East Sussex Walking

What We Do:
We are a countryside walking group. Although our team are Hastings based, our walks throughout the year will cover much of East Sussex and into the edges of Kent. We therefore very much welcome members from outside of the Hastings area to join us on our walks.
Weather permitting, we will usually have a walk on every weekend between the start of March and the end of November, and probably a few winter walks too. The distance of the walks will usually vary between 5 and 8 miles, however we may throw in the odd longer walk.
We expect members of the group to be capable of walking a minimum of 5 miles at an average pace on rugged terrain.
We do have Group Rules that we expect our members to adhere to and these can be found at the end of this section.

Application Requirements:
Please ensure that your ‘Profile Name’ includes your first name. The use of initials only, such as TC, BLT, JR, or similar, is not acceptable in this group. You can edit your Profile Name in 'Edit Profile' if needed.
Please ensure that your profile displays a recent photo of yourself alone that includes your face, head, and shoulders. You can load a new profile photo in your profile ‘Settings’.

Membership Fees:
An of 1st September 2024 an Annual Membership Fee of £5 will now apply to all members of this group in order to attend the walks. The fee will be non-refundable regardless of the reason for not attending walks, the lack of availability of walks, or for whatever reason a member might leave the group. The fee must be paid when, or before, you attend your first walk in the current annual membership period. The membership period runs from 1st September to 31st August. There is no charge for members who attend their first walks in August.
The accounts of members who have not paid a membership fee within an annual membership period may be removed at the end of that period, however the member can simply reapply if they wish to attend walks in the future.
Any 'Guests' of members who attend our walks must pay a fee of £2 per walk or alternatively join the group themselves and pay the annual membership fee.

1. If you wish to pay your annual membership fee by bank transfer, please contact Norman Crouch by personal message through Meetup who will provide you with their bank details to which your payment of £5 should be made. Once you have made your payment please message them again confirming this, including details in your message of your name as it appears on your bank account so that they can trace your transaction. This is the preferred method of payment.
2. If you would prefer to pay your annual membership fee by cash, please place £5 in an envelope that has your full name clearly written on the front of it, and pass it to the walk leader before the walk commences. After the walk please contact Norman Crouch by personal message through Meetup advising them that you have passed a payment to the walk leader.

Group Rules:
1) Reserving a Place at an Event
Only reserve a place on an event if you have a clear intention of attending it. If you are unsure whether you want to go, or may not be available, then please do not reserve a place until nearer the time of the event.
The practice of members not showing up at events when their event status is ‘Going’, or regularly reserving places on events and then changing their event status to ‘Not Going’, is not welcomed. This inconveniences Event Organisers, and also has an impact on venues where the nature of the event has required the Event Organiser to provide confirmation to the venue of the number of attendees. Members may be removed from the group if deemed necessary by the Leadership Team.
If you require transport to get to an event then use the event 'Comments' to request this, stating your whereabouts. If you are fortunate enough to be offered a lift by another member, then please offer to contribute to their costs. Do not directly approach another member requesting a lift. Do not RSVP to the event until your transport has been confirmed.

2) Bringing Guests
Some events may provide a member with the opportunity to bring 'guests' with them. Only persons who have not previously been a member of this group are permitted to attend with the member as a 'guest'. Anyone who has previously been a member of the group who wishes to attend must reapply and have their application approved before being permitted to attend an event. Members are responsible for the behaviour of their guests at the event.

3) Event ‘Comments’
a) The Event ‘Comments’ feature should be used to request information about the advertised event, to provide short notice advice that you are no longer able to attend (also update via ‘edit RSVP’), request transport to an event, or should you wish to do so, make positive comments about the event after it has taken place.
Under no circumstances is the ‘Comments’ feature to be used to give criticism, advice, sarcasm, abuse, or to make any other remark that might be considered offensive, however humorous the intention.
b) Do not use ‘Comments’ to request alterations to any aspect of the event. The content of an event is the decision of the Event Organiser, and if you feel that any part of it does not accommodate your requirements then please refrain from attending the event or commenting on it.
c) Regardless of whether it relates to 'Meetup' or not, do not use 'Comments' to advertise items or services that are for sale, other groups or organisations, or other events or activities.

4) During the Event
a) You are responsible for your own safety and wellbeing throughout the event. The group accepts no responsibility for any injury or loss that you may incur while attending our events. You are attending the event as a like-minded person, and the Event Host and/or Event Organiser is, to all intents and purposes, another attendee at the event and they hold no legal responsibility for any difficulties that may arise during the event. If you or another attendee at an event becomes unwell please alert the Event Host immediately.
b) Any person making comments at an event that are liable to cause offence will be given a warning by the Event Host. Should the warning be ignored, the Event Host will ask the person to leave the event.
c) Discussions about politics and religion are strictly off-limits at all events.
d) Any actions that may be interpreted as an attempt to corral other members into joining alternative social groups, or to form a ‘clique’, will result in removal from this group.
e) If you have any concerns during the event, then please refer them to the Event Host.

5) After the Event
a) If you have any concerns after the event then please send a personal message to the Event Host in the first instance. If the Event Host has not been able to resolve the concerns to your satisfaction, please send a personal message to the Group's Co-Organiser who will do their best to resolve them.
b) If you enjoyed the event, and others that we host, then please mention our group to your friends.

6) General Etiquette and Safeguarding
a) Great effort is made by team to organise events and to ensure members enjoy being in this group. Members are expected to act in a manner that eases pressure on the Organisers. Any form of abuse aimed at the Organisers will lead to a member's instant removal and barring from the group.
b) Please act in a friendly manner towards other members, both at events or in communications outside of the events. You should not however harass, stalk, pester, or give any other form of unwanted attention to other members. This is not a dating site, it is a social group. It is important that all members can feel safe. We reserve the right to remove from our group any member who does not observe this. We also recommend that members report any such instances to Meetup. The following link refers:
https://help.meetup.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001673631-Harassment-and-bullying-offline