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Our dear friend Brian Murphy died on Sunday 18 September. A keen walker, Brian was an enthusiastic member and supporter of both GOC and Out on Sunday for many years. Many of us will have happy memories of the numerous interesting walks that Brian led for our group over the years, most recently in July last year when Brian led a lovely walk around Liverpool taking in several of the city’s impressive historical parks. We were fortunate to be joined on that day by Brian’s wife Pat and their daughter Sarah. Brian was a fount of knowledge about the history of the region – his walks were often accompanied by copious notes on history and points of interest adding to the enjoyment of the walks, and to our education! We will all miss him very much. In accordance with Brian’s specific wishes there will be no funeral service, there will be a direct cremation attended by close family only. Our thoughts are with Pat and the family at this time. |
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Paul Duckworth We also recently learnt the sad news that Paul Duckworth died on 28 August. Paul had been introduced to Out on Sunday a few years ago and enjoyed occasional walks with the group. Paul was a steadfast volunteer for the Icebreakers group for gay men and was the longest serving member of the volunteers committee. Among his other interests were visiting botanic gardens and amateur music, some of our members will also remember Paul from the MANGO dining group. Paul’s death at such an early age is a sad loss and our thoughts are with his family and many friends. A Celebration of Life ceremony took place on Friday, 16 September. |
Llangollen weekend
This year the group held its annual weekend away at Llangollen. As well as the wining and dining there was some walking involved and Saturday morning saw 25 of the group setting off on the Llangollen History Trail – a 7.5 (plus!) mile walk taking in some of Llangollen’s historic sites and the spectacular scenery surrounding the town. The walk incorporated the Horseshoe Falls; Llantysilio Church and Valle Crucis Abbey. All returned safely, some with aching feet! Other members not walking on the day paid a visit to Plas Newydd, home of the Ladies of Llangollen.
On Saturday night we gathered at the Hand Hotel for the customary group dinner, there was a record attendance with 30 diners enjoying the food, drink and (as always) the sparkling conversation.
For Sunday’s walk we met up at Pontcystyllte aqueduct – a Unesco World Heritage Site. After a stroll across this amazing structure which carries the Llangollen Canal high across the Dee valley we walked the 5 miles or so along the picturesque towpath of the Llangollen Canal back to the town centre from where most made their way home. A great weekend, our thanks go to Cliff, Colin, Alan and David for all their efforts organising the event. For anyone not in the WhatsApp group there will be some photos posted on the website in the next few days.
Walks update
To date the group has completed 27 walks this year with an average attendance of 14 walkers (excluding the Llangollen walks). Two walks had to cancelled at short notice – one due to Covid-19 and the other due to exceptionally hot weather but fortunately both walks were re-scheduled.
Over the past two years or so we have been lucky to have new walk leaders have come forward to lead walks for the group (thanks Simon, Stephen, Jon, Alan & Terry). As always we are keen to recruit new walk leaders so if you are interested in leading a walk please come forward – our experienced leaders will be only too happy to give help and encouragement.
At the moment there are some Sundays available in November – if anyone (new or old!) would like to lead a walk please get in touch. It would also be very helpful if anyone able to offer walks for January – March 2023 could get in touch with Colin with walk offers prior to the planning meeting / AGM in January when we usually set out the walks programme for the year.
Membership update
A big OOS welcome to all our new members! We are particularly happy to welcome several female walkers who we hope are enjoying the walks and activities. At the time of writing our membership stands at 75 paid up members with an additional 4 who have sampled a walk or 2 and who we very much hope will become full members.
Christmas meal – last call!
The annual festive meal has been arranged for Sunday 18 December and will be held at Cosy Club, Exchange Square, Manchester. You should have received an email with the full details but anyone who hasn’t please check here for full details. Please note that a deposit of £10 per person is needed by MONDAY 26 SEP to confirm the booking with the restaurant.
2023 AGM
Monday 23 January has been set as a provisional date for the Annual General Meeting. Further details – venue etc to be announced in due course.
Out on Sunday website – HELP!!
We have been made aware that our website www.outonsunday.co.uk will cease to function reliably at some point in the coming year. This is due to the fact that the current version of ‘Joomla’ the Content Management System(CMS) used in the website is being updated and Rachel who has kindly managed the website for six years will not be supporting the new version.
This leaves us in a difficult position and we would be very pleased to hear from anyone with some knowledge or expertise in this area who might be able to: (a)set up a new website (a big ask!), (b) take over the existing website with the Joomla updates (c) has any ideas how we might go forward.
We would also welcome input from anyone (technical expertise not required) who would be interested in being on a small ‘working group’ to consider how we should move forward and examine the options eg website / facebook group / meetup / any other suggestions. At the moment, we don’t have a timescale for when the website might stop working but we’d like to start looking at options fairly soon so, please get in touch if you think you can help!
Thanks for reading this far and best wishes from all the trustees!