2 nights.

* Arundel, South Downs, Friday 11th to Sunday 13th March, (2 nights). There are 16 places booked at this hostel on the South Downs, close to Chichester. Meals available. The overnight B&B cost (compulsory) is £24 – so the total is £48. ‘B’ leader sought. Please book by 12th January.

* Llangollen hostel – north Wales, Thursday 28th April to Monday 2nd May (4 nights) – including 2 Bank Holidays! We have exclusive use of this independent, self-catering hostel in the centre of Llangollen. The cost for 4 nights is  £100  – we still have lots of places available. All bedding provided. ‘B’ leader sought. Wonderful walks straight from the door. Please send a £20 deposit with the balance payable by 1st March 2011.

* Backpacking trip to the north Pennines, Friday May 27th to Wednesday June 2nd (6 nights). This inter-hostel walk starts at Once Brewed YH on Friday May 27th where we spend 2 nights. We then walk south, first to Ninebanks YH, then on to Alston YH, Langdon Beck YH and Dufton YH. On Thursday morning we walk south into Appleby for the train. The cost for 6 nights is £102 per person – due by March 20th. Most hostels provide meals and daily walks are between 12 and 16 miles. One male and one female place still available – please contact Jill before booking.

*North York Moors & Yorkshire coast, Thursday August 4th to Tuesday August 9th (5 nights): We have booked 2 nights at Helmsley YH in the middle of the North York Moors, with excellent walking close to Rievaulx Abbey. The next 3 nights are at the independent ‘Whitby Backpackers’ hostel on the quayside, which we have booked in full – so no jostling with others at breakfast! Cost £100 – deposit of £20 now and balance payable by 1st June 2011. Meals available at Helmsley but self-catering at Whitby.

*Gradbach YH, western Peak district, Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd October (2 nights). This hostel is close to Leek and Buxton, giving good access to the magnificent Roaches, Dane and Goyt Valleys – which we rarely visit. Cost £40 per person – meals available.

*Jordans YH, Chilterns, Friday 11th to Sunday 13th November (2 nights). We have exclusive use of this small, quite simple self-catering hostel with excellent walking on the doorstep. Cost £35 per person.

News and Notices

Wednesday ‘C’ News from Sheila. A big thank you to all you ‘2 walks’ leaders; without you there would be a lot of blank Wednesdays appearing. The help from Barbara (mainly a ‘B’ walker) is also appreciated. Barbara and Mac have also returned to help us again. On a sad note, I learnt on the 28th October that Dennis Smith had died. Us ‘old-standing’ members knew him well. A card was sent on our behalf.  Myrtle informs me that we have several new members and some ‘B’ walkers have also been joining us. Hurray!

Sad news: We learnt, with much sadness, that Marie-Claire Szaz died in November. Marie-Claire and her husband Kalman were stalwart walkers with the CRC and the Ramblers Association for many years when living in Whittlesford. They retained membership after retiring to Collobrieres in southern France and arranged a great trip for Club members to walk the paths of Provence. They came over especially to attend the Club’s 80th anniversary party.

Club AGM: There was a good turn out at the AGM which reviewed the highlights of the year just past and introduced events to come in 2011. Thanks were given to retiring Club Officers and helpers: Gillian Dilloway, who has been our Membership Secretary for many years; George  Brewster, former ‘Thursday evening walks’ secretary and Dave Harrison, who has looked after the Club’s website ever since he set it up. Both Dave and Gillian have been made ‘Life Members’ of the Club, reflecting their great contribution. We welcome our new Club officers:  Pat & Meg, who are jointly organising the Club’s autumn coach weekend trip; Angela, who has taken over as Secretary for the summer Thursday evening walks and Anne Turpin, our new Membership Secretary.

After the formal business we were given a very interesting insight into the work of ‘Cambridge Past, Present & Future’ (formerly Cambridge Preservation Society) by Carolin Gohler, the Chief Executive. She outlined developments at the Coton Nature Reserve which include many new paths and offer opportunities for Club walks.

Sunday ‘B’ walks: Walkers requiring a lift from Harvey Road should phone the leader at least by Saturday morning so that the leader can try to arrange enough cars, although this cannot be guaranteed.

**NEW** Sunday ‘C’ walks – proposal: For those who would like to do a shorter walk on Sundays, a walk of about 5 miles has been suggested. There will be a preliminary walk on 20th March, meeting at Harvey Road at 9.45, This will be in the Lode area, with lunch at Anglesey Abbey if desired. We can discuss whether a Sunday C is viable then; if you want to discuss it before then, contact Wendy on 01223 362667.

Ickworth, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk: Please note, if planning walks starting from the car park at the National Trust’s Ickworth House, that every person is liable to a charge of at least £4.20 if not a NT member.

Subscription: Only those members who have paid their 2011 subscription will receive their winter 2011 programme in the early December mailing!  If you have not completed a standing order form please do so – it saves us a lot of effort! Forms can be downloaded from the website or obtained from Simon Watkins.

Email addresses: Please let Anne Turpin or Jill Tuffnell have your email address/changes – useful for updating you all!  Our records can be very out of date! jill.tuffnell@ntlworld.com

Please do not consume your own food/drink in pub gardens/premises unless explicitly given permission to do so by the landlord.  We continue to have complaints about Club members drinking from their own flasks etc in pubs or gardens. This is not acceptable!

Next Committee Meeting is on Monday March 14th at the Wesley Church, King Street, Cambridge at 7.30 p.m.

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