Committee meeting synopsis

Meeting date: 3 April, 2017

Another month and more activity. We have been pleased to see that the website is getting steadily increased use - statistics for the first three months of 2017 show almost 700 visits in total, with more than 2000 ‘hits’ every month. If you’ve just come to this page, have a look round - you may be surprised at just how much information there is to be found.

This is the end of our financial year, and we finish with just over £100 available to spend. (We also have £850 from the now ceased Dereham Society, but this is reserved for spending on Neatherd Moor.) We are paid up on 2017 commitments, but will need to find £100 to renew our membership of Walkers are Welcome (national) for 2018, and renew our insurance, a further £80+. We will, therefore, be continuing to ask for payment when you join us on walks, much as we would like to offer these for free.

We are currently seeking grant funding to enable us to print an updated and much extended version of the Dereham Walks pack - we have been quoted approaching £2000 to get 3000 copies into circulation: we want to keep this as a free publication, so are going to be reliant on grants.

Bookings were going well for our Easter events.

With May Day only a couple of weeks after Easter, we decided to cancel the planned 1 May walk, but will be going ahead with the Spring Bank Holiday walk (29 May): this is likely to be a ‘bus out, walk back’ trip, using Konect bus services from Dereham. Details will be out as soon as Easter is behind us.

We are aware that we are now approaching the growth season for intrusive vegetation, so will be keeping very busy! One job, left over from previous years, will be the removal of many small and low tree stumps left in Restricted Byway 28, in the section between Rookery Farm and Gooch’s Cottages. Especially when hidden in the grass, these have made for quite a tripping hazard, so we have been delighted to secure the co‑operation of The Conservation Volunteers in having a blitz on them on 5 May. If you would like to join us, please contact us and we will send more information.