Did you know our Chairman, Chris Howard creates a walk for Surrey Life magazine every month, and then we usually offer that as our free monthly walk for members?  Recently, her walks were spotted by Bradwell Books, who have created a series of walk books called Walks for All Ages. They said they had books covering most counties, except Surrey! They liked the Surrey Hills Society approach of short, easy, interesting walks.

Walks for All Ages walks have to be free, short and tell a story about the County, so Chris took up the challenge to write a book of walks that did just that.  Having volunteered with the Surrey Hills Society for 10 years, she has picked up a Surrey story or two over that time. The walks need to be accessible to all ages, interesting for children and have toilets and pubs or cafes available nearby.

In her working life Chris used to be the Town Centre Manager for Guildford, and is currently the Chairman of the County’s Tourist Board. This has given her a unique opportunity to get to know all sorts of interesting facts about the County, that she has now been able to record in this book.

Chris said she is incredibly grateful to all her Surrey Hills Society walk leadership team, including Pete Lambert and Diane Cooper, who also supplied many of the photos, Steve Peacock, Ken Bare, and Peter Arnold – who also taught her how to read a map via the Society’s map reading course.

The book was launched at the Surrey Hills AONB’s 60^th anniversary celebration at Loseley Park on 26^th June by Dame Penelope Keith (pictured here with Chris at the event).

All proceeds from the book will be donated to our lovely charity to assist in projects that protect, promote and enhance the Surrey Hills AONB.  You can order the book through our online shop at a cost of £5.99 + £2.50pp. Order here

Huge thank you to the 8^th Aldershot Scouts for volunteering to clear a section of the North Downs Way near Farnham on 8^th June 2018.

The idea to volunteer to clear some of the North Downs Way came from Scout Leader, Martin Clark, who had seen the walks advertised on our website in celebration of the North Downs Way’s 40^th anniversary. As the National Trail is the back bone of the Surrey Hills AONB, the Society works closely with the Trail Manager, Peter Morris to promote this historic Way.

Martin then took contact with Peter to agree where the volunteering could take place and how this would be achieved. See the end result of their hard work in the pictures below.

Well done 8^th Aldershot Scouts!