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Following a meeting in 1976 at the "Friends
Meeting House", initiated by Joan and Arthur Truby, Dudley Ramblers
was founded. Arthur became the first Chairman with Joan as
Secretary/Treasurer and Brian Kitching taking on the role of Publicity
Officer.
A subsequent meeting decided on a series of walks to take place on
Sundays with occasional indoor meetings at the Friends Meeting House.
The first walk, led by Arthur, started from Trimpley near Bewdley and
took place on March 6th 1977. With 35-40 people taking part the new club
was off to a good start.
For
the first few years the club was run without a committee with frequent
but irregular walks. Much of the area to the west of Dudley was visited
with occasional visits as far as North Wales and the Peak District.
However,
numbers began to decrease with some attendances being in single figures
and at least one walk cancelled altogether. By 1980 this led to talk of
winding up the club
.
At
The January 1980 AGM Arthur indicated the desire to step down as
Chairman to make way for someone else. Les Cook agreed to act as
Chairman for a trial period of twelve months, at the end of which, if
things hadn't improved, consideration would again be given to winding
up.
A
committee was formed with Joan and Arthur becoming joint Presidents and
Brian Kitching staying as Publicity Officer. The new committee arranged
a programme of walks on alternate Sundays for the year to the next AGM.
The first of these walks, on 27th January 1980 was a repeat of the first
ever walk at Trimpley and attracted 20 people, the following walk at
Malvern had an attendance of 34.
A
successful year followed and at the next AGM no mention was made
of disbanding. It was decided that the club Officers would, in future,
be elected for a term of two years, the outgoing Officers and Committee
(with one or two changes on the Committee) were re-elected.
With
a growing active membership the first Coach Ramble was held on 3rd. May
1981. A fully booked 53 seat coach took members to Llyn Crafnant in
North Wales with a small party going on to the mountains in the Ogwen
area. This first Coach walk was led by Roy Guest of Wolverhampton
Rambling Club. In all, six Coach walks took place during 1981/82 all
with fully subscribed 53 seater coaches a further sign of the club's
continuing revival.
On
Monday 4th. May1981 the first Dudley Borough Trail took place. The club
had been invited to assist in the organisation of the event and this
involvement is still ongoing in 2006. For many years liasion was ably
carried out first by Harold Yates and then by Derek Holmwood until
he recently handed over to Dennis Guest.
With
increasing levels of enthusiasm (and fitness) some members fancied a
challenge and in 1981 29 of them took part in the annual Severn Valley
Way challenge walk. (This covers the 32 miles from Stourport to
Ironbridge following the river). All but three completed the course. The
following year another twenty or so members joined the event and this
time all but one finished the course. In 1985 there was some talk of the
upper reaches of the Severn being dammed causing the loss of the Severn
Valley Way so a large group entered and completed the marathon. The
damming never took place.
With
the success of a planned programme of walks the same treatment was
applied to the indoor meetings which had so far been a failure. So, in
1980, a regular fortnightly programme of indoor meetings was arranged
consisting of a mix of slideshows and talks etc. by both club members
and guest speakers. The move was successful to the extent that larger
premises were needed and in 1981 the venue was changed first to the Central
library and then in 1982 to "The Bull's Head" in Lower Gornal.
It was later necessary to leave this venue and meetings moved to
"The Fiddler's Arms" also in Lower Gornal until a more
lucrative booking for the landlord forced to move once more. I 2006 we
relocated to Pensnett Liberal Club.
About
this time the club "adopted" a small youth hostel at Corris in
North Wales and a number of members spent working weekends helping
refurbish the hostel. This association had ended by the time I joined
the club in 1983.
In
May 1984 12 walkers with a backup crew of 7 attempted and completed the
42 mile challenge of the "Lyke Wake Walk" a full traverse of
the North Yorkshire Moors and crossing the five ranges of the Cleveland
Hills. This was repeated in May 1987 by another group of 10 walkers with
5 backup. At 17 hours 55 minutes this group were 5 minutes quicker than
the first. In 1988 a group completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks
challenge walk (26 miles ascending Pen-Y-Ghent, Whernside and
Ingleborough - the three highest peaks in the county)
By
1984 the club was running 6 coach trips a year so it was decided to do
the Staffs Way a section at a time using some of these coaches. Having
completed The Staffs Way The Cotswold way was completed in the same way.
The Worcestershire Way and the Wychavon Way were tackled by using cars
and an elaborate ferrying of vehicles and drivers from one end to the
other.
By
the late 1980's the club had 10 coach trips a year and at one time it
was essential to book on the first one as bookings for the next coach
were usually all sold out on the preceding trip. There were occasions of
overspill when some members used their cars and followed the coach to
the start of the walk. Eventually numbers declined and it was necessary
to introduce two categories of walk and the number of coaches dropped to
three and now is regularly two.
During
this period some members carried out a couple of "midnight"
walks both taking place on the Malverns and starting at about 11.00 pm
Saturday and ending at sun-up.
A
number of different designs of badges have been produced for the club
since the early '80s, sweatshirts and tee shirts were also purchased and
for two years there was a Dudley Ramblers diary available.
There
have been a few accidents over the years (with your present writer being
the main statistic) with a few twisted ankles, a couple of broken arms a
broken ankle and fractured shoulder. On one walk we were attacked by
bees and on another a young lad was the victim of a sheep tick, and we
have had one fatal heart attack. But, considering the amount of
walking done and the varieties of terrain we have visited over the
last 30 years the accident statistics are quite low.
During
my membership I can count up to eight couples who have met and
eventually married through the club, I will stand correcting on this
figure.
June
1983 saw the appearance of the club's newsletter written and produced
entirely by Les Cook. Issue number two contained member's contributions
and by issue three it had acquired the name of "Footprints".
Les continued as editor up to and including issue nine in March 1986. I
took over as editor and producer and continued until the end of 1993. I
was succeeded by Pam Peeler and then Maureen Bell. It then seems to have
died as Footprints but an untitled version edited by Marie Devonport now
appears at irregular intervals.
In
1987 I organised the first weekend away at Sticklebarn in Great Langdale,
this was followed by others in Yorkshire, The Lakes and North
Wales. These were co-organised by Bill Walker and myself. With this type
of group accommodation being difficult to get (there were waiting lists
of up to 2 years) we switched to YHA hostels. Bill organised the bulk of
these with first my and then Keith Walters' assistance. This practice
ceased with Bill's death and the club went upmarket with coaches to
3-star hotels. The club moved back to YHA with the occasional
visit to a Holiday Fellowship venue but is now going back to hotels once
more.
1989
saw the formation of Dudley Senior Ramblers which was a group for Senior
Citizens organised by Bert Morris and Len Horton. This is a separate
club affiliated to Dudley Ramblers. Bert has the distinction of being
the first honorary member of the club after reaching the age of 80 and
still being active. This accolade now applies to any other member
attaining octagenerian status. The Senior Ramblers continue to thrive
and is a fitting memorial to Len&Bert.
Another
sub group is worthy of mention and this was initiated by Bob Cole and
Bill Walker for early retirees too young to make Len and Bert's group.
This is the Wednesday group which meets on alternate weeks and starts
from Sedgley. This group has no official DR status or affiliation but
all participants are members of Dudley Ramblers.
After
Les Cook was forced to give up walking and the chairmanship due to ill
health the position was taken up by Steve Bowen who had long served the
club in the office of treasurer. Les was a hard act to
follow, he made Dudley Ramblers and I had the privilege to do a lot of
walking with him, Steve and Hughie Philips either "sussing"
club walks or just for our own benefit.
Steve
also eventually resigned and was replaced by Mike Ball.
Mike
had originally been a Friend of the Committee and was then voted on as a
full committee member. While on the committee he was responsible for the
Thursday evening indoor meetings at the "Bull's Head" and
arranged for a wide range of guest speakers in addition to conducting
his own annual Quiz Night. After his election as Chairman he continued
with this task until dwindling numbers attending, combined with the high
cost to club funds caused a cessation of such events. Mike was
particularly proud to have been the chairman during the 20th and 21st
anniversary of the club. Following Mike
the club elected its first Chairwoman in Janet Harrison. Janet steered
the club through it's 25th anniversary and the installation of a
memorial bench in Himley Park. With her experience and contacts in the
hotel business she was responsible for the upmarket move for weekends
away. She also organised a lot of the non-walking social events. After an acrimonious resignation halfway
through a term of office the chairmanship was temporarily taken
over at short notice by then secretary, Terry Webb. At the next AGM
Terry was confirmed as the new chairman with an almost new committee and
continues in the post at present.
At
the AGM of 2009, having served the two terms of office allowed in the
rules, Terry stood down from the chairmanship as did a number of long
serving committee members. With only one nomination for the vacant
office Phil Lowry was duly voted in as the new chairman along with
new committee members.
Praise
must be given to the various officers and committee members over the
years and also the people without whom the club could not function - The
Walk Leaders.
Some
five years ago I set up an unofficial club web site, as this was fairly
successful I approached the committee in 2005 with a view to purchasing
our own domain name and making the site official. The fact that you are
reading this shows that this approach was successful. The popularity of
the site can be judged from the hit-counter on the Home Page.
There
was a period in the recent history when the club seemed to be drifting
into being more of a social club, this tendency has now been reversed
but, despite a good core of regular active walkers, membership numbers
are declining. This in part is due to an ageing membership and lack of
younger members joining.
Graham.
The
above is taken partly from accounts of club history recorded in the
archives and two old newsletters and written by Les Cook and Harold
Yates. Additional material is my work from material I have and from
personal memories from 25+ years membership. I stand to be
contradicted on any point.
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