MAD Walkers is managed by a Committee of volunteers, who are elected
into posts by members annually at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). Your
Committee takes overall responsibility for all the processes involved in
the successful running of MAD Walkers.
As our group continues to grow, we really do encourage new people onto
the Committee.
You can read the minutes of our committee meetings here.
Chair
Oli Fearn and Marieke Van der Zande -
chair@madwalkers.org.uk
Responsibilities of this role include:-
-
Chair committee meetings. The Chair should aim to attend all the
scheduled committee meetings, running the meeting, keeping
discussion on topic, coordinating votes, proceeding in a timely
fashion. Note that during Committee meetings, the Chair does not
have a vote except in the case of a tied vote.
- Chair the AGM.
-
Support and co-ordinate activities between the various committee
members.
-
Retain an overview of all Committee activities, providing support
and advice when necessary.
-
In conjunction with the Secretary, act as the primary point of
contact for any issues or complaints raised by members or
non-members, referring at all times to the group procedures and
policies.
-
Take ownership of complaints in a professional, timely and effective
manner, organising sub-committees to examine issues if necessary,
following processes detailed in the standing orders and complaints
procedure.
-
Liaise with other local Group chairs, Area Committee (attending Area
meetings if at all possible) and Ramblers Association HQ.
-
Maintain and update group procedures and policies, with input from
Committee.
-
Maintain and update role definitions and handover processes between
years, with input from Committee.
- Maintain an archive of Committee and AGM paperwork.
-
Take responsibility for the Group Constitution and standing orders.
-
Usually a signatory on the account, countersigning cheques and
authorising online transactions, confirming actions back to the
Treasurer and other signatories.
-
At the end of the Committee year, the outgoing chair’s role
typically extends into performing financial authorisations for the
new Committee, with express written permission from the incoming
Chair or incoming Treasurer.
- Act as a figurehead for the group.
- Guide the group’s development.
The chair can often be on the receiving end of a wide range of serious
complaints or delicate issues. An ability to remain calm and
level-headed, avoiding quick reactions and seeing every side of an
issue is beneficial to the smooth and effective running of Committee
and the group.
Handover Process
Meet with new Chair between the AGM and the first Committee meeting
and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
-
Handover and review all documents, including, but not limited to,
the Constitution, Standing Orders, Policies, Procedures, Role
Definitions, Handover Processes, archived committee paperwork.
-
Highlight any ongoing issues and/or complaints under investigation
or matters not closed by the outgoing Committee.
-
Highlight any decisions that have been left for the incoming
Committee.
-
Review any particular ongoing activities that require close
monitoring.
-
Arrange for completion of account access form, if not already
completed at the AGM.
Secretary
Camilla Reece Trapp -
secretary@madwalkers.org.uk
-
Secretary is responsible for preparing the agenda (with the chair
person) for the committee meetings and producing/distributing the
minutes for committee meetings.
-
Ensures that a room is organised (booked if necessary) for the
committee meeting and informing committee of location, date and time
of meeting plus distributing any meeting papers.
-
Collating officer reports prior to meetings (usually due a 3-5 days
before each meeting).
-
Acts as a point of contact for Area group, Ramblers Association HQ
and the public, sometimes enquiries are forwarded to relevant
members of the committee.
-
Disseminates notices from Area, other groups, RAHQ, public
contacts/groups as appropriate through all MAD channels of
communication.
-
Runs the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the group with help from
other members of the committee and produces minutes for the AGM.
-
Maintain a diary of the group's important yearly activities, for
example prompting before the 30th September when the group's
accounts need to be submitted to RA Central Office and in January
when the Annual Report is submitted to the Area.
They have one of the group's more intense roles, and the ability to
attend most, preferably all, meetings is important.
Handover Process
Meet with new Secretary between the AGM and the first Committee
meeting and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
-
Handover and review all documents, including current and archived
committee paperwork (minutes, actions, reports etc.).
-
Highlight any ongoing issues and/or complaints under investigation
or matters not closed by the outgoing Committee.
-
Highlight any decisions that have been left for the incoming
Committee.
-
Review any particular ongoing activities that require close
monitoring.
- Review the dates and locations for upcoming meetings.
- Review preparation processes for each meeting.
Treasurer
Alex Laver -
treasurer@madwalkers.org.uk
- Look after the group's finances and bank account.
- Issue payments on presentation of receipts.
- Record all incoming and outgoing transactions.
- Ensure all payments have receipts/supporting documents.
- Enable transparency of the accounts.
-
Receive budgets for events, suggesting changes where necessary and
present these budgets to Committee for approval.
-
Receive details of and verify each event’s actual expenditure once
complete, investigating discrepancies and present a summary to
Committee for approval.
-
They provide a report including current bank balance and summary of
transactions during the period to the Committee at regular committee
meetings.
-
They obtain information regarding future transactions to ensure the
cashflow is well managed.
-
Retain sufficient funds for future deposits to large expenditure
events to be booked in advance of cash payments.
-
In October they prepare the year end accounts to be submitted to
Area (and the auditor - a group member selected at each AGM) and
present them at the AGM.
Accountancy experience is not required, but numeracy is quite
important. The effort for this role is spread throughout the year and
can be quite considerable.
Note that membership payments are all handled separately by the
Ramblers Association.
Handover Process
Meet with new Treasurer between the AGM and the first Committee
meeting and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
- Handover and review all financial records.
- Handover report archive for the role.
-
Highlight any ongoing event budgets or financial matters not closed
by the outgoing Committee.
-
Highlight any decisions that have been left for the incoming
Committee.
-
Arrange for completion of account access form, if not already
completed at the AGM.
Membership Secretary
Alice Cleary -
membership@madwalkers.org.uk
-
Maintain the group's membership list, which is received from the
Ramblers Association's membership office and Area membership
secretary, and report the membership total to committee meetings.
- Field any emailed membership enquiries.
-
Provide a list of the group's current members to the AGM to
identify those with the right to vote.
-
Send out email reminders to people who have lapsed membership. Check
membership status of people signed up for events (for insurance
purposes).
-
Provide members' contact details to requests from other
committee members, in line with the Data Protection Act.
-
Provide the responsible officer (usually the webmaster) with an up
to date list of email addresses to be used for the dissemination of
information through email shots.
-
Manage the group’s Facebook members list (invite new members, review
requests and remove lapsed members)
Handover Process
Meet with new Membership Secretary between the AGM and the first
Committee meeting and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
- Handover report archive for the role.
- Handover and review all membership records.
- Highlight lapsed members and chase up details.
- Highlight any ongoing issues or enquiries.
Walks Co Ordinator
James Brett, Sarah Kendall and Ellie Schenk -
walks@madwalkers.org.uk
This role is responsible for:-
-
Receiving all walks submissions from our volunteer walk leaders,
checking their contents for accuracy e.g. walk distance, difficulty
etc and approving them on the website via the back-end system.
-
Responsible for publicising all walks by all internal and external
methods of communication, e.g. posting to Facebook pages, using
Twitter (either directly or through the relevant Officer)
-
Tabulating all walks led; their leaders and other statistics on each
walk for annual data.
- Answering personal queries regarding walks.
-
Assisting walk leaders in planning, reccying, grading and submitting
walks.
-
Filling in gaps in the walks calendar with their own walks when
necessary.
-
Keeping in regular contact with walk leaders and encouraging walks
to be submitted as and when necessary.
-
Making sure there are Committee members present on a new leader's
first walk.
- Giving walk transport advice.
-
Encouraging new walk leaders, through focussed events such as
training walks or map evenings at the regular pub social, where
people can plan walks.
-
Encourage walk leaders to report any path obstructions they find and
report these to Area or RAHQ.
-
Arranging the prize draws for Walks Leader and New Walks Leader at
the AGM.
-
Provides a regular report at every Committee meeting summarising
current walks.
-
Provides an annual report on Walks in time for collation into the
Annual Report presented at the AGM.
-
Custodian of the group's walking equipment inventory (for example
maps, radios and compasses), and will need to be keep track of the
holders of this equipment so that these objects can be provided to
members/coordinators when necessary.
Handover Process
Meet with new Walks Officer between the AGM and the first Committee
meeting and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
- Handover report archive for the role.
- Handover and review all current walks.
-
Highlight ongoing and upcoming walks that require attention or
support.
- Handover discussions with members putting on walks.
- Explain the use of the automated back end system.
Weekends Co Ordinator
Tom Whitehead and Karolina Žoramskytė -
weekends@madwalkers.org.uk
The responsibilities of this role include:
-
Encouraging group members to organise weekends away such that there
are several spread throughout a year, particularly to more distant
areas where the duration of the journey and walk would be
impractical within a day walk.
-
Responsible for publicising all weekends by all internal and
external methods of communication, e.g. posting to Facebook pages,
using Twitter (either directly or through the relevant Officer)
-
Maintain a diary of the regular walking weekends to fill, such as
bank holidays and this role should ensure variety (for example not
revisiting the same walking area within a year).
-
Answer all weekends related queries, from organisers and attendees,
passing on queries when necessary, including encourage car-sharing
for weekends away.
-
As weekends are complicated, this role assesses the completeness of
the weekend organiser/s arrangements (for example, does the charge
for the weekend cover costs, are the number of beds in line with
expected popularity, have the walks on the weekend reccied?).
-
Having extracted the main details from the weekend organiser,
submits the weekend(s) to the Webmaster in a convenient format or
instructs the weekend organiser to use the website submission system
for weekends as and when this becomes available.
- Maintains the back-end system for weekends.
-
Arranging with the Treasurer for any deposit or final payments for
each weekend as appropriate.
- Answering queries from the Treasurer regarding budgets.
-
In line with attending weekends being a benefit of being a MAD group
member, they request the list of weekend attendees off the weekend
organiser to compare it with the current membership list from the
membership secretary.
-
Usually a signatory on the account, countersigning cheques and
authorising online transactions, confirming all actions back to the
Treasurer and other signatories on the account.
-
Custodian of the group's weekend inventory (for example catering
equipment), and will need to be reasonably flexible so that this can
be provided to members/weekend coordinators when necessary.
As weekends are volunteered at any point, this is a steady 'drip-drip'
role.
Handover Process
Meet with new Weekends Officer between the AGM and the first Committee
meeting and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
- Handover report archive for the role.
- Handover and review all current weekends.
-
Highlight ongoing and upcoming weekends that require attention or
support.
- Handover discussions with members putting on weekends.
-
Explain the method of submission of weekends to the webmaster.
Social Secretary
Katie Roberts -
socials@madwalkers.org.uk
-
Encourage members to organise socials and manage the social
calendar.
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Lead the organisation of any big ticket events e.g. the annual
Christmas party.
-
Ensure information regarding socials appears on the website by email
of the information to the Webmaster in a convenient format.
-
Maintain the back-end website system for socials as and when that
becomes available.
-
Responsible for publicising all socials by both internal and
external methods of communication, e.g. creating Facebook events and
inviting members or simply posting to Facebook pages, using Twitter
etc (either directly or through the relevant Officer)
-
Ensure that the social programme complements the walks and weekends
programmes.
-
Prepare the new members 'meeter and greeter' rota for the monthly
Knott Bar socials.
-
Provide a regular report at every Committee meeting summarising
current activities.
-
Provide an annual report on Socials in time for collation into the
Annual Report presented at the AGM.
Handover Process
Meet with new Socials Co-ordinator between the AGM and the first
Committee meeting and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
- Handover report archive for the role.
- Handover and review all current social events.
-
Highlight ongoing events that require attention (usually Christmas
party is the main one).
- Handover discussions with members putting on socials.
- Explain the use of the automated back end system for Socials.
Social Media and Communications Officer
Samantha Towers and Catherine Elliott -
comms@madwalkers.org.uk
The Social Media and Communications Officer should promote walks,
socials and weekend events organised by MAD Walkers in an engaging
and inclusive manner. Posts should both advertise events to current members
and encourage new members to join the group. MAD Walkers can be promoted through
a variety of channels including but not limited to; Meetup, Facebook members' page,
Facebook public page, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, email and printed posters.
The Social Media and Communications Officer role could also involve:
- Creating and sending new members welcome emails via Mail Chimp
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Formally emailing members in response to complaints or queries
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Having primary responsibility for the MAD Walkers social media Channels
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Promoting Ramblers Association events, walks or notable anniversaries
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Producing publicity material or promotional items, e.g. t-shirts, flyers, posters etc.
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Contacting local charities and organisations to ensure MAD Walkers remains an inclusive,
welcoming club. Local community centres, local mental health groups,
community groups, GM health walks and other local Ramblers groups
-
Organising publicity stands at local fairs or
public places (e.g. market places, popular walking locations).
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Working with the walks coordinator to promote our involvement
in any RA themed events, walks or notable anniversaries.
All promotions must be 'apolitical', easy to comprehend and inoffensive.
The Social Media and Communications Officer should not post anything
which conflicts with the view of the Ramblers (RA) overall.
The RA's publicity section can be used for advice on their national
campaigns and notable anniversaries. The role can be as intensive as the
holder wishes, it is advisable that the role holder selects a few appropriate
social media channels rather than using all of them.
Handover Process
Meet with new Social Media and Communications Officer
between the AGM and the first Committee meeting and:
- Give an overview of the role, including how much time per week is involved in the role
- Handover passwords for MAD Social Media and Mailchimp accounts
-
Highlight any notable upcoming MAD or RA events or anniversaries
- Provide new Social Media and Communications Officer with any relevant contacts
Webmaster
Arthur Embleton,Rob Pridham and Десислава Петрова -
webmaster@madwalkers.org.uk
This role looks after the group's website. The primary activity is the
general maintenance of the website but the role holder may also like
to add new features and design.
The webmaster must be conversant with running and developing websites.
Familiarity with HTML and CSS is essential, while Javascript, PHP and
SQL/MySQL would be beneficial.
-
Responsible for the day to day maintenance of the website. The
website is written in static HTML with a PHP API built in Laravel
and a Javascript "bridge" using Axios and Vue.
-
Further development of the website is encouraged if the postholder
has time and enthusiasm, but should not detract from the necessary
day to day maintenance.
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Ensuring remaining content is up to date, dynamic content as much as
possible based on the date e.g. past events will disappear from
calendar pages once the date has passed.
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Correction of spelling and grammatical errors throughout the
website.
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Ensure backup and restore mechanisms are in place for the server,
working with the hosting provider.
-
Be in tune with the RamblersWebs (hosting) forums, as this contains
info on updates and bugs.
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Keep the ramblers.org.uk walks database up to date as much as
possible.
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Avoid becoming a single point of failure – keep other experienced
officers conversant with the website structure and maintenance.
- Avoid over-complicating the website further.
-
If possible, ensure that cover will be available from other
experienced officers at all times when the officer is unavailable.
Handover Process
Meet with new Webmaster between the AGM and the first Committee
meeting and:-
- Give an overview of the role.
- Handover login details for the website backend.
- Explain the structure of the website.
-
Explain how to update both static and dynamic content on the
website.
- Inform RamblersWebs, using the ‘change of webmaster’ form.
Meetings
Any members are welcome to attend a Committee meeting, please email the
secretary (secretary@madwalkers.org.uk) for further information.