We rely on the good will of our volunteers and walk leaders to create the programme of walks and to lead them on the day. What many people don’t realise is the amount of work (and how many hours) go into making each one a success. This is especially true of those with a high level of information within them – and these also tend to be amongst the most popular events.
Just to give two examples from within the last few days:
On Sunday 22nd September, our local historian (and strong Walkfest supporter) David Rose jointly led a walk with retired railwayman, Geoff Burch, around Guildford Railway Station and the adjacent infrastructure. They took us on a history trip from the early days of the local railway to the more recent developments of this station complex.
Not only were they a fund of information, gathered over many years, but they had drawn together an extensive library of photos which they had downloaded onto iPads and paper copies. Just selecting the images and creating the talks must have taken them hours. Add in the time taken to check facts, arrange access to various parts of the station (including liaising with Network Rail etc) plus their time on the day of the walk and it can be seen that this event needed plenty of time and planning.
On the following day, Ken Bare, on behalf of Surrey Hills Society, led a walk around Chilworth Gunpowder Mills and the surrounding area. Over the last decade, Ken has accumulated quite a lot of knowledge about the Works and has even done a podcast on the topic for BBC Radio Surrey.
It’s always difficult to allocate the amount
of time taken to prepare for such a walk and talk event since it is more a case of marshalling information and checking dates and facts. In this case the time element came into play because of the weather.
The walk itself was only 2.5 miles so the time taken to plan the route back in the summer was only an hour or two. But then we got to a week before the Walkfest event and, as we usually try to do, it was time to re-walk the route. So on Wednesday 18th, Ken checked that everything was still viable – another couple of hours. This session identified that one of the footpaths had become overgrown with brambles hanging down at face height or stretching across the path (added to by numerous nettles). This required a return trip on the Thursday with a pair of pruners to clear the route.
Normally, that would have been sufficient. But then we had several days of heavy and persistent rain – including overnight in the hours prior to our Walkfest session. So, again, Ken had to walk the route that morning to check the ground wasn’t waterlogged and that puddles didn’t block the way. Of course, he then had to return to Chilworth in the afternoon to lead the walk itself and to impart his knowledge to the attendees. Fortunately, it stayed dry for the actual event and everyone seemed to enjoy the walk and the amount of information about the Gunpowder Mills. That’s what makes it all worthwhile.
So a big “thank you” to all those who give up their time to share the wonders of our area throughout the month-long Guildford Walkfest.
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