The Waendel Walkers' Club

As of today, myself Tony Bridgman, am taking responsibility for the day to day management of the website. Clearly there'll be a period of learning, so if anybody has any suggestions for improvement of the site then please let me know.

2024 SERIES NEWS. After a another great walk from the The Chequers, North Crawley, our next walk will take place, following the coach trip below, on Sunday 29th September, and will see us walking from The Eltisley, at Eltisley PE19 6TG. As usual the desk will open around 09.30 so please do not arrive before then as the pub may well have had a late Saturday and neither the venue nor the walk leader will be ready for you. We regret we continue to have to make this request but we have had a couple of complaints from our venues and we really do not wish to alienate them and thereby discourage them from hosting our events.

With the nights already drawing in, our Wednesday walk series has now ended for 2024, the last one being on 21st August from the Royal Oak in Cogenhoe. We can all look forward now to 2025 and 16th April for the beginning of the series again.

Social Events Update. We will be organising a private tour for WWC members to visit the Archaelogical Resource Centre at Chester House on Saturday 7th September at 11.00 sharp. More details and bookings can be found on the Events page of this site or from Paul Crockett. The tour is free but we invite a minimum donation of £2 per person payable at the time of booking, and numbers will be limited to around 20 attendees.

Coach Trip News. The third of our coach trips this year will take place on Sunday 15th September and will be based in the Peak District with the final destination being Bakewell. The booking list for this trip is now open so you can book at any walk desk or by contacting us through the usual electronic channels. As is now customary, a £10 deposit will be requested at the time of booking. As of today the coach is nearly fully booked, so get in quick to secure one of the remaining few seats. Note: the coach will be leaving Wellingborough at 8am.

Walk Leaders still required. We now have walk leaders assigned for all walks in 2024 apart from the event on 21st December. We still need to extend our group of volunteers to organise a walk or two in 2025 as well as finding a leader for the December event. If you would like to help out it would be appreciated and first timers will be fully supported by one of us. For more details please contact our walk co-ordinator Graham Baker using the contact details on the committee page of this website.

Of Interest: Bedfordshire Walking Festival. You might be interested to learn the Ramblers are organising a walking festival in Bedfordshire in September 2024. The link to the festival and programme can be found below. https://www.bedswalkfest.co.uk/walks

Of Interest: Cransley Hospice Sparkle Walk. You might something different and celebrate the life of a loved one at Northamptonshire's ONLY silet disco walk! On Saturday 24th Sepember 2024 in Kettering, booking using the link here: Sparkle Walk - Cransley Hospice Trust

2025 Dates. As you will see the dates for our 2025 walking events are now here for you to put in your shiny new 2025 diaries (or more likely your smartphones). Christmas and New Year special events have yet to be confirmed with the regular venues, and clearly no venues nor walk leaders have yet been assigned. Venues will be added to this website as soon as venues have been confirmed so please check back regularly for the latest information.

2024 AGM Update. The 2024 Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday 13th June at the Old Grammarians HQ and was attended by 17 members. Now that all relevant parties have been notified we can announce that our designated charity for 2024-2025 will be Glamis Hall, and that member awards have been selected as Dean Chester - Achievement award for completing every Sunday walk in 2024 and Member award to John Searle for his continuing support to the club particularly helping with our walks in Cambridgeshire. Dean's award was presented at the June coach trip and John's will be presented at the next event in Cambridgeshire. Increases in membership subscriptions and walk fees were presented at the AGM and were agreed by all attending members. Details appear in the next paragraphs:

Membership Fees Price Change. Annual membership will be increased for the first time in over 10 years and will change from £4 to £5. This change will take effect from next membership year, starting on January 1st, 2025. Anyone who has already pre-paid for next year or beyond will not be subject to this increase retrospectively. New members will be charged at the increased rate immediately.

Series Walk Fees Change - Important Update - please read. As has previously been announced, walk fees will increase by 50p to £1.00, and non-member walk fees from £1.00 to £2.00. However after a recent committee meeting it has been agreed that this increase will be postponed for all walks until January 2025. This deferral had already been announced for the Wednesday series but we can confirm it will now also apply for the Sunday series. This will be the first increase in walk fees for at least 15 years!!