WINTER NEWSLETTER 2026
Happy New Year to you all and welcome to another year of walking. Hope you’ve managed to escape all the cold and flu viruses that are circulating or have recovered if you did succumb.
Our programme begins in January with walks in Shropshire, then the Chilterns in February and in March we visit the hills around New Radnor in mid-Wales. Hope you can join us.
Please be aware of the weather forecast for the area we are travelling to- this may be different to home – and wear appropriate clothing. Micro spikes are recommended for ice and snow (especially hard packed snow) and are considered essential for mountain areas such as the Lakes in winter conditions.(Kahtoola Microspikes have good reviews)
ANNUAL DINNER DECEMBER 2025
This was our third visit to the Wild Pheasant in Llangollen, which was preceded by four walks in the hills around Llangollen. The weather was kind to us and we all managed to have views on the tops north of the river, though I believe the B2 party had one misty top on the hills south of the river.
The three course meal was excellent with good service from the staff throughout the event.
On the journey home we had sweets, courtesy of Roger Needle and a sing along of Christmas Carols and songs organised by Paul and Tess. Thank you all.
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
Membership subscription of £20 for 2026 is now due if you haven’t already paid. Please pay into the club bank account as a separate payment and use a reference of Subs to aid our treasurer.
CONTACT DETAILS
Please remember to keep your contact details (ie address, phone number, email address and emergency contact details) up to date with Bob Price, our Membership secretary bob_price@sky.com
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING TUESDAY FEBRUARY 17th 2026
This is the yearly opportunity for members to discuss any matters regarding the running of the club with the committee. Come along and air your views and any suggestions you may have. The AGM will be held at 7.45 pm on Tuesday 17th February at The Plough and Harrow on Slade Road.
LAKES WEEKEND 27th February – 2nd March 2026
This year we are returning to the Glaramara Hotel in Borrowdale. Tom Somervell has emailed you with your balance and requested payment by January 16th. He will be sending out more details to participants in the next few weeks. Due to a couple of late cancellations, there are a few places available for anyone interested who hasn’t already signed up. Please contact Tom for further details or if you have any queries tomsomervell@gmail.com
AUTUMN WEEKEND TENBY 9th-12th OCTOBER 2026
This year, we will be staying at the Belgrave Hotel in Tenby, a lovely seaside town in south west Wales. We will be walking parts of the 300km Pembrokeshire Coast Path National Trail.
Places may still be available so if you would like to come please contact Wendy Price wendy_price@sky.com as soon as possible.
PEOPLE NEWS
I am sorry to say that Keith Richards has decided to resign from the committee with immediate effect. Although much improved, he is still suffering ill effects from the shingles and it is looking likely that Elaine will be having a hip replacement this year so he feels he needs to step down in order to concentrate on their family needs. Keith, thank you for your help and support in the past and we all hope that you will both be able to join us on the walks as often as you can.
We have a few other members who are awaiting treatment or recovering from surgery/illness. We wish you all well and hope that you will be back with us before too long.
THE CLUB WEBSITE
Richard has decided to step down in the very near future from his position of Web Master after almost 20 years and Paul White has offered to take over the role. Richard started the website in the summer of 2006 after a chance remark at a club evening walk, beginning from scratch, with no formal training and has maintained and updated it on a monthly basis ever since. He has always tried to keep the website relatively simple so that it was easy to find the required information and we have fielded all the emails that come from potential members -as well as the stream of emails offering to run the website, supply accountancy and business leads and of course various scams.
The website had been added to over so many years, with various software and security updates and although Richard was able to update it pretty easily, it proved too complicated to transfer to another webmaster in its current form. Richard has spent many hours over Christmas setting up a new website with a different provider which should enable a smoother transition to Paul. The committee have been checking out the layout on various devices to make sure everything looks correct and we are almost ready to go live once we set up the payment process with the new provider. Hopefully the change will go so smoothly that you don’t notice (apart from the sparkly new appearance!) but please bear with us over the transition period if there are a few hiccups.
Thank you Richard for almost 20 years as webmaster, for your dedication and for being patient with me nit picking over the layout and making requested changes to the website at 10.30 pm on a Thursday night after the committee meeting!
Thank you for volunteering Paul and good luck!
FUND RAISING
RAMBLERS WORLDWIDE HOLIDAYS- WALKING PARTNERSHIP
If you are planning your holidays for 2026 and onward, have a look at Ramblers Worldwide Holidays https://www.ramblersholidays.co.uk They offer a wide range of holidays worldwide, catering for all trekking and walking abilities and also special interests such as bird-watching, flora, cooking and walking or cruise and walk. As the holidays are taken with small guided groups they are great way for solo travellers to experience different countries and cultures and some holidays attract no single supplement. The added bonus is that as a walking partnership nominated club, we will receive funding every time you holiday with them and nominate Hill Walking Club Sutton Coldfield.
EASY FUNDRAISING
Can you help to raise funds for the club doing your normal on line shopping? There are many companies who will donate to us if you shop on line with them. Some well known ones are Tesco, Sainsburys, Ocado, Amazon, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Go Outdoors, Booking.com etc. It really is very easy to use. Some donations are only pence, but they all add up.
Use the below link to have a look at Easyfundraising, join up and lets see if we can make some money for the club. There is also a link button on the top right of our website.
QUOTE OF THE QUARTER
The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy, walk and be healthy.
Charles Dickens, author