NDWG Committee Meeting 2022-04-07

Present: Dave H, Rosanna R, Claire T, Su G, Gary O, Alistair G, Helen P

Apologies: Stuart B, Alice M, Fiona W

Introduction

Recap of previous minutes and current reflections on the group.

Meeting changed from the 23-03-2022 to 07-04-2022.

Previous minutes

There are quite a few people signed up for socials, but we need to continue highlighting spaces still left on the weekends away. There are currently two female spaces left on Stuart’s weekend away in the Lake District. There are also a couple of spaces left on Andrew’s weekend in the Yorkshire Dales as well.

AP Gary - This is still ongoing to improve walks information with Dark Peak walks also being considered.

AP Claire - Eventbrite follow up has been done

AP Alistair - Improvements on Ramblers website page will be carried forward.

Alice is advertising walks more on Facebook but the communications role is needing to be expanded.

Walks programme

We have seen good numbers on walks so far this year with eight to fifteen people in attendance on average. People are also returning for walks. There are leaders coming forward for the long walks but there are not enough leaders for short walks where we may be able to gain new members from.

There are still a few walks having to be cancelled due to lack of leaders for these walks. Gary is still aiming to put two routes down for walks anyway. Walks are being held in more popular places in the Peak District to attract different people. Distance of walks is now being varied between eight and sixteen miles long, rather than twelve or sixteen miles long where there was previously little difference. Since moving away from Eventbrite we are still attracting people onto walks which is very positive. We still do need to consider parking arrangements and safety measures around covid.

AP - We need to encourage leaders for shorter walks so these can take place which are important for potential new members to attend.

Gary has added a few more walks in May, particularly focusing on walks in the Peak District and trying to alternate walks in different places. The aim is to hopefully attract more people with Peak District walks.

Gary is going to release next month’s walk on the website and will be getting it all up to date as of 31st July.

There will be some more interesting walks as well, with wild swimming a possibility.

Currently looking to rebrand some walks as new member walks.

AP - we need new starter walks and leaders for these walks.

The group is advertising walks on Meetup and Facebook. Around 15 - 20 people are looking into Meetup events. We need to encourage people coming through on Meetup to take up membership with the group. There have been changes to the Meetup introduction advert for the group; people can join for two or three walks free of charge but will then need to become a member.

Claire would like to advertise some meal socials and put these on Meetup but will need access to the group page.

The communications mail chimp newsletter is still in progress.

Currently we are using Slack as a communication tool with members of the Committee but moving forwards it looks as though WatsApp will be a better alternative.

Weekend

There are two weekend walks with places being filled, but payments need to be finalised. Andrew is looking into a New Year walk from 28th - 31st December with a return home on New Years Day.

Claire is working on planning dates through to December and is starting to look at organising meals in different places such as Derby. Next month there is the Beeston social and a meal in Nottingham planned for May. It is hoped the meals will be popular but until we know the success of these, we will not book too many.

Finances

Stuart was unavailable for comment but there has not been much activity other than payments being made for holidays.

Membership

Currently there are 188 members which is an improvement since the last meeting where the number stood at 180. There have been 12 new members this year and we receive new enquiries each week.

IT

We are making improvements to the Ramblers national website. We need to update the Committee page and mailing list for Committee members no longer within the Committee. Andrew needs to go on here, possibly as a general member.

Communications

Walks are starting to be advertised on Facebook but the communications role will need to be expanded in stages.

It may be better to share events from Meetup instead of Facebook.

Secretary

Nothing much to report.

Area Council Meeting

There is an Area Council meeting on the 19/04/2022 at 7:30 pm.

AOB

We need to consider car sharing on walks but avoid past situations where people were turning up for walks with no drivers available for car share. This may be off putting for new members.

AP - Change the group’s name to reflect our younger audience appeal and look into ways of encouraging young people into the group. Dave, Andrew and Rosanna were able to discuss this in more detail with some suggestions being to first of all sort the website and Facebook pages and then consider advertising more.

Next meeting

16th June 2022 at 7:30 pm.