Volunteer profile: Group Footpath Secretary
Roger and Janet Moreton
Cambridge Group
As Footpath Secretaries for the Cambridge Group, we oversee some 1300 public
paths in the 100 parishes of South Cambridgeshire. This involves reporting path
problems to the County Council – both ones that we have noted ourselves and
those that have been passed to us by others.
We are out walking about 5 days per
week, but not necessarily on our patch. Probably about 3 of these outings will
involve some element of path inspection - trimming back brambles round stiles
and checking what has been done on reported problems - but we regard these
outings as mostly recreation. In addition, we advise members on path changes and
the state of paths when they are planning walks. There is no use the county
building a fine new bridge, if no-one knows of it!
We liaise with the County
Council, District and Parish Councils on path matters (especially path orders)
and new roads. We handle diversion proposals for the RA within the District,
taking them to our Group Committee, and where necessary referring tricky cases
to Central Office. Over the years, we have represented the RA at a number of
public inquiries (about a 75% success rate).
In 2000, we organised a total
survey of the path network in the District. The ensuing report, designed to be
an historical description as well as a campaigning tool, ran to over 1000 pages!
We badger the County’s Countryside Access Team to pursue reported problems, and
are always seeking a larger budget for the maintenance of the path network. The
hardest part of the job, though, is explaining to a member who reported a path
problem, why it is still a problem 3 or 6 months later.
Our work for the RA, extending over many years, is not so much a “service to our
local community”, but a way of life. Walking, and the Ramblers’ Association, has
gained us so many friends within the membership over the years, not just in
South Cambridgeshire, but extending round East Anglia and at Central Office. Our
footpath work has introduced us to intimate details of the parishes we deal with
and new aspects of the countryside.
We have been married 40 years this year, and never quarrel over who squeezed the
toothpaste in the middle, but do scrap from time to time over some aspect of
path work - because that is what we care about!
Length of time volunteering in this role: 24 years
Average time commitment: 3 days per week