Path Volunteers Celebrate Their One Hundredth Gate
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).
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The original stile which was to be replaced. |
The 100th gate. L-R: Derek Holland, Bill Piers, Keith Wheeler-Cherry (all of North Bucks rRipple) and Jon Clark (Bucks County Council strategic access officer). Photo by Peter Smith of North Bucks rRIPPLE. |
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.
Ramblers Honour Bucks Paths Champion With Commemorative Gate
Bucks Ramblers has honoured the work of Mike Walker, former Environment Group Manager for Buckinghamshire County Council, with a commemorative gate on a footpath at Great Missenden, Bucks.
Mike, who retired in 2015, managed Buckinghamshire’s network of public rights of way for 30 years. The Ramblers has celebrated Mike’s work with a gate under the Chiltern Society’s ‘donate a gate’ scheme, on Great Missenden footpath 51 on the north-eastern edge of Hobbshill Wood. The inscription on the gate is:
Mike Walker, path champion
Thanks from Buckinghamshire Ramblers
Mike Walker
Says Kate Ashbrook, footpath secretary for the Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes and West Middlesex Area of the Ramblers: ‘Mike has worked tirelessly for Bucks County Council for over 30 years and he made massive improvements. Under his leadership the county’s paths were transformed—in the past walking in the less-trodden north Bucks was like negotiating an assault course, now the paths are in far better condition.
‘It is sad for all of us that Mike has retired from the council but we are pleased he is still involved on national committees, promoting public paths and their value to the public. We all have much to thank him for, in making conditions for walkers, riders and cyclists in Bucks so much better.’
Says Mike Walker: ‘I am truly honoured that the Ramblers and Chiltern Society, who do such great work to encourage and protect access to the countryside, wish to commemorate my achievements and those of the county council’s rights-of-way staff. I am particularly pleased that the council’s relations and co-operation with path users and volunteers have improved tremendously over the years. If I have helped to achieve that then I hope I have done a good job.’
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