The Committee

Chair

Ellie Schenk - 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

James Gath - 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

Jon Wendt - 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

James Brett - 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 Coordinator

Emily Banwell & Phil Grundy - 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.
• 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 by encouraging submissions through social media, or with their own walks when necessary.
• Giving walk transport advice to leaders or attendees.
• Encouraging 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.
• Providing a regular report at every Committee meeting summarising current walks.
• Providing an annual report on Walks in time for collation into the Annual Report presented at the AGM.
• Acting as 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 website.

Weekends Coordinator

Owain Roberts - 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

Jess Booth - socials@madwalkers.org.uk

• Encourage members to organise socials and manage the social calendar.
• 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 & Communications Officer

Marta Lopez, Phil Hargreaves & Scott Henderson - 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, X, TikTok, email and printed posters.

The Social Media and Communications Officer role could also involve:

• Having primary responsibility for the MAD Walkers social media Channels
• Promoting Ramblers Association events, walks or notable anniversaries
• 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
• Working with the walks coordinator to promote our involvement in any Ramblers themed events, walks or notable anniversaries.
• Being a point of contact for any social media/influencer or publicity opportunity.

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

Edward Cooper, Mike Dent & Peter Lloyd - 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.
• 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.
• Correction of spelling and grammatical errors throughout the website.
• 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.
• 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.