Walk Programme News
17/02/2025 - March 9th Walk Cancelled and Replaced...
Ray's walk from Crystal Palace has been cancelled due to rail engineering works. Ray has replaced it with an alternative walk from Bearsted Church. The programme has all the details you need to know so you can join our walks and it can be found on the walks page .
10/02/2025 - March Walk Programme Available...
Our March walk programme is now available. There are sixteen walks this month. The programme has all the details you need to know so you can join our walks and it can be found on the walks page .
11/01/2025 - February 5th Walk Cancelled and Replaced...
Ray's walk from Nettlestead has now been cancelled. Ray has replaced it with an alternative walk from Riverside Country Park PCP, Gillingham. The programme has all the details you need to know so you can join our walks and it can be found on the walks page .
11/01/2025 - February Walk Programme Available...
Our February walk programme is now available. You should get out more, so come and join us. There are fourteen walks this month. The programme has all the details you need to know so you can join our walks and it can be found on the walks page .
28/12/2024 - Change of Donnington Start Point for the 8th January...
Winifred will now start her Donnington walk from the Church car park and not the village hall. So ME9 0BD for your satnav. For full details please see the walks page .
13/12/2024 - January Walk Programme Available...
Our January walk programme is now available. Make a resolution, join more walks. There are fifteen walks this month. The programme has all the details you need to know so you can join our walks and it can be found on the walks page .
11/11/2024 - December Walk Programme Available...
Our December walk programme is now available. This time around there are just twelve walks as Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday. The programme has all the details you need to know so you can join our walks and it can be found on the walks page .
25/10/2024 - Bearsted Walk November 20th - Start point change...
Martin's walk will now start from Bearsted Church CP and not the Woodland Trust. For details of all walks please see the walks page .
12/10/2024 - November Walk Programme Available...
Our November walk programme is now available. This time around there are seventeen walks. Every Sunday, Wednesday and two Thursdays. The programme has all the details you need to know so you can join our walks and it can be found on the walks page .
22/09/2020 - For Those Who Prefer an Easier Walk...
Maidstone Group News
11/08/2024 - Committee Opportunities - from October...
After being an important part of our Committee for a number of years, Mo Pearson and Roger Spencer have decided to stand down from their positions, as Treasurer and Publicity Officer, at the AGM in October.
We are now looking for two volunteers to come forward and join us to help keep the group running smoothly. Mo and Roger will be happy to discuss their positions with anyone that is interested.
If either position interests you and you have a little spare time to help the group, then please contact me or any other Committee member for more information. info@maidstoneramblers.org.uk
18/07/2024 - Christmas Meal - Wednesday December 11th...
We are pleased to announce that we have booked Bearsted Golf Club for this year’s Christmas meal. The date is Wednesday, 11th December. We will meet at 12.30 p.m. for a meal time of 1.00 p.m. as usual. Sue Waters will be leading a 5-6 mile walk from the car park before the meal. There will be a choice of a 3-course meal at £31.50p. or a 2-course meal at £26.95p. The two-course meal can be either a starter and main course or main course and dessert.
Starters
Butternut Squash Soup (VG)
Chicken Liver Pate with onion marmalade and toasted brioche
Brie and Cranberry Tart (V) with wild rocket and balsamic glaze
Main Course
Roast Turkey served with roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables, pig in blanket, cranberry and sage stuffing with pot roast gravy
Roast Salmon served with butter greens, baby potato, dill and white wine sauce
Vegetable Wellington (VG) served with herb roasted baby potato and a tomato basil sauce
Dessert
Double Chocolate Cheesecake with winter berry compote
Christmas Pudding with brandy custard
Fresh Fruit Salad (VG)
The menu can be adapted for allergies and intolerances.
Payment in full is required by Wednesday, 30th October, 2024. Also, please email me with your menu choices along with details of any food allergies by this date and I will advise of payment options. xmaslunch@maidstoneramblers.org.uk.
13/05/2024 Annual Holiday Announced…
A trip to Porthcawl has just been announced for April 2025.
Date of holiday: Sunday 6th to Saturday 12th April 2025
Staying at: The Seabank Hotel - Porthcawl
Bed, breakfast and evening meal
Evening entertainment
A coach will pick up Maidstone, Sittingbourne and Rochester and stay with us all week as usual
There will be a long and a short walk Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri with one optional walk on Wed, the coach drivers day off.
The cost is: £410 per person with a £50 deposit on booking.
If you are interested contact: info@maidstoneramblers.org.uk
20/02/2024 - Walking Holiday discount, plus a donation to our Group...
Ramblers Worldwide Holidays have announced a rebranding and are now called Ramble Worldwide.
As part of “The Walking Partnership” they offer a donation to our Group if you mention you are a Maidstone Rambler when you book.
A further, special member discount is available off any of their holidays for all departures in April and May 2024.
On offer is £50 off per person on any holiday, with a minimum 7 nights duration, with holidays starting either in April and May 2024 (other Terms and Conditions may apply). This is in addition to any current offer, and is valid for bookings made up to 15th March, subject to availability. Please see following link to our website for details of all our holidays: rambleworldwide.co.uk
To redeem this offer, please quote TWP50 at time of booking. Our team will then add the discount on to the booking. Call 01707 331133 or book via our website and enter TWP50 in ‘comments’.
11/07/2023 - Christmas Meal Details Announced...
This year’s Christmas meal will be held on Wednesday, 6th December, 2023, at Bearsted Golf Club, Ware Street, Bearsted, Maidstone, ME14 4PQ. The time will be 12.30 p.m. for a 1.00 p.m. start and Sue Waters will be leading a short walk of approximately 5 miles before the meal. The Golf Club has kindly given permission for walkers to use the bottom car park.
The cost will be £33.95p. (including a tip) for a three-course meal, with reductions for 1 or 2 courses. Details of menu choices and prices will be circulated to all members within the next couple of months. A deposit will be required at the time of booking.
26/02/2023 - Jubilee Celebration Tree Planted...
Our Group have provided a tree to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the late Queen Elizabeth II. Her wish had been that the jubilee be celebrated by planting trees. After a few delays, our tree, a disease resistant elm, was planted in Mote Park on 4th January by Mote Park volunteers, under the supervision of Karen Thorpe, the Ranger. Unfortunately, there is no identification on the tree as all tags, etc, are banned.
Our Chairman, Carol, can be see here visiting the location. For anyone wishing to see the tree themselves it can be found by using the What3words app under the code: rail – rang – slave. For those who do not have a smartphone, take the path with the cafeteria on your right. You will come to a group of newly planted trees and our tree is the first on the right nearest the footpath.
28/07/2022 - Recent trip to Eastbourne…
On the first weekend in July some members of the group travelled to Eastbourne to walk the Seven Sisters. Lovely views and excellent weather. What more could a walker want....
18/07/2022 - 2023 Annual Holiday Announced…
A trip to Weston-super-Mare has just been announced for April 2023. All you need to know can be found here.
15/07/2022 - Our Annual Holiday in Pictures…
Maidstone Ramblers finally made the trip to Scarborough planned for 2020 in April. If you were not able to go, this is what you missed! The pictures.
21/05/2022 - Our Walk Programme in Pictures…
See what our walk programme offers in pictures. What have group members seen so far in 2022? Take a look at the the work of our keen photographers who keep busy on most of the walks on offer. All on show in the gallery!
29/03/2022 - In memory of David Hooker…
Last Autumn Carol lead a walk in memory of Dave from Linton. Sadly, we lost Dave in October 2020. Carol is photographed overlooking Boughton Monchelsea deer park, just off the Greensand Way, as the group paused for a moment of reflection. A keen photographer and naturalist Dave and Carol liked to enjoy walking holidays together, like the one to Italy’s Garfagnana in 2014. As you can see Dave was also able to turn his hand to poetry. The walk may have ended but the memories linger on.
22/02/2022 - Maidstone Leader Wins Poetry Award…
Following his success in publishing his own book of twenty-four poems, Andrew Hider has now won the National Mammal Week Poetry Competition 2021.
The judge of the competition said the standard of entries was so high that it made it very difficult to choose the winners. However, after reading each poem several times, she managed to whittle them down to a longlist, and then a shortlist. Finally, she picked the three that stood out most to me, and decided which should be awarded first, second and third.
I have chosen ‘Snip, Snip, Snip’ by Andrew Hider as this competition’s winner. This poem sat in my mind for a long time after I first read it, and each time I returned to it, I found more to enjoy and feel moved by. The repeated ‘Snip, snip, snip’ at regular intervals was cleverly used to guide the reader through different eras and scenes, and link them all together: the past, when the image of a cornfield is cut out of a magazine by a little girl, who imagines looking ‘through the eyes of a mouse’ from within the picture; later on, when sadly ‘most wildflower meadows disappear’ and the ‘number of wild mammals is cut down’; and a century later, when the picture is on the girl’s granddaughter’s wall, still inspiring those who look at it to see through the eyes of a harvest mouse, despite all that has been lost. Overall, the poem effectively enforces the importance of imagination and how vital being connected to nature is to us (and has been throughout history) and therefore what we stand to lose if we don’t work to protect our environment and its wildlife.
Snip, Snip, Snip
A rabbit sits in a cornfield
That is filled with poppies,
With her two babies.
A cornflower watches,
With eye of blue.
Snip, snip, snip,
A little girl cuts out this picture from a magazine,
And puts it in a frame.
Snip, snip, snip,
The little girl cuts out a story from her mind,
And she looks through the eyes of a mouse,
And daydreams that she says good morning to the rabbits,
To set off on a day of adventures,
Ending with a climb back up to her cosy nest to sleep the night.
*
Snip, snip, snip,
The little girl’s daydreams are cut away.
Snip, snip, snip,
Cornflowers no longer grow in cornfields,
As most wildflower meadows disappear.
Snip, snip, snip,
The number of wild mammals is cut down,
As the countryside is tidied up.
Snip, snip, snip,
A century is cut out of time;
The picture hangs upon the bedroom wall
Of the little girl’s granddaughter,
Who she never met,
And is now grown up.
The story was lost long ago,
Before I was born;
But,
Snip, snip, snip,
I can cut it out of my imagination,
And look through the eyes, of a harvest mouse.
Andrew Hider
In memory of Phyllis Hider, born Phyllis Rose, 1911-1982.
06/10/2021 - And Finally, The 40th Anniversary Celebration…
After a delay of 18 months the lunch to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Maidstone Ramblers’ Group has been held. Peter Royall set up the Group on March 23rd 1980 with just 33 members. So, on Monday 4th October over 70 members past and present enjoyed a lunch at Bearsted Golf Club. Peter Royall and the current Chairman, Carol Davis, both made speeches on the day.
Any member wanting to see more photographs of the event should contact info@maidstoneramblers.org.uk
13/09/2021 - A walk on the Wealdside…
Congratulations, to a select few of our members who have completed the Wealdway last week, inspired by the Weald Way 40th anniversary. A few others joined them for part of the way. After some 83 miles over six days they have earnt a well earned rest. Some of the towns and villages visited on the route, from the beginning in Gravesend, include Sole Street, Vigo Village, Wrotham Heath, Platt, West Peckham, Tonbridge, Bidborough, Speldhurst, Fordcombe, Withyham, Fairwarp, Uckfield, East Hoathly, Hailsham and Upper Dicker before reaching the finish in Eastbourne. To see evidence of their trip, see here.
Joining them on the route from St. Nicholas Church Sandhurst via Bodiam to Ewhurst Green and back were thirteen others including Kris Lovell who had her own hip replacement operation just seven months ago.
Geoff led the walk to “The White Dog” and Ray took over for the return leg after lunch. Kris completed the whole walk. She is also a keen cyclist and has already done forty miles in a day and seventy miles over a weekend. Several stiles had to be overcome as well as crossing the Kent and East Sussex Railway line so it was not just a walk in the park but a serious ramble involving reasonable amounts of ascent and descent. The weather was fine and the views across Kent and East Sussex were very rewarding.
Having enjoyed it so much the leaders debated at the end whether to organise another walk and they are seriously considering another joint venture in the future.
Earlier this year Andrew Hider self-published a collection of twenty-four poems entitled “Amazing Maisie”. He sent one to OCD Action, a charity for people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and they chose the poem “Behind Maisie’s Door” to publish in their national newsletter. They asked for a description, and because of their choice of poem, He decided to describe how Joining Maidstone Ramblers has helped him. The poem is shown below, illustrated with an open door, which Andrew says represents the freedom people get from rambling - in his case partial freedom from OCD. He goes on to say that the poems are not just about what’s wrong with Maisie, but what’s right with her as well. She is very bold, and stands up to OCD in the way that people with the disorder, such as him, would like to. She has a sense of adventure and a love of nature. The description of the poem explains why Andrew felt it necessary to write about the subject:
“I had become increasingly frustrated with the way Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is misrepresented so I decided to produce this booklet. Throughout the booklet OCD is there but it is not apparent in all the poems, because the aim is for Maisie to be a typical children’s character, despite having OCD. In “Behind Maisie’s Door” a simplified way of looking at it is that OCD is trapping her in her room so Maisie defies OCD and goes out for a walk. There is a lot of me in Maisie but perhaps Maisie is somewhat bolder than me. For most of the booklet Maisie is around eight years old, the age at which I developed the condition in 1963. Walking is something that has helped me fend off OCD to an extent and it made a great difference to me when I joined Maidstone Ramblers in 1982, of which I am still a member and through which I met my wife Claire who has helped me run the Maidstone OCD Support Group for the past eleven years. It’s possible to think that if I had not joined the Ramblers Association to further my interest in walking and to get out and meet people I may have become increasingly reclusive. I had an interest in walking by the time I was seven, so I have always had the benefit of it as some release from OCD.”
Andrew explains that a little booklet like this cannot hope to fully describe a condition as complex as OCD ... the aim of “Amazing Maisie” is to try to challenge the misconceptions of the disorder. So you are strongly recommended to visit www.ocdaction.org.uk . On there can be found details of all the OCD support groups in the country, including the Maidstone group. Andrew has some free copies of his booklet available, which you can ask for if you see him on a walk. Alternatively, you can download the booklet as a PDF file.
Maisie awakes in the dark in her bed,
She wonders if behind her door, there are ghosties of dread;
She wonders if behind the light through the crack round the door,
There are messages flooding onto her bedroom floor.
To what is behind the door Maisie is blind,
She wonders that if she opens it what she might find.
She bravely pushes the door to see what is there,
And finds there is nothing, nothing to scare;
The big monster behind the door is no longer there,
He will go away if Maisie does dare.
Maisie hears the breath of the wind,
The songs of the birds,
And the crash of distant waves.
She smells the scent of sweet violets,
Of soft primroses and fragrant blossom.
She feels the warmth of the sun...
She forgets her cares and walks as me,
Where woodland trails meander free;
And summer grass flows like the sea,
To cliff tops where the ocean be.
She hears music on the dancing waves,
Being played by fingertips of land,
As she gently sings upon soft magical sand.
Upon these rainbows of magical sands,
In these nearby faraway lands,
Where the scary monster cannot reach,
Maisie dances with white horses on the beach.