North Bucks rRIPPLE (ramblers Repairing and Improving Public Paths for Leisure and Exercise), the small group of six retired people who work on the ground to make public paths more accessible, celebrated the installation of their 100th and 101st gates in Whitchurch on 7 February 2018.

The team, under the aegis of the Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and West Middlesex Ramblers⁽¹⁾, was founded in early 2015 and works closely with Bucks County Council rights-of-way department, landowners and villagers.  It is removing obstacles, such as dilapidated stiles, from the public-path network at the rate of around one per week.  It installs self-closing, self-latching, galvanised steel gates which are friendly to farmers’ stock and make life much easier for the ever-increasing number of more elderly and less-able walkers who wish to venture a bit further afield.

The 100th gate was sponsored by Aylesbury Ramblers through the group’s Donate a Gate (DaG) scheme, whereby a person or occasion can be marked by a plaque on the gate.  The gate is just to the south of Oving Road on the west side of Whitchurch (grid reference SP 795 209).

Says the team leader, Bill Piers from Haddenham: ‘This scheme has proved immensely popular.  Passing walkers frequently ask our working party for a DaG application form.

‘The work is onerous and requires some skill, but I am willing to train any volunteers.  It’s fun and sociable too—and we generally finish the day in the pub.’

Adds Kate Ashbrook, Area footpath secretary for the Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and West Middlesex Ramblers: ‘The work by rRIPPLE is extremely impressive and to a high standard.  In these days of austerity, it is wonderful that volunteers are willing to help the county council to get work done on our rights of way.  Public paths are enormously important for our health and wellbeing and there is no better way to explore the countryside.’

Further information of North Bucks rRIPPLE can be found here.