On 12 November 1985 the premises now occupied by Everest Fitness in Southam High Street hosted a group dedicated to a gentler form of healthy exercise. The first Annual General Meeting of Southam Ramblers was held there, in what was then the Beeswing Vaults pub. This was the culmination of six months of hard work, beginning with a public meeting in the Craven Lane Welfare Hut on 21 May, when 32 people voted to set up a branch of the Ramblers Association in Southam. A Steering Committee was created consisting of Southam residents Denis and Hazel Montgomery, Michael Pritchett, and Mary van Garderen, a Napton resident originally from Holland. 

An initial programme of four walks was arranged, all on Sundays; two of these were of 5-6 miles, and two of 10. As these were well supported, a further four walks were organised, one of them a ‘Mystery Ramble’, and Rugby Ramblers volunteered seven of their members to act as leaders.

At the November meeting seven people were elected to a Committee: the Montgomerys, Loraine and Peter James, Sue Shaw, Keith Brailsford and Harry Green. Harry Green, who became Chairman, is still remembered for his dynamic leadership, determination to keep public rights of way open and encouragement of people to use them. His widow Janet is still a member of Southam Ramblers’ Committee. Like many of the early members, Harry was in his mid-forties, and somehow managed to fit his rambling activities around a full-time job. He devised a 21-mile circular walk from Southam taking in Long Itchington, Stockton, Napton, Ladbroke, Bishops Itchington, Harbury and Ufton, named The Harry Green Way in his honour after he died in 2006.

1980s group leaders, North Yorks Moors. Thanks to Loraine and Peter James (2nd and 4th from left) for the picture.

While the original intention was to walk at weekends, there were numerous requests for midweek walks. Mary van Garderen volunteered to organise these, and this format of fortnightly Wednesday walks persists to the present day. Popular demand from people of working age also led to the inception of the Summer Strollers schedule, a series of evening walks from Southam.

From the beginning, Southam Ramblers was a very active and sociable group. Social Secretary Peter James and others organised a succession of events and weekends away, starting with a trip to the Gritstone Trail in Cheshire in 1986. The official trail guide describes this as ‘very hilly’ with ‘several long climbs and some short, steep ascents and descents.’ Southam Ramblers in 1986 were not to be daunted by such hazards!

Further weekends away over the next 22 years included the North Yorkshire Moors, Dovedale, Norfolk, the Cotswolds, Combe Martin, the Lake District and the Leicestershire Round (‘the wettest and muddiest walk the group has ever undertaken’, wrote Harry Green in 1999). In 2000 the group went to Majorca and in 2007 Croatia.

Social events included barn dances, greyhound racing, skittles, slide shows, and Russian and Greek evenings, as well as Christmas meals, American picnics and post-walk pub lunches that remain popular today. Southam Ramblers still welcome old and new faces to fortnightly Wednesday walks, summer strolls and occasional longer walks in the Cotswolds, details of which are posted on www.southamramblers.org.uk.

Photographs and a timeline from the early years of Southam Ramblers feature in Southam Heritage Collection’s current exhibition, Clubs and Associations in Southam. Many thanks to Loraine and Peter James for most of the exhibits and for information in this article.

Southam Heritage Collection is located in the atrium of Tithe Place opposite the Library entrance.  Opening times Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings from 10am to 12 noon. To find out more about Southam’s history, visit our website www.southamheritage.org  telephone 01926 613503 or email  southamheritage@hotmail.com  You can also follow us on Facebook.