Carlisle and District Rambling Club Annual General Meeting

Friday 30th January 2026 

Minutes of the Meeting

 

 55 club members attended

 

Apologies were received from Judy Cherry and Mandy Gilpin

 

A minute’s silence was observed for club members Audrey Cavanagh and Ian Bunting who passed away 

 

Agenda 

 

Item 1: Minutes of 2025 AGM 

 

Approval of the previous AGM minutes was made by Judith Mingins and approved by general consensus without a formal vote being carried out.

 

Item 2: Chairman’s Welcome:

 

Pete Rutland, (Chair), welcomed everyone to the meeting. He began his address by informing members that there were two vacancies for positions on the committee; Social Secretary and Membership Secretary and members would be asked to put their names forward. The two current post holders gave a brief summary of the duties.

He thanked everyone who had supported the club in the past year, especially Paul Clarke who created the new website and Astrid Carss and Sharron Murray for managing the website and the social media platforms.

He also expressed his thanks for the work put in by Ian Rowley as Walks Secretary and organizer of the club holiday, Graham Bell for the Christmas lunches and High Rigg tea walk and Carol Telford and Judith Mingins for organizing the Christmas party which had been a highlight of the year. He also thanked Astrid Carss for organizing the Ben Nevis “expedition” and everyone who had led walks. 

Referring to the club finances, the committee had decided to propose an increase in the membership fees which would be debated later.

He thanked the current committee for their time and dedication and also reflected on the work of past committees that had ensured the club remained in a healthy position financially.

Looking ahead, the committee has been working on the plans for the club’s 80th anniversary year. Details were on the website for the tea party on April 18th. Those wanting to attend need to let the committee know.

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APOLOGY FROM THE CHAIRMAN.

Although this years AGM went very well and was greatly attended by the membership there was an error in procedure which was my fault. During the course of the evening many topics had to be dealt with but I omitted to put it to the members gathered about re election of the Committee. This is obviously an important part of the agenda which allows the committee to continue to serve the membership over the next year. If any members feel they have concerns about any member of the Committee remaining in post please get in touch with me. Having said that, this is my responsibility as Chairman and other committee members are not at fault.  Once again thank you for the great turn out and apologies for the omission.
 

 

As Safety Officer for the club he reflected on a year with no serious accidents or incidents. He reminded everyone of the need for correct clothing and equipment.

 

Item 3: Reports from the Committee Officers:

 

Treasurer (copy of accounts available to members upon request)

Christine Milton presented the club accounts

In addition to the membership and joining fees the club had received donations totalling £70 from club members and also some payments from Ramblers Holidays.

Overall the accounts showed a small loss for the year. The coach walks continue to need a level of subsidy, losing more money than in 2024 and, apart from the Annual Coach Ramble, all of the coaches ran at a loss. Whilst the club finances remained healthy there was the likelihood of the coaches needing to be subsidized and the committee also wanted to be able to reimburse speakers for the social nights.

It was noted that the total amount donated by club members to various charities including the club calendar, the Christmas cake raffle, and High Rigg tea walk, as well as sponsored walks and activities by individual club members amounted to more than £2750.

Christine thanked Roger Tringham for examining the accounts.

The accounts were accepted.

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Membership Secretary 

Stephen Parker reported to the meeting that there were 146 memberships.

He reminded everyone that the deadline for renewal was March 31st and that if paying by BACS they should also let the Membership Secretary know by email when they had paid. 

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Walk Secretary.

Ian Rowley thanked all the walk leaders who had volunteered to lead walks. The club has continued to put on a minimum of two walks most weeks of the year which is all down to the walk leaders. He thanked Sharron Murray for organizing the Tuesday group walks and social events.  As always, he encouraged others to come forward to lead walks. There was a shortage of lower level car walks on the programme so more ‘B’ walks would be appreciated. 

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Webmaster Report (see below for Webmaster's report on website)

Astrid Carrs and Sharron Murray gave an update on the website, Facebook and WhatsApp accounts

The Facebook page in particular has been very successful, having over a thousand followers, and in recruiting new members to the club, as well as promoting the club in general.

There was a reminder to members using the WhatsApp site to try to keep messages relevant and use the appropriate groups. If anyone needed help with accessing the social pages or the website Astrid and Sharron were both more than happy to help.

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Item 4:  Proposal to Increase Club Membership and Subscription fees

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The chairman introduced the item referred to in the Treasurers report. It was noted that the fees had not been increased for at least 10 years. The proposal from the committee was to raise the joining fee to £10 and the annual subscription to £15.

The proposal was opened up to comments and questions from the floor.

There was a question about the reasons for the overall losses.

Christine Milton responded saying that for the most part this was down to the increase in coach hire fees as well as room hire charges. The fee for coach trips has been increased twice in the past year but the numbers rarely reached break-even levels.

There was a suggestion from the floor for coach places to be booked and paid for in advance and this was something that had been done for longer journeys but it was felt it was difficult to sustain for every coach and might have a negative impact on attendances.

After one or two other comments the proposal was put to a show of hands vote and was carried unanimously.

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Item 5: Donations and Subscriptions

It was agreed by show of hands vote to continue to make donations to the Air Ambulance, Mountain Rescue and Fix the Fells. Each organization would receive £150.

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Item 6: Election for positions on the committee

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There were three nominations for the post of Membership Secretary and, after a secret ballot of members, Jean Murray was elected. 

There were two nominations for the post of Social Secretary; Ellen Mothersdale and Lynda Parker jointly agreed to share the role.

In addition, Carol Telford volunteered to join the committee.

The remaining current committee and club officers all agreed to stand again. 

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Item 7: Any Other Business

 

Proposal from Malcolm Iredale to rename ‘American Suppers’. 

The suggestion was that newer club members didn’t know what an ‘American Supper’ entailed and renaming it to ‘Bring and Share’ or something similar would be clearer

After a brief discussion this was agreed by show of hands

 

Proposal from Ann Cameron Macintosh to restrict posting photos and limit postings on the WhatsApp pages 

The suggestion was that the WhatsApp group had grown very rapidly and had lost its purpose and original focus on being a source of clear information about last minute changes to the walks programme.

 

In reply the webmasters pointed out that the main source of accurate and up to date information about walks - including last minute changes or cancellations was the website. The WhatsApp group had been created at a time when there were difficulties keeping the webpages up to date but this was no longer the case.

Other contributors from the floor said they liked using WhatsApp to comment on walks and say thank you to the walk leaders.

A show of hands was taken and it was agreed not to restrict posting on the WhatsApp groups

 

Pete Rutland thanked everyone for attending

 

Meeting Closed