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Carefully does it – slippery Stile!
Peel from Peel Hill
NEWS AND EVENTS
News
Please note that all Walking Group forms are now accessible from the "Forms" link at the bottom of each page.
A special Thank You to all those members who help maintain our footpaths throughout year and report defects. Some members have ‘adopted’ a particular path, maybe near to home, and regularly take their secateurs with them to tackle the brambles etc. and Ian (Sunday/Thursday group) carries roundel way markers and his trusty screwdriver with him to replace lost or damaged ones. Many thanks guys, your efforts are very much appreciated.
PRIVACY POLICY
Our privacy policy can be viewed by clicking on the link at the bottom of each page
First Aid Course
Well done to those who passed the First Aid Course on Wednesday 5th September. I think you’ll agree it was nothing to worry about. We will be doing more courses in the future so if you missed this one there will be other opportunities to get your certificate.
A couple of tips for members:
We have found a couple of very useful free apps for your smart phone. Firstly, OS Locate will give you map co-ordinates which will help the emergency services to find you should you find yourself in trouble. It also has a compass. The second one is Maps.me which can help you find your way home in the event of you becoming lost (or maybe in thick mist). It shows you where you are on the map and has already proved itself useful to us a couple of times. Neither require mobile data to work away from home. Of course, there are many more apps. of this type on the market, I’m sure you’ll find one to suit you. Lesley
First Aid Kits
The St.John Ambulance instructor was very impressed with the First Aid Kits we have bought for the club. Several members have expressed interest in owning their own. If you would like to buy one for yourself please click on the following link https://www.mistrymedical.com/search.php The ref is RL1233 and the price is £12.17
‘Walk the Isle of Man – 2-19 Event – UPDATE…
Sally Helwich and Andrew Foxon are pleased to announce that there has been considerable interest in the “Walk the Isle of Man” event running from Monday 30th September – Friday 4th October 2019 and are very happy to confirm the event. Several members of the MFCG have offered their services as walk leaders and if you would be willing to help with this as well, please contact Andrew Foxon direct on afoxon@iom.com or via 480129. Andrew will be contacting and arranging to meet with walk leaders during 2019 and providing support, risk assessments, training and emergency backup. Walk leaders will be insured for the event. If there are walks that you would particularly like to lead and offer to visitors and residents, please let Andrew know! To sign up more generally for information about the event please use https://www.facebook.com/WalktheIsleofMan/ or contact Sally Helwich at sally@iomevents.com direct.”
Ramblers Association Holidays
Did you know?...That the MFCG is affiliated to the Ramblers Association. When you book a walking holiday through the Ramblers Association and you say that you belong to an affiliated walking club they will pass on a small sum of money to the club. It costs you nothing extra and it benefits YOUR club.
The following MAJOR footpaths have been temporarily closed
PRoW 423 from junction of A3 Ballamodha (‘Scout Camp path’) to Grenaby will be closed until 09.01.2019 for safety reasons
PRoW 360 The Heritage Trail from Braddan to Peel Power Station will be closed from 16.11.18 to 04.03.2019 for upgrading of the Heritage Trail to take place. This PRoW will be closed in phases…more details as they become available.
Great news! After a prolonged closure the Tholt y Will Glen is now OPEN and has brand spanking new bridges and steps. WOW!
Temporary closures are currently in place for each of the following three tracks/paths. However, a more prolonged 6 month closure has been applied for on each of them. This is due to the extensive amount of damage that they have suffered. There is currently no date set for when works will be carried out. The closures will be published on Roadwatch.
The byway known as 'The Dowse' (map ref: 304828 to 285824)
PRoW405 - Lynague, German
PRoW632 - Riverbank Road, Ramsey
For further details the contact number for DoI is 850000.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions are due 1st January each year payable to the Manx Footpaths Conservation Group and will remain at £6 for this year. Please post cheques to Maree Harper at 14, Derby Square, Douglas IM1 3LS. You can click on the following bold links to download the Membership Application Form & Standing Order Form.
Isle of Man Hills Walks Book - Important Addendum
Walk No 9 - Pages 24 and 25
Please note that this walk crosses private land. If you would like to walk this route, please contact the landowner, Mr Corlett (Tel No: 812160 / Mobile: 480338) for permission beforehand.
Footpaths
Should any member/visitor to the Isle of Man encounter problems with any public footpath, i.e. overgrown, broken gate/stile etc, please could you e-mail David Leiserach, Foothpaths Officer at David@manxfootpaths.org. It would be most helpful if you could also include a photograph and any details that will help identify the public footpath and/or position of the gate/stile etc.
Photographs
We would like to update the website photographs on a regular basis and would be pleased to receive photographs from members. If you are happy for your photograph to be used by MFCG on our website, please email it to Lesley@manxfootpaths.org (Tel:437978), including the place and date of the photograph. Thanks go to members for providing photographs from our walks. They are always greatly appreciated.
MFCG Badge
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Newsletters are distributed in Spring and Autumn each year to all fully paid up members, together with the Walks Programmes for Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with the addition of Wednesday evenings in the summer period. Subscriptions are £6 per annum, payable before 1st January each year. Membership Application forms can be downloaded from the Forms page or contact our membership secretary Maree@manxfootpaths.org or tel: 671740.
Walks Programmes
All paid up members should now have received their exiting new Winter Walks Programme, so time to wax those boots and get walking! Our sincere thanks to Bob Garrett, Gill Percival, Tony Archibald, Peter Gunn and Pat Mudie for all their hard work in compiling the walks lists. The subtle art of persuasion is evident when they are looking for people to lead walks. Once again, we have no shortage of volunteers and we are extremely grateful to all of them (too numerous to mention individually) and without whose knowledge and experience the walks could not happen. A huge thanks also to those who send in photographs for the website. Please keep them coming, they are very much appreciated.
All walks are open to all walkers but please choose walks that will suit you. Please bring Bus or Railway Passes, Travel Cards or Cash for walks which start with a train, tram or bus journey. Also please bring a packed lunch and a drink for all day walks. Leaders who are unavailable please arrange a replacement.
EVENTS
Dates for your Diary
As we hurtle towards Christmas don’t miss out on our exciting seasonal events…
Winter Talks Programme
A series of three special interest talks to help us through the long winter months beginning with:
7th November – ‘Nautical Musings’ with Captain Steven Carter.
The first of our three winter talks, this was a great success with almost 40 members enjoying a very informative and entertaining talk followed by tea and biscuits. It was lovely to see old and new members getting together for this very relaxed social evening. A huge thank you to Mylchreest Court for allowing us to use their comfortable community lounge.
5th December – once again we had an excellent turnout for Dr. Andrew Foxon’s talk on ‘Prehistoric Mann’. It gave us a good insight into how the Island came about and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. We also had a chance to catch up with old friends over tea and biccies. Let’s hope we can entice Andrew to come back again next year to move us on a few thousand years. Many thanks Andrew, it was great.
and finally… the last in this series of Special Interest Talks 6th February 2019 ‘The Old Ways are the Best’ we have Andrew Johnson, one of the Island’s leading archaeologists, author and Curator of Field Archaeology at Manx National Heritage. Andrew also took part in the popular TV programme Time Team in 2006 when they uncovered some very important finds at Mount Murray.
Thursday 13th December - Thursday Group Christmas Lunch
Following the walk on 13th December the Thursday Group will be enjoying their annual Christmas Lunch at the Creg ny Baa hotel. All members are welcome but booking is essential. Please contact Peter.
Sunday 16th December – Sunday. Christmas Carol Service at St. Lukes Church, Baldwin.
Another year has passed us by and it’s time for members to get together for our annual Carol Service. This delightful little church is the perfect place to join together for a short walk and to catch up with old friends who may walk on different days followed by a ‘bring and share’ tea. A lovely festive feel to this event and all members are welcome.
Tuesday 18th December - Tuesday Group Christmas Tea Party
Following our walk on 18th December, lead by Ann and Bob, we will drive to Peel Golf Club for delicious homemade cakes and tea or coffee. This is always a popular social event to round off the year and all members are welcome to join us. If you don’t wish to do the walk you can come just for the tea party afterwards but booking is essential. Contact Bob or Ann.
Saturday 22nd December - Saturday Christmas Walk
A chance to unwind with mince pies, mulled wine and our annual (for many years now) Christmas sing-a-long following our last Saturday walk before Christmas. This is always a very festive and fun event hosted by Di and Chris.
A new challenge?...
We now have the opportunity to take part in a Hills Skills, and a separate Navigation course for members who would like to improve their leadership skills. Both courses will be run by Dr. Andrew Foxon who has numerous qualifications in leadership training, is a registered tour guide and a training officer for Civil Defence (you can meet Andrew at our next Special Interest Talk on December 5th). The Hills Skills course will take place over two full days in February 2019. It is on an attendance basis (like the SJA course). The Navigation Course gives members a choice between Bronze or Silver awards and will take place in March. For members with some navigational experience it will be possible to do a three day, straight to silver, course. This is an assessed award. If you would like to know more please contact mrkevciom@yahoo.co.uk. to book your place and receive a full information pack.
Special Interest Walks with Brian Beattie
18 members joined Brian for the first of his annual Special Interest walks. On Sunday 7th October we met at Ballaglass Glen and were treated to a lovely circular walk where we saw several tholtans well hidden from view by the undergrowth. It was interesting to speculate how people in days gone by lived their lives.
Sunday 14th October brought 16 members out on a beautiful autumn day for the second of Brian’s Special Interest walks. Brian led us up the steep side of Sulby Glen to the fantastic old tholtan of Ballaskella(reputedly haunted). Now in ruins, it still has lots of character with outhouses, barns and the substantial remains of the horse mill. The autumn colours were truly breath-taking and the weather was perfect. Many thanks Brian, we all really enjoyed it but did wonder what made them choose such a remote place to live.