Ringwood & Fordingbridge Footpath Society

                 Chairman's Notice Board

RESTORATION OF THE RIVER AVON SYSTEM

Plans to "restore" the river Avon to a more "natural state" have been brought to my attention by a local Parish Council The plans are very detailed and can be found at  http://avon.geodata.soton.ac.uk/  

It seems likely that changes would result in more boggy areas and perhaps make it very difficult to use the Avon Valley Path on its present route and perhaps other rights of way in the vicinity.  It is very likelt that Linwood Bog would become more boggy.

WALKING FOR HEALTH CO-ORDINATOR

An email has been received from Marilyn Weeks, Access Projects Officer with the Countrside Service, Department for Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs.

She is aking whether anyone is interested in applying for the part-time job of "Walking for Health Co-Ordinator"

The following email has been received which may well be of interest to some members.

PATHH PROJECT

Hello there,  

I have recently been in contact with one of your members who recommended I contact you. My name is Stephen Fisher and I’ve recently started as the project manager for the new PATHH project (Providing Access to Hampshire’s Heritage), the evolution of the Discovering Hampshire’s Lost Ways project of 2008.  


As you may already know, following the success of the original project the Countryside Access Forum formed PATHH as a sub group to expand the work. This year they received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund which enables the entire county to be covered over the next two years. As before, the project will focus on identifying historic public rights of way which will help satisfy a modern need. This need has been identified in Hampshire County Council’s Countryside Access Plans and is itself an ever evolving list.  

I’ll be managing the project on behalf of PATHH after my employer, the Hampshire & Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, was offered the opportunity to do so. We're now in the process of recruiting new volunteers for the project and I thought this might be something of interest to your members. Of course I fully understand that people’s time is precious and that each volunteer will be able to offer very different amounts of input for the project. Please don’t feel that we’re only interested in people who can commit to significant chunks of time each week; the duration of PATHH allows a great deal of flexibility in the research required and there is no obligation to do any more than you want to.   

If any of your members are interested in being involved in PATHH, they’ll find a little bit more information at www.pathh.hwtma.org.uk – I should warn you this is still a bit rough around the edges at the moment but I’ll be regularly updating and expanding it with further information over the next few weeks.  


I’m in the process of organising some group training events at Hampshire Record Office next month. The dates are:  

Wednesday 17th November, 6-8pm  
Thursday 25th November, 6-8pm  

Both sessions will be the same so you only need to attend one. The idea is to provide an overview of the project and a guide to actually carrying out research in the Record Office. If you can attend please let me know which date you’d prefer. If you can’t attend either there will probably be some further events in January or I can meet you separately when the research begins.  

If any of your members have any queries or would like to have an informal chat, then I can be reached at this email address (which will be my main contact during the project) or by phone – Mondays are best on 02380 237300 (please ask for me and mention PATHH).   

Kind regards,  

Steve  

Stephen Fisher  
The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology  
023 8023 7300  
www.hwtma.org.uk  

WORK ON THE BREAMORE RAILWAY LINE

The next working party on the old Breamore Railway line will be on Tuesday 23rd November 9.30am.
 
We will meet near the old Railway Station and be working to the north. 
If you need further information please contact me. 
Ruth 

FOOTPATH WORK - 9.30AM ,TUESDAY 30TH NOVEMBER. 
Meet at the old station at Breamore prior to transport to the footpath we are clearing. 
If in doubt because of adverse weather contact me.
Ruth