East Cheshire Outdoor Group was formed in 1982 to bring together like-minded people who enjoy the outdoors, hill walking, some cycling and other outdoor activities, weekends away and socialising.
We are affiliated to the national Youth Hostels Association and regularly use hostels for weekends away. Despite its name, the YHA caters for all age-ranges, and in our Group, members range from their 20s to 50s. There are also young children involved in some events, whose parents are members.
Not necessarily – come along first of all to two or three events to see how you like the group and its activities. If it suits you, and you want to do more, that is the time to join up.
We go walking and cycling and we go relaxing. We go to the theatre, rock climbing and to the park. Usually one weekend a month we'll be away in some other part of the country either camping or hostelling. And there is lots more. Have a look at our current programme. We always welcome new faces so come along to any of our events!
Day walks are usually within a 40 minute drive of Macclesfield. Weekends can be any where from North Wales to Scotland. Our favourite haunts are the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales and Snowdonia. Members come from as far a field as Bolton, Crewe,Taunton and Uxbridge -but most are Macclesfield or Wilmslow based.
The membership fee is currently £7.00 pa and £1.50 per child(u18). For more details please visit our membership page. We also strongly recommend that you join the national YHA, especially if you are planning to come away on Group hostel weekends or you will be charged a higher fee for each bed night.
After you have wandered round our programme maybe join us in person -just turn up on the day. Check out the Programme 'What to bring' section if you are new to walking. If there is a 'book by' or no start time please telephone the leader or contact on the 'Home' page. The 'Grades' page in the Programme will give you an idea of the length of a walk but if you are atall unsure just phone for a chat.
We run ourselves! All our event leaders are Group members, who are undertaking these activities in their spare time. The Committee, which is elected each October at the AGM, is drawn from the membership and again is a voluntary activity. It meets once every two months.
Most of us have busy jobs or family lives, so its pretty hectic managing group activities at the same time as keeping up with work. Very occasionally it just doesn’t all fit, and an activity might need to be changed or cancelled at short notice.
We all do. We hold a regular programme planning meeting once every 4 months to help stimulate ideas and encourage members to lead events themselves, and this is advertised on the programme. The programme is mailed out to members during August, December and April.
You’ll also find that within the group there are smaller groups of like minded people who will meet up for other activities – canoeing, rock climbing, theatre trips etc. So the more you come along, the more you’ll find to do!
In addition to the programme, we operate a ‘group email’ so that additional information about activities, offers of lifts, last minute changes of plan can be quickly and easily communicated. As a member you can join the email group.