News

may weekend 2026

Walking Weekend in Buxton, Derbyshire

Date: Friday 15th - Sunday 17th May 2026

Leaders: Follett and Libby Balch are leading the weekend with help and support from Bill and Vivienne Blackburne, who have a house nearby.

Contact details - Follett on 020 8749 4279 or email him at follett@thebalches.net

Please contact Follett direct. NOT ON THE GROUP EMAIL

The walking dates are shown above but, for reasons explained below, Follett recommends arriving in Buxton on Thursday 14th May and staying an additional night.

Stay: The hotel selected is The Old Hall Hotel, The Square, Buxton, SK17 6BD. It is a comfortable, three star hotel, centrally and conveniently situated. A selection of rooms are being held for the LWG. The B&B Room rates are dependant on the day of the week, style and occupation but are between £119 - £174p.p. per night dependant on single or double occupation.

Parking is ‘on street only’ and is metered. However 24 hour display passes costing £6 per day are available at the hotel.

Booking: If you wish to stay at The Old Hall –call 01298 808999.

Ext.4 will get you Nicole or Natasha in the ‘Events Team.’

You will have to give card details to confirm your reservation mentioning you are part of the LWG party. Please do this as soon as you can as the rooms will not be held beyond mid January.

Other options: The Crescent Hotel-same ownership and next door but rather more ‘up market’ with Spa facilities (call the same telephone number);

The Palace Hotel Tel. No.01298 767000 is much bigger and has better car parking arrangements but it is a bit of a climb up the hill; or

The Roseleigh Guest House (roseleighhotel.co.uk) is just 5 minutes walk away.

The town also offers many B&B’s.

Follett can email the list provided by the Information Office.

Travel: Buxton is some four hours driving from London -maybe more on a Friday - and a little over 3 hours by train from Euston (change at Stockport.) Buxton station is within easy walking distance of all the Hotels.

Activities: Buxton is, of course, an interesting and historic town ...itself very well worth exploring. For that reason it is planned that the usual Friday afternoon walk will be a guided tour of the town for which a modest charge will be made.

However for those able to stay the additional night on Thursday 14th May, thus avoiding Friday’s traffic, or are otherwise able to join us; an additional walk on Friday morning is being planned.

This will be about 3 or 4 miles -will involve some climbing up hill but, weather permitting, provides a spectacular panorama of Buxton and the surrounding Peak District setting the scene for what is to come!

As this is the Peak District, the terrain is not flat! However,alongside the main walks on Saturday and Sunday, shorter alternatives are being planned to suit those who may find the hills challenging. Anyone seeking something even less strenuous will find both exercise, and interest, in Buxton which has lovely parks and gardens, a couple of golf courses, and the municipal swimming pool close by! The weekend should therefore also suit our ‘slow laners’ and golfers.

We need two actions from you now.

Firstly, if you intend to come, please contact the Old Hall Hotel for a reservation as soon as possible - or an alternative Hotel or B&B of your choice.

Secondly, please let Follett know you intend to come and how and when you expect to travel. Putting together a list of likely attendees, and cars available for lifts, helps in making all the arrangements.

Follett will also need to know whether you plan to arrive in time to join the Friday morning walk.

annual subscriptions

The annual subscription for 2026 is now due and it remains at £15 per person. But if you are leading a walk in 2026 the fee is waived.

winter party 2025

Winter Party. Saturday 29 November. 

Graham and Nicola Child have kindly been volunteered to host the Winter Party. There is the additional advantage / disadvantage that I will be in the country! And there will be a grand ceremony handing over the leading of the group from me, Margaret M, to Judy Parsley.

Date: Saturday 29 November
Time: 6.45 for 7.00pm

Venue: 87 Elgin Crescent
W11 2JF.

Charge: £35 per person to cover food and wine.

Travel: Tube. Shepherds Bush - Hammersmith and City, Central and Overground. lines, then walk 10-15 minutes or take 228 bus to Blenheim. Crescent, which is 2 minutes walk to Elgin Crescent.
or Holland Park Tube station, served by the Central Line and 31, 94, 148 and 228 buses. Then 10 minute walk or the 228
bus to Blenheim Crescent.
Car parking is free in Elgin Crescent after 5pm.
Electric hire bikes can be used but need to be left in designated locations and we can advise. (!) Graham uses them quite frequently though he recognises that they are not for everyone.

R.S.V.P. to
Nicola 07949 441662 nicolaheywood@googlemail.com
Graham 07768 234019 gchildw11@gmail.com by telephone
or e-mail and
Please let Nicola know if you are vegetarian / gluten free / or have other dietary requirements.

Death of Prue Skene

On March 5th the death of Prue Skene was announced and we were all dismayed to lose such a valuable member.
Although a comparatively new member she arrived with charm and grace, her smile and encouragement brightening many a walk. Her unassuming manner hid many talents some of which I would like to share with you all

Prue was an arts administrator who ran Ballet Rambert and oversaw the use of lottery funding for the redevelopment of theatres. Also chair of Arts Council of England (ACE) dance panel between 1992 and 1995 and in 1994 she became the first chair of the ACE lottery panel. This gave her responsibility for the distribution of a considerable amount of ACE funds in the 1990s, making her a key player in the development and rebuilding of theatres including the Royal Opera House and the Royal Court in London, and the Lowry in Manchester.

She was the author of Capital Gains: How the National Lottery Transformed England’s Arts (2017) and in 2007 she became governance associate for Clore Leadership, part of the Clore Duffield Foundation, initiating a board development programme and providing awaydays, training days and governance sessions on short courses to myriad cultural organisations.
A full obituary can be obtained by following this link https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/apr/02/prudence-skene-obituary?...

I will miss you Prue. Bronwen

May weekend 2025 friday 16th /saturday17th

Sophie Baker is kindly organising the 2025 May weekend. Friday 16 - Saturday 17 May in Rye and Winchelsea.
Accommodation: The main Hotel will be The Flackley Ash Hotel in Peasmarsh near Rye, East Sussex. plenty of accommodation plus swimming pool and health centre. Rooms are reserved for us until 2nd January so please book now if you think you will join us. And please let Sophie and me (Margaret M) know.
here is plenty of alternative accommodation.
Walks: Friday afternoon a walk along the river Rother by Romney Marsh, Evening meal at The Tillingham Vineyards. Saturday walk Udimore lunch at Icklesham. Shorter and longer walks. Dinner at Flackley Ash. Sunday morning a cliff walk towards Hastings, culminating in fish and chip lunch in Hastings.
There are plenty of golf courses so golfers will be provided for.
Looking forward, Sophie B and Margaret M
_._,_._,_

Flackley Ash tel:+441797230651

Fancy Free Walks

THis is a very good web site if you want to find a new walk and it is FREE

useful web sites for walkers/ holiday planning etc

Recommended as a useful web site for walkers
www.onfootholidays.co.uk

May weekends 2009 - 2013

Bronwen has encouraged us to produce essays for the website. Each year I have planned to write something about the weekend and not got round to it so this year here are some memories of past weekends.

The first weekend Deborah and I organised was in Southwold (2009). We planned to do one walk south and one north of the town: the south walk to Walberswick was delightful the walk north was a disaster. We started on a board walk through a marsh but it was inadequate and we both filled our boots with muddy water. We soldiered on across featureless industrial agricultural fields to the grimmest pub we have seen. So back to the drawing board. We decided to drive a little further south and we found a great walk including Minsmere bird reserve and Dunwich Forest. In the event poor Deborah had an operation and having done the recce missed the weekend. The weather was variable, I have a vivid memory of us all scurrying from Minsmere to the pub under the shelter of a high hedge in a sharp shower. Apart from that and a rather small base hotel so we were all scattered the weekend went well.

2010 found us in Llangollen. We originally planned to be based in Chirk, on the railway line but the hotel we selected was closed when Deborah arrived for the recce. We had to relocate to a fine hotel in Llangollen which accommodated most of the group. Walks were on Offa’s Dyke and the Llangollen canal - including going through a tunnel and the famous Pontcysyllte aqueduct, beautiful but high and scary, which we all managed to cross. This was the first time we introduced a Friday evening walk, along the canal past the Eisteddfod venue to the source of the canal.

We try to alternate inland and sea locations so 2011 we went to Hastings - genteel East Hastings - in a very good large B & B, where we able to have our annual dinner.
The weather and accommodation were good, the walks successful – from Winchelsea into Hastings and on the Sunday around Battle . This was the first time we managed to finish at a site of historical interest, leaving the group to explore the Abbey and the battle ground on Sunday afternoon. As far as I can remember this was the smoothest to organise, with no disasters.

2012 we went to Bruton, again in a large B & B which accommodated most of the group. The weather was good – we walked to Castle Cary on day one and went over to Stourhead and Castle Hill iron age fort on Sunday. Apart from poor Norma falling into a large bed of nettles all went smoothly .

So 2013, just back from Sheringham on the North Norfolk coast. A great weekend despite probably the worst, coldest weather we have had (Since Deborah and I took over – who remembers Dorset? and the Malvern Hills?) although it was dry apart from the Friday evening. A record turnout – 26 for the Saturday walk, 22 on Sunday and 34 for the dinner.

Deborah and I had more panics and headaches than usual. We first arrived for the recce having carefully selected a B&B as suitable for our base to see a “Sold” sign on the property. The only consolation was that it wouldn’t have been suitable anyway. All the locals directed us to the Burlington Hotel , and once we had braved its rather forbidding façade it was clearly the place for us. Just after we had circulated details and asked people to book the hotel closed for its annual holiday, which led to some confusion. We then could get no response from The Lobster where we had booked for the Saturday dinner, we rang the Burlington who said” Oh, that Graham . . . “ and offered to send someone round to sort it out. This was a good indication of the kindness and friendliness we found throughout the weekend.
On arrival Deborah found that 1 ½ miles of the coast path on our planned Saturday walk was closed for sea defence repairs, so again back to the drawing board. Deborah very cleverly found a delightful walk through the Bayford wood nature reserve, and we finished in the birdwatchers paradise of Blakeney Marshes.
It rained steadily through the Friday evening walk through Sheringham Park. Happily the wind was behind us as we walked back into Sheringham along the cliffs. Saturday was grey, Sunday was really quite good weather! We walked to Felbrigg Hall, NT property and back, only occasionally getting lost. All the walks were of variable length, on Saturday there was an optional coffee stop that cut 3 miles off the morning!

So Deborah and I will now start organising next year’s weekend – put the 3rd weekend of May in your diaries and lets hope to see even more of you next year. Margaret and Deborah