U3A Group, South Bank, London 2012. David on extreme left, I with arm round Christine in front row.
Over the years I’ve belonged to a number of walking groups. Those I can remember, with approximate dates, are:
- 1956-1961: Our own railway exploration group, the core of which was Jeremy, Frank Fullen and myself. We were joined on one walk by Terry Halbert. See Railways.
- 1962-1964: The Watford YHA (Youth Hostels Association) group.
- 1969-1975: Barbara Morris’s group (later with Adam Sowen).
- 1970-1975: Immigration Officers Walking Group.
- 1989-1995: Brighton Ramblers Association Group.
- 1996-2001: Camino Walking Group, based around Shoreham. A number of the members of this group had walked all or part of the Camino to Compostella.
- 1997-2004: Brighton Rambling Club.
- 2004-2009: Monica’s Walking Group based on London.
- 2009-2011: Helen’s Breakaway Group based on London.
- c2008 to present: Brunswick Westward U3A Group, Brighton.
Following Helen’s withdrawal from the breakaway group, and in view of the walks mostly being on Sundays, when Christine & I normally go to church, I decided to form my own group in 2011. However, despite there being quite a reasonable number of people on my list, none of the walks I proposed were sufficiently signed-up for to go ahead with them. This year (2012) I’ve been too busy to try to organise any more. But I’ve been attending the U3A group walks, run by my friend David Mills, for around four years now, and have led two, one a Patcham circular via Pycombe (out west of the A23, and back east of it and past the Chattri Indian war memorial, and the second on 11th August 2012 an exploration of the byways of central and outer Brighton called ‘Twit a ou’ (with French accents which I can’t do). We ended up with tea at our house which is in a ‘twitten’ (an alleyway).
