£5 Group Memberhip Fee is now due for the period 2025 to 2026

Hi 🙂, This is a copy of an email that I sent out to all members today, for the benefit of anyone who may not have seen it.

Dear Member,

Thank you for being a member of East Sussex Walking.

Annual Membership Dues for the period 1st September 2025 through to 31st August 2026 and now due. The fee remains at £5 for the year. This goes towards the Group Organiser's annual subscription payable to Meetup for hosting the group, which they currently charge at $300 for a year. Last year's actual subscription cost was £237. We do not currently recoup Walk Leader's expenses from members. Monies received from paid members and their guests totalled £281 this period. The balance of £42 will be carried forward.

Last year when we introduced a membership subscription, mainly due to Meetup's fee increase, we allowed all existing members to remain in the group and to make their £5 payment once they commenced walking during the season. This proved very difficult to administer. It also resulted in some members attending walks and not making payment of their dues, either prior to attending the walk, at the walk itself, or after. This put our Walk Leaders and myself in a difficult position. This year we will be changing this.

Subscriptions are now due by 1st September 2025. Any members not having paid by 30th September will be automatically removed from the group. If membership has lapsed unintentionally, members are of course welcome to rejoin. New members or returning members will have 7 days to pay their subscription or be removed from the group. No person will be allowed to commence a walk with the group if they haven't paid their £5 annual fee, however see below re cash payments. Guests of members will be charged £2 per walk but are encouraged to join the group where possible.

Payment should be via BACs. My account details are:

Bank: First Direct

Name: Norman Crouch

Sort Code: 40-47-65

Account Number: 91395599
Please provide your full name (first and surname) as the 'payment reference' so we can identify payments, and message me through the site when you have paid.

I am making one exception to the above, and that is existing members will be given a small window between now and the 30th September to pay their Membership Dues by cash if they are unable to pay by BACs. To do so they must attend a walk during this period and place £5 in an envelope with their name on it and hand it to the Walk Leader. From 1st October 2025 onwards, cash payments on the day of the walk will not be accepted,

In case any members miss this email I will be posting it as an event. I will also update our group's 'What we're about' page.

We do hope you have enjoyed this year’s walks and we hope to see you soon. If you haven't been on a walk with us yet then please do join us and enjoy Sussex's lovely countryside.

Best wishes,

Norman
Norman Crouch
Group Organiser