Everyone welcome – why not join us?
Monthly walks
Group events are organised on a co-operative basis and lead by regular participants who are all volunteers.
Participation is FREE though you may incur incidental expenses such as suitable footwear and clothing, transportation, parking, refreshment and nourishment.
We usually walk on the last Saturday of each month, generally departing at 09.30 prompt from the free Car Park at Oakwood Church but arrangements vary from walk to walk.
Our walks are typically circular, between 4 and 7 miles, with shorter ‘winter’ walks during GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Some parents/grandparents bring children (for whom they are always solely responsible). Regular participants’ guests are welcome, and so are well-controlled dogs.
Routes are planned using only Public Rights of Way and Permissive Paths. They are led at a comfortable pace, to be within the capability of most people who enjoy average fitness, stamina and agility. They may be sufficiently demanding to challenge but not defeat some of our older or less fit regulars. One or two regulars are over 80 years of age but still enjoy our walks. When routes are more demanding, the volunteer walk leader may be able to offer a shorter/easier ‘B’ route so that everyone can participate while remaining safely within their capabilities.
All Walkers need: boots or stout walking shoes; adequately warm/cool clothing (including waterproofs if precipitation is forecast); a ‘day’ sized back-pack to carry a damp-proof, bottom-sized, sit-down mat; any sunscreen, medicines or first aid items they might require; sufficient water to avoid dehydration; hot drinks and energy snacks during GMT (Winter) and a picnic lunch during BST (British Summer Time).
During shorter GMT walks, we pause en route, but we generally not long enough to picnic. Walk leaders will often aim to end their walk near a Pub or Café for warming, refreshment, nourishment and WCs – but these features are not guaranteed.
We sometimes use public transport, but generally drive to the walk start point, which is rarely as much as an hour distant and usually much nearer. Travelling, driving and parking directions are provided. We always aim to minimise the number of cars we take for reasons of environmental impact, reducing the pressure on available parking at our destination, and financial economy. It is our custom that those walkers who are being driven make an appropriate contribution towards their volunteer driver’s fuel costs (our convention is £3 per passenger).
Participants are solely responsible for assessing their own capability to undertake each walk. Using www.streetmap.co.uk you can view Ordnance Survey maps for all destinations at 1:25000 (Zoom Level 3) and 1:50,000 (Zoom Level 4), showing terrain and footpaths. Google Earth can show you 3D flyable satellite images of the terrain we will be walking over. Google Maps is a free route planner with road-level and satellite images. It also delivers SatNav Directions on any GPS-equipped data-connected smartphone. If in doubt, ask the month’s volunteer walk leader to describe in more detail what challenges might be encountered.
Walking Weekends
Not everyone wants to holiday with us, so please don’t feel that joining in any of our monthly walks or other social events commits you to attend a Walking Weekend.
For many years, the Oakwood Church Walking Group has travelled to walk further afield. Nowadays, we do so twice each year typically in April and in October. Around 15 Walkers will stay B&B (with optional evening meals), for a 3-night weekend – Friday afternoon to Monday morning. Some walkers who own touring caravans or motorhomes may choose to stay at nearby camp sites. We don’t range more than three hours driving away from Leeds – which puts Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, northern Lincolnshire, and all of Yorkshire, Durham, and southern Northumberland potentially within range. Ex-walkers and non-walking partners/friends of regular participants may join us but must amuse themselves while our organised walks are underway.
For more information, or to ‘try us out’ by participating as our Guest, to join the Walking Group, or to volunteer to lead a walk, please
| Contact | David Donaldson |
| Call | 07948 244 752 |
| useful.donaldson@gmail.com |
Personal Data and GDPR
Oakwood Church needs each adult walkers’ express permission to collect and store their personal data so that our volunteer event leaders can make contact to organise events and, if a walker became ill, injured or incapacitated during a Group event, attempt to notify their Emergency Contact. If you decide to join the Walking Group as a regular participant we will ask you to complete this online GDPR Form. If you prefer to complete a paper copy of the GDPR Form, please contact us.
Only walk leaders who need to access participants’ Emergency Contact information are able to do so by clicking Here. Nobody else can get access.
Individuals who join the Walking Group by completing the GDPR Form will be given Editor access to our Events Programme spreadsheet. There they will be able to view details of upcoming walks and events, and indicate their intention to participate, etc.
The Walking Group also maintains ‘Business’ and ‘Social’ WhatsApp Groups, the latter for casual chat’s and photos of our walks. Most Walkers choose to be members of the ‘Business’ Group but some prefer to avoid the after-walk pinging of ‘Social’ Group messages.