The University of Nottingham Hillwalking and Rambling Society

The University of Nottingham Rambling Society (abbreviated Ramsoc) is a long-established (1960s-) hillwalking club. Its range of walking and social activities make it a significant element of the university experience of many students, as evidenced by the range of "alumni" and "golden oldie" get-togethers of its past members.

Current activities

The club organises weekly trips for its members. Taking over fifty students walking every Sunday in the Peak District, Ramsoc has become one of the largest outdoor societies in the University with an annual membership of over 350. The club also run six weekends away every year, travelling further afield to places such as Snowdonia, the Lake District and Dartmoor. The club has been featured on the BBC Radio 4 Ramblings programme.

There are usually five or six walks offered each Sunday, ranging from leisurely strolls to the longer, more mountainous walks. The weekends away offer two full days of slightly longer walks, and often include the option of scrambles on more challenging terrain. Every walk is led by internally trained leaders, and is provided with maps, compasses and other safety equipment.

There is also a healthy programme of socials for members to come along to. Held every Wednesday in various locations around Nottingham, the traditional pub meets are supplemented with annual events such as the cake and ale night, the Christmas and Progressive meals, bowling, ice skating and themed NiGHTS.

The society prides itself on its accessibility to all with no previous experience of specialist equipment over suitable walking shoes, a waterproof and a rucksack for lunch. This, and a consistently high standard of safety, communication and organisation, has consistently won Ramsoc the prestigious Gold STARS Award from the University of Nottingham Students Union.

History

The oldest available records of Ramsoc is in the Students' Union yearbook in 1961-2, it shows that Ramsoc was then called the Nottingham University Rambling Club. At this point it was already very well established with a large committee and three Honorary Vice Presidents. The yearbooks up until 1957/8 make no mention of Ramsoc, whilst the three books for 1958-1961 are currently missing. By the mid 1960s the club organised AbOUT ten Sunday rambles (some with two or more coaches each), one weekend away (called the Annual Dinner Meet), the Marathon and socials such as the progressive meal.

Little is known about the club before this, but it is likely that it had existed for some time to build up this member base and size of committee. For example, the club had existed long enough for the 1973 EDition of the Ramsoc Songbook to contain one hundred songs; the songs themselves already being an established Ramsoc tradition.

By the late 1960s Nottingham University Rambling Club had become the Nottingham University Rambling Society and so the name Ramsoc was born.

In the late 1970s there was a trip once a fortnight, bringing the number of annual Sunday rambles to twelve. There were also now four weekends away during the year, plus the Ramsoc Marathon.

Over The New Year of 1986/7 Steve Williams (Ramble Sec 1984/5) died in an avalanche in the Scottish mountains. Partly as a result Ramsoc was split into two and birthed a whole new society, the Munro Pineapple Society, formed to predominantly organise trips to Scotland during the winter. Ramsoc could not support this type of trip having an already full calendar of rambles and an ethos of walking for all abilities.

The annual Ramsoc calendar now consists of sixteen Sunday rambles (usually with just one coach), six weekends away (including the Annual Dinner Meet), a Night Hike, the Ramsoc Marathon, seven days of leader training and nearly thirty social events (still including the progressive meal).

Committee

In the early 60s the committee consisted of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Committee Member(s) . There was a tradition of having a male president and female vice-president (although nothing was officially laid down in writing) and so the Vice-President position was usually called Lady Vice-President. The office of Map Librarian was seemingly created in 1964.

The Committee Member organised socials and admin (before these positions were created) along with publicity and general helping out, in 1973 the Committee member became Publicity Officer. 1974 also saw the march of equality, when Sue Harper became the first female president of Ramsoc, which meant a position of Lady Vice-President was out-dated and the prefix was dropped. The ambitious ladies of Ramsoc could now go for the top job and the less ambitious men could go for vice-president.

The Secretary position became Rambling Secretary when the Admin Secretary position was created (1974) to free up the Secretary from booking buses and hostels so that they could concentrate on planning walks - and the committee expanded to seven people.

As the club began to carry safety equipment in the late 70s Map Librarian became Equipment Officer. In 1989, as health and safety arose, Safety and Equipment Officer. In 1997 this had become such a large role that it split into Equipment Officer and a new role of Safety Officer, which freed up other members of the club to absorb the Publicity Officer role.

In 1991 the Social Secretary position was created, bringing the committee to eight. Finally in 2003 with the rising role of web communication, increasing competition for SU resources and the necessity for outside sponsorship, Publicity Officer was resurrected as an additional position bringing the committee to nine people.

The Honorary Vice-President has always existed and is an accolade given to people who have served Ramsoc above and beyond the call of duty.

External links

• Ramsoc Website
• Ramsoc Alumni Website
• Munro Pineapple Society