The team can be contacted via the contact form above, and details are also published in Third Age Matters magazine along with email addresses.

Whatever your question or query we would then hope to pass this to the most experienced member of the team to give you the answer that you need.

Start by thinking about some questions. We’ve included what other groups have decided to do but your group may well have different priorities.

If you have someone to discuss ideas with, all the better, most u3a walking groups are led by one or two people, with others stepping up to help lead walks as the group gets going

• Why are you walking? Social/ fitness/ seeing new places, will help to determine the level of the walk, whether you include a lunch stop ( packed lunch or pub) and how far you want to travel from home.     Group A,  social group, meet in the morning for a 5-mile mile walk which takes about 2½ hours followed by a pub lunch. Group B All day walk 9miles, 6miles in the morning, eat packed lunch near a pub then a quick toilet & drink stop.
• What distance do you want to walk? It should be roughly the same distance each time you go out so the group know what to expect
• What Day and time? Have a look at your u3a’s other active group’s times and try to avoid clashing
• How frequently will you walk? Monthly, fortnightly ( eg 1^st & 3^rd Wed) or weekly?
• How far from home do you want to travel to start the walk? Do you meet somewhere to car share? Car sharing makes it easier to find a start point to leave the cars in country lanes. Group A limit themselves to 20mins from home and drive straight there, Group B meet in town carpark on Sunday morning (free) and car share to start point 40mins away.

Once you have planned your first walk, you can now publicise the launch of your group.

Allow a month from the 1^st publicity shot to the date of the walk

• Get your u3a chair/website admin/ group enabler to help, they can email all your u3a’s member list with details of the new group.
• Newsletter article
• Web site front page article and get your group page set up on the website ready to add details of the walk., your website administrator will be able to help with this 
• Ask your website administrator for a Beacon account and for them to add your new group to Beacon.  See the Beacon Help sheet  for more information on the process.

There are many websites available that provide details of various levels of walks of all lengths. A good starting point is searching for (your county) walking routes, this will bring up various national sites, the most popular are listed below, but also look for your County Councils’ web site.

https://www.alltrails.com

https://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking.aspx

https://www.walkingbritain.co.uk

https://www.komoot.com/guide/22623/hiking-in-england

What 3 Words is also useful to find the start point for a walk

https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app/

These will usually give you a “thumbnail” of the route but will need transferring onto a proper Ordnance Survey map before you tackle the route. As you develop your route-planning skills, it is often far more rewarding to plan your own route.

You will probably know some local walks and it is good to use these to start with as people will be familiar with the route and feel confident about joining the ramble. There are a vast range of options these days, but physical paper maps are still a must-have.

OS Landranger maps 1:50 000 are a good start for route planning, they show all the footpaths, bridleways and byways and are helpful for planning a loop walk.

OS Explorer maps 1:25 000 show field boundaries and gives you a much clearer picture of where the path goes “on the ground”.

The OS App allows you to put any map purchase on your pc or mobile FOC. They also offer a choice of monthly or annual subscription which provides national map coverage on your pc or mobile. https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/apps/os-maps/

This is useful because your phone can use GPS to show where you are on the map when you are walking.

Another useful App for the phone is OS Locate which will give you the exact map refence at the point you are standing with your phone.

A new much simplified risk assessment checklist is provided by the  by the Third Age Trust.

Check your route a few days before you lead the group walk if possible, conditions can change dramatically from memories of a previous year, land owners have been known to clear ditches and leave the debris all over adjoining footpaths

The OS website lists some danger points to check when planning a route

https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/guides/planning-a-walking-route-in-5-easy-steps/

When walking over particularly hazardous paths it is useful to have a “spotter” at the front of the group, this would probably be the walk leader, looking for badger holes, wobbly stiles, barbed wire etc. and alerting following walkers to the hazard.

This is an area that is very much open to discussion and there are no set policies within the u3a. As an organisation u3a do not ask for details of members’ health, but as leaders of physical activity groups, we do take some responsibility for the safety of our group and could therefore expect to be made aware of any serious health issue that could affect a member while on a walk.

Examples could be a member that has angina and carries medication for their condition or a diabetic that could possibly suffer from hypoglycaemia.

One solution would be to simply ask members to let you know if they have any conditions that may cause issues during a walk, that way they can make you aware in the best way they see fit, most would probably prefer to have a quiet chat about something before you head off, but others may email you, be very careful the email doesn’t inadvertently get forwarded.     

Safety and Planning 

With the best of planning, accidents do still happen and there is a wealth of information on The Ramblers website. Please have a look at the website for planning a safe walk.

All walks should have the risks assessed using the Walk Leaders Risk Assessment Checklist which can be downloaded from the Third Age Trust web site. This is a simple checklist which can be used to ensure that any risk areas identified on the walk have been noted and action taken to mitigate those risks. Wherever possible a reconnaissance of the walk should be completed which will help to identify risks and in completing the Risk Assessment Checklist.

Calling the Emergency Services and providing the precise location

In the worst-case scenario, if there is a serious medical incident that requires the emergency services to be called, they will need the exact location of the group.

Paper maps that you can read a grid reference from are still the most reliable way to provide a location, and the mobile phone App OS Locate will give an accurate map reference.

Many people are now using the what3words app on their mobile https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app/  

Looking after your member  

For all but quite simple accidents it is recommended that the emergency services are called to the incident.

Simple first aid advice can be found on the British Red Cross web site. https://www.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/first-aid-apps

It is recommended that in the case of an incident that one member stays with the injured member looking after their welfare as far as possible. A second member should then contact and deal with the emergency services.

The guidance here is very clear and should be followed to ensure we adhere to the now very strict rules on Data Protection. The u3a Beacon email system has been developed to hold contact details and emails in a secure manner and a help sheet on Beacon is provided below:

Beacon Help

The U3a have a national members’ database which is called Beacon,  you will need to get familiar with this application to be able to add members to your group and use it to contact them about your activities.

https://www.u3abeacon.org.uk/password.php?logout&froml=1&relogin=1

Start by speaking with your website administrator who will give you a login & password for Beacon, choose your local u3a from the dropdown and login, then click on Groups to see all the groups within your u3a

Scroll down to your group, if the administrator rights have been set up for you, the group will be in blue.  

If it is a new group you have set up, the website/Beacon administrator will set you up as leader, if you are taking over or helping lead an existing group, ask the current leader to use “make leader” to give you access to the group (see below)

• 

  Double click on the blue group name and the Group Record for your group will open

  

  This is where you can add a few details about the group, then click on the Members tab, to see the members of your group, if it’s a new group you may not have many members yet, but as people enquire about the group, you can Add member by name, 

  You’ll get a long drop-down list of everyone in your u3a and you can add them to your group, if anyone else has offered to help lead the group, you can use “make leader” to give them admin rights to the group ( They will still need their own Beacon login though).

  As you add members to your group, you will see their address and telephone number, this forms part of the u3a data protection GDPR process and this information should not be copied to your personal filing system (paper, phone contact list, spreadsheet etc ) without their consent.

  

  When you have added members to your group, you can Select individual members or Select All to send emails to.

  Their emails will appear in the top window and will be sent as a BCC ( Blind Carbon Copy ), which means that when they receive your email, they won’t see other members’ addresses, again this is an important requirement of GDPR and should be the method you use to email members.

  One limitation of Beacon email is that pictures can’t be inserted into the body of the email, you will need to attach them as files (usually JPEG is best).

   

Walking is generally insured for u3a members as long as a risk assessment has taken place. Please refer to the Insurance FAQs.