Congratulations to Dave and Rachel who got married in Oxford yesterday. Having met on a club trip to the Howgill Fells, they tied the knot four years later on a glorious Saturday in August. OUWC wish them the best for their future together!

Some details of the Michaelmas termcard are now on-line, including information about all the trips and a summary of the socials. Please check out the exciting activities at Weekend Trips / Minibus Day-trips / Social Events.

All the places on this year's Summer Trip have now been filled. However, people may drop out of the trip so if you would like to be put on a waiting list then please e-mail Richard at one of his funky summer e-mail addresses: letsclimbmountainsandplaybeachfooty@ouwc.org or 26@ouwc.org.

This year's Summer Schedule has been released so check out the details HERE. There are four Local Walks, a barbecue and a Summer Trip, for which there is currently only one space left... so hurry. Enjoy your summer!

There will be a Summer Trip to The Highlands and Islands of Wales from 7th to 11th August. You can read more about it HERE. Please note that if the trip is oversubscribed then a ballot will be used to allocate trip places after seven days so please act now to participate. A Minibus Day-trip, some Local Walks and a barbecue are in the planning, of which the details will be finalised very soon, so please call back to read about the other activities in this year's Summer Schedule.

The Punting Party Extravaganza is at 1:30pm this Saturday. The starting time has been brought forward by half an hour. You can check out more information about it HERE. There are also still places available on the Minibus Day-trip to the Lambourn Downs, which you are welcome to turn up to on the day. You can check out more information about it HERE.

Some photos of the 40th Anniversary Dinner have been placed on-line HERE. We hope to add several other photos of the memorable evening in the near future. In addition, you can read the speech delivered by Bill Manville, who represented Oxford University Rambling Club (a previous incarnation) HERE and the speech delivered by the previous Oxford University Walking Club President, John Seymour, HERE.

There haven't been many photos added to the website recently because there is a website relaunch planned for this summer with the photos section being expanded. Whilst the section is lacking in the meantime it is counter-productive to spend much time formating lots of photos in the old html format and so work has started in earnest in compiling an impressive section with hundreds of new photos: we hope that you will find it to be worth the wait.

The club has run into problems with some trips almost being cancelled due to a lack of available drivers. If you are over 21, have driven for 2 years and have a clean driving licence then the club would be willing to pay for you to attend a University Minibus Course. As a club driver you would be rewarded with priority on trips. If you are interested in helping out then please consider e-mailing Barney, the Minibus Representative - minibus@ouwc.org - thanks!

Unfortunately due to lack of transport the Stonehenge BIG Minibus Day-trip has been cancelled. At this point in time there are still spaces on four Walking Trips this term though so please keep an eye on this webpage. If there is a trip you wish to participate in then please click on the link above and contact the Principal Trip Leader for more information. Many members of the group will still make their way to Stonehenge this Saturday by public transport, for an estimated £9, and all members and their friends are welcome to come along. Please meet the group outside the main entrance of the Railway Station at 7:45 if you would like to join them for the day out.

Unfortunately due to lack of transport the Snowdonia Weekend Trip has been cancelled. At this point in time there are still spaces on seven Walking Trips this term though so please keep an eye on this webpage. If there is a trip you wish to participate in then please click on the link above and contact the Principal Trip Leader for more information.

After the Free Tea yesterday there are still many places left on the term's walking trips. The Stonehenge, Norfolk and Pembrokeshire trips are well oversubscribed but there are still lots of guaranteed places on the other trips. Please contact the Trip Leaders to arrange to sign up for the trips.

After a quiet period during the Easter vacation, the club is now very much up and running again. The Trinity termcard is now completely online. Members will receive their copy at the end of 0th week. In the meantime, please put this date in your diary: Free Tea is at 16:45 (please note the change of time) on Wednesday 30th April (1st week) in Wadham College Old Refectory. This is the event where you can join the club and sign up for trips. You can read more about it HERE. We look forward to seeing you there.

Congratulations to James Welch who won the Presidential election at the TGM last night, and to the others who got elected to committee, including Barney Stratford who makes his long-awaited comeback. Thanks to the outgoing committee, including the retiring John Seymour and Ben Kinley, for masterminding a successful Hilary term.

The Termly General Meeting Hilary 2003 is in the Shaw Stewart Room of Keble College at 19:00 this evening. Read more about it HERE including the 5 motions that will be voted on and the first Presidential election for some time, how exciting!

The Pancake Party this week has been cunningly brought forward to Shrove Tuesday! Meet at the King's Arms at 19:00 to go to the President's kitchen at Hertford College Graduate Centre to cook some sumptuous crepes. Who will dare eat a 'chilli-surprise' and how many pancakes will end up stuck to the ceiling thanks to some useless tossers?!

Oxford University Walking Club proudly celebrates its 40th birthday this year, having survived previous incarnations as the 'Rambling & Hillwalking Club', the 'Rambling Club', and originally (believe it or not!) the 'Scholar Gypsies', when three girls from St. Hugh's came up with the idea in 1963!! As such, there is a packed weekend coming up of opportunities to relax and have a fun time rambling and socialising. Please see the home page for more information... enjoy!

The Tenpin Bowling Evening is today, meeting at Trinity Gates at 19:15 - currently there are 13 people signed up for 2 hours of bowling mayhem in Witney, which leaves 4 spare spaces! The modest price of £12 includes 2 hours of bowling and transport so please have a think about coming. The remaining places will be allocated in order of: (1) e-mailing John Seymour, the Social Representative - social@ouwc.org - to say that you'll pay him at Trinity Gates, (2) turning up at Trinity Gates and paying for it then. There are currently four spaces left so feel free to turn up for a fun evening; if you are keen then consider getting in touch to get your place. Also, we'll meet afterwards at 10:30 at the Turl Bar, Turl Street, so if you're busy revising but fancy last orders then please come along as we'll be there!

In celebration of the club's 40th anniversary there is a 60's-themed extravaganza at 19:30, with rock and roll music, dancing, drinks and snacks. The party is in the Shaw Stewart Room at Keble College. There will be loads of booze so please come along, and try to beat John, as he dresses as a hippie, to the prizes for the best costumes. Please just ask the porters directions to the Shaw Stewart Room. We ask for a modest £1 entrance to cover costs and then it's just £1 per drink, cheaper and better than just going to a pub! Love and peace, man!

Tickets are on sale for the 40th Anniversary Dinner... but only until the end of the 60's Party. The ouwc event of the 2003 is on Saturday 1st March. After a pre-dinner drinks reception, there is a 3-course meal in New College Hall with wine and port included plus coffee, and there will be an abundance of drinks provided afterwards. The event is already more than twice the size of last year, with over 65 tickets sold already. The all-inclusive tickets are on sale now at £32.50 for current members or £42.50 for ex-members, which is good value for a unique evening to remember! Please deliver a cheque for £32.50, payable to "OU Walking Club", to John Seymour at Queen's College before midnight. Time is running out!

The mugs have arrived! The club received today 50 navy-blue 350 ml thermolite mugs with the ouwc logo on them! Cheers to James Welch and Andrew Tyrrell for organising all this, it is appreciated. They will be on sale from the College Bar Crawl tonight (the mugs that is) for £5 each. Yeaahhh!

Due to a technical hitch with the booking of the venue, the 60's Party is postponed to next Wednesday, very sorry for any inconvenience. Instead tomorrow there will be the College Bar Crawl to which the Lake District participants are invited to meet at the King's Arms at 19:00 for a pre-trip get-together, and everyone else is welcome too for a fun-filled evening. The group will try to take in as many college bars as possible before the close of play! You are alternatively welcome to meet outside Hertford College lodge at 21:30. Tenpin Bowling Evening places and 40th Anniversary Dinner tickets can be bought from the club President throughout the evening.

Join Ben and the posse for a fun-filled evening this Saturday (01/02/03) for this term's Pub Ramble! Please feel free to meet up with them at any stage throughout the evening. Here is the agenda: King's Arms at 17:30... via Eagle and Child and/or Rauls (classy!)... Radcliffe Arms for food from about 18:45 to 19:00... via the Bookbinders and/or the Jericho... Jude the Obscure for 21:00... then who knows?!... Gardeners Arms etc.

All the trips this term have enough participants and drivers in order for them to proceed. This is excellent news and shows that the club on a firm footing for the foreseeable future.

The Free Tea yesterday was cool! If you picked up an information sheet and wish to go on a trip then please send the payment to the Principal Trip Leader by the end of this week because trip places will soon be allocated. If you missed the Free Tea and would like to participate in a trip then, similarly, please send a cheque to the off in the next few days.

FREE TEA is today... please come to Wadham College Old Refectory at 17:00 on Wednesday 22nd January: you can click here for some more FREE TEA INFORMATION.

The termcard for Hilary term 2003 is now online, so please check out the sections on the club activities this term. There are an incredible 6 Weekend Trips (2 of which are BIG trips), 5 Minibus Day-trips, 17 Local Walks and 10 Social Events. It will be a cracker of a term so please don't miss the chance to get involved. The Free Tea is the event at which you can join the club or renew your membership, as well as sign up for the term's trips! So please come to Wadham College Old Refectory at 17:00 on Wednesday 22nd January: you can click here for some more FREE TEA INFORMATION.

Are you new to Oxford? If so then you can check out this MAP of Oxford's town centre to show you all the meeting places that you will need for the trips, walks and socials of this term!

The outgoing committee would like to wish you a fantastic winter vacation. There are 11 exciting trips planned for next term, including BIG mountainous trips to the Lakes District and Snowdonia, trips to the Forest of Dean, the Scottish Galloways and the Gower Peninsula, and a 3-day trip at the end of term to the Isle of Portland. All this is in addition to 17 Local Walks and a load of social events including the 40th anniversary Annual Dinner! It will be a fun and exciting term so look forward to it! Loads of information will be on-line by December 20th so please check out the website after that for more information. In the meantime, please check out this link because the outgoing committee has.., A SPECIAL FESTIVE MESSAGE FOR YOU!!

The Treasurer didn't produce a summary sheet of the term's accounts so you can check out the information HERE.

The club's Termly General Meeting is tonight! Come along to Lincoln College Lower Lecutre room at 7:30pm to hear a round-up of the term's events and have a say in the four motions and three elections... you can read the AGENDA HERE. Alternatively join us at the Turl Bar at 9:30pm to then go on to Club Latino to boogie the night away!

Cesar Prado-Fernandez has pieced together a fantastic animated gif-file of a panorma of the Kinder Scout plateau from the Mam Tor ridge. The photos were taken on the Peak District Weekend Trip earlier this term. Check it out HERE.

The annual Ceilidh on Saturday 23rd November will be held in St Hugh's College this year. Tickets are NOW available for the modest price of £7 for members and £8 for non-members. A live band plus food and drink is included in the price. The tickets are well groovy and it will be a fantastic evening so please send a cheque payable to "OU Walking Club" to Laura Roe at St Hughs College to secure your tickets... it'll be a ball!

A replacement Minibus Day-trip to the Malvern Hills has been arranged to make up for the cancellation of the Brecon Beacons trip earlier in the term... well it's this Saturday and there are six spaces left! You can participate in this trip if you are a member of the club and if you turn up at 8:30 at Trinity Gates on Broad Street. If you are not a member of the club then you can join the club there and then for a fun day out.

OU Walking Club has arranged a 16-hour mountain-orientated First Aid Course on the weekend of Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th January 2003. The course will be run by the Oxford University First Aid Unit and the course will be Health and Safety Executive approved, which is useful if you are going for an MLTB award. The course is £54.17 but is subsidised by the University by one third to make the cost just £36.11. If you are interested in taking the course then please contact trip.safety@ouwc.org now and arrange for a cheque for £36.11 payable to "OU Walking Club" to be sent to him at Hertford College MCR. You will find out if you have been allocated a place on the course by the end of term.

The Mountain Leader training course in December is now full.

Don't miss the Hallowe'en Party this Thursday! The party starts at 8:00 and is in the Tanner Room in Linacre College on South Parks Road. If you don't know where this is or would prefer to meet in the town centre then Debs with be in the non-smoking room of the King's Arms from 7:15 until 7:45 so you can meet her there to walk up to Linacre together. The Tanner Room offers a professional PA sound and lighting system and there will be pumpkins and mummies and ghouls galore: the usual suspects will look even scarier and uglier than normal, so please join us in fancy dress (optional) for an evening of frights, spookiness, music, dancing, snacks, drinks and general mayhem. Just £1 entry and £1 drinks... a bargain and a night not to be missed! You can check out last year's photos HERE.

Due to the high demand for trip places this term and because the Brecon Beacons Minibus Day-trip was cancelled, the committee will endeavour to put on a replacement Minibus Day-trip on Saturday 16th November (end 5th week). To avoid another disappointment, the drivers' services will be secured before the trip is advertised. Priority will go to those who had signed up for the cancelled Brecon Beacons trip but there is likely to be plenty of spaces for other members. Watch this space and check your e-mail for further announcements.

We regret to inform members that Saturday's Brecon Beacons Minibus Day-trip has been cancelled due to lack of drivers.

Help! Minibus drivers are urgently needed for the trips next term. Are you over 21, have driven for 2 years, have a clean licence and will be a member of the club next term? If so then please e-mail minibus@ouwc.org so that we can enter you on the University Minibus Course. The club will pay for you to take the course and you will get priority on any club trip you wish to go on. Thanks!

OU Walking Club will oversee the organisation of a Mountain Leader training course after the end of Michaelmas term - the course is the first step to a national qualification, run by the 'Mountain Leader Training Board' and consists of expert tuition in group-leading and navigation skills on the mountains of Snowdonia - check out the prospectus and syllabus of the ML award - the course will start on the evening of Saturday 7th December and finish the next Friday afternoon - such a course is generally between £220 and £400 to do at an outdoors center but incredibly we have negotiated a fee of just £100 each! - expenses of registration, transport, food and accommodation are on top of this fee but it is still incredibly cheap - there are up to 12 places available, and they will be in demand and so they will be allocated by the committee based on some pre-determined criteria: only individuals who are interested in leading more than one trip for the club will be considered and an important criterion will be how much time the member has to run on their current university course (or how long they have in Oxford if they are not a student) - so if you are interested in taking this opportunity to do an ML training course with a fun group of people, or if you have any questions about the course, then please e-mail trip.safety@ouwc.org.

The Michaelmas termcard is now on-line. The Walking Trips page has been updated with information about the term's ten trips! There are Michaelmas Weekend Trips to Snowdonia, the Peak District, the Cambrian Mountains, the Lake District, Cornwall (big trip) and Dartmoor! Also, there are Michaelmas Minibus Trips to the Brecon Beacons, Long Mynd, Mendips and Quantocks! In addition there is a Local Walk every Saturday and Sunday during term-time, starting with Fresher's Walks on Sunday 13th October, to which everyone is welcome to come along for a short walk around Oxford's countryside via a pub or two! Also, a full program of Social Events has been posted, including the Free Tea, where you can sign up for your place on the trips, weekly social events including a Halloween Party, and the annual Ceilidh, which is always a fun night! In addition, there is a Termcard Summary on-line for the first time and a President's Welcome from John Seymour. The term is approaching fast and we're all excited about the fun times ahead, we hope you will share them with us!!

The Summer Schedule ended in style with a popular gathering on Saturday for a walk down the River Isis towpath and a dinner in the Radcliffe Arms. Photos were shared from the two trips this summer... 12 people enjoyed a 5-day trip to Wales: there were walks in the Brecon Beacons National Park, Cambrian Mountains, Snowdonia National Park, Pembrokeshire National Park and the Gower Peninsula. Also, 13 people enjoyed a 4-day trip to Yorkshire: there were walks around Brimham Rocks, along the Cleveland Way and through Dalby Forest in the North York Moors National Park, and the final day was spent taking in the sites of Malham Cove and Goredale Scar in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The club hopes to continue the recent trend of providing such excellent walking opportunities during vacations for many years to come, Richard Campbell - Summer Schedule Coordinator 2002.

The Annual Dinner 2002 Speech is non on-line, as well as the accompanying Annual Dinner 2002 Photos.

At the Termly General Meeting of OU Walking Club on Wednesday 12th June at 7:30pm, two motions were discussed, amended then voted on by a secret ballot. Both motions were approved by the members by an overwhelming majority. The first (amended) motion is a Constitution Change to: (i) correct mistakes in the last draft, (ii) make minor alterations to a few points, (iii) change the Senior Member to the Director of Sport, and (iv) incorporate changes in the safety-related documents that the club has: this Constitution Change will come into practice if ratified at the Termly General Meeting of Michaelmas term 2002. The second motion is a Motion to convert Life-memberships to Course-memberships or External-memberships: the implications of this motion come into practice immediately. All existing Life-members will be contacted in the near future by the Membership Secretary, who will explain how the change affects them.

The updated Risk Assessment is now on-line.