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ABOUT US |
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The Wee Binnian Walkers are a Newry based hill walking group started
in 1987 as a direct result of the Northern Ireland “Change of Heart” coronary
prevention programme. Founded by Veronica McCann, a lifestyle tutor with the programme, the
group which began with 11 women and evolved in a very gradual way over the
early years. The founder was able to legitimise this as a project within her
professional remit, which not only gave it status but allowed her to give it
the necessary dedicated time and access to resources. Development was within
a project framework and the only other person involved at that stage was a
paid walks leader. This was a very loose arrangement with a fee of £1 per
head being charged to cover this expense. However as a result of publicity
from various initiatives and a pro-active recruiting strategy the attendance
never went below the initial 11 and eventually by 1994 had grown to 60 plus. By then new members with hill walking leadership skills had joined the
ranks and were acting as co-leaders but it was becoming increasingly evident
with an ever increasing membership that for reasons of risk management the
group needed to be formalised. In 1994 as part of the Newry 850 celebrations the first Wee Binnian
Walking Festival took place and the success of this event established the
club firmly on the national hill walking circuit .They were the very first
group to host a walking festival in Northern Ireland and still are the only
independent club to do so. |
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Running the festival and the subsequent surge of new members was the
spur to form a properly constituted club. The festival steering group, acting
as a management committee, took on that task. Following widespread
consultations at both regional and local level a properly constituted club
with a strong cross-community focus was established at a public meeting in
Newry Arts Centre on 15th March 1995. The Wee Binnians who see themselves primarily as “a social group who
walks” have dedicated themselves since then to becoming the safest possible
walking club on the hills and their investment in both their leadership
training programme and safety equipment ensures that. The development of hill walking as a leisure pursuit has been
phenomenal over the last number of years and The Wee Binnians Walkers, who
are the largest hill walking club in N Ireland continue to meet all the
challenges that this has presented. For club sociability 2 away trips are organised
each year either linking in to the thriving Irish Walking Festival circuit or
club led outings to new areas. The club also operates an open policy for
visiting clubs to promote intra-national networking. The Wee Binnian Walking
Club is affiliated domestically to the UFRC (Ulster Federation of Rambling
Clubs) and internationally to the IVV (Internationaler Volksportverband). |
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Wee Binnian Walkers | weebinnians@eircom.net |
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