Ramblin` Kate

I gather that Kate Ashbrook has become the new President of the Ramblers (www.ramblers.org.uk), with outgoing President Julia Bradbury taking up a new position as Vice President.

Kate is a nationally known campaigner for countryside access and related issues, associated with both the Ramblers and the Open Spaces Society.

The Ramblers has been going through a troubled patch in recent years as this blog has commented. That is hopefully history now, particularly since the departure of  Chief Exec Tom Franklin, who stood down late last year.

The appointment of Ms Ashbrook is likely to be popular with members. More than three quarters of paid-up Ramblers members are not connected with their local group, presumably implying that they join to support the campaigning side of the organisation.

The coming year is likely to be challenging for the organisation nationally in many ways, particularly on the campaigning side.

There are also less well-known internal issues that need to be addressed. Some local  groups are highly organised and take sensible measures to make themselves accessible, i.e. by making sensible arrangements for walkers to meet up and share transport, others appear to give little thought to either attracting or keeping new members.

It`s generally felt that Kate Ashbrook is unlikely to treat her Presidency as a purely honorary thing, so this is a good moment for me to plug her blog. Visit Kate at ;

http://campaignerkate.wordpress.com .