A subject brought up at the AGM was the practise of putting the programme on the internet and how this conflicts with the personal privacy of leaders whose telephone numbers are shown. These could indeed be high jacked by those unscrupulous companies who sell such details on for advertising purposes.

I, and I suspect the vast majority of leaders, have no problem with this but for some it is obviously important – several other groups have stopped showing telephone numbers on their internet programmes, presumably because of the same fears. But for myself I think that in modern life it is inevitable your telephone number will be high jacked many times and in many ways.

The point of putting the programme with telephone numbers on the internet is not primarily so that members of the group can contact a leader – we all have our programmes giving such details – but so that someone who is not a member can contact a leader to discuss a walk and if it would be suitable for them to come.

This is not a one way thing. Besides the prospective new walker being given details of the route and what things it is essential they bring (boots, food, etc) the leader can find out important things about the newcomer. Are they reasonably fit ? Do they suffer from something which may hinder them walking ? (I have walked with a blind lady who is a superb walker – but she did have the sense to contact the club and the leader beforehand to discuss it thoroughly.) In my own case before my first ever walk I warned John Elkington that I was asthmatic having obtained his number via the internet programme. I feel such communication is extremely important for, as we all know, walking is not without its risks.

From talking to newcomers it is obvious that nowadays the majority find the group through the internet. Should they not be provided with a contact number many would simply not come. And that contact number should be the walk leaders. If we provided a generic phone number for someone to ring the person at the other end would not know details of the actual walk. Yes it is a B grade, yes it is at Youlgreave, but does it contain any steep ascents, will it be very muddy – only the actual leader will know.

I therefore would strongly oppose the suggestion that we emasculate our internet presence by having a programme display without telephone numbers. We could, perhaps, have it with one or two individuals numbers blanked out – beyond that it would be ruinous. We could, perhaps, also say that if you want to lead a walk you have to accept the practise of having your number given in order to help maintain a healthy group and if you won’t - then don’t lead.

Apart from being bombarded with advertising from unscrupulous advertising companies, I think some people may be concerned about being telephoned by some of the less decent members of society, which can be a very worrying event and cause great distress. Unsolicited telephone calls from commercial organisations can be reduced substantially by registering with the Telephone Preference Service which in effect makes it illegal for a company to contact you unless they already deal with you or you have contacted them first. However, nuisance phone calls are more difficult to deal with, because they are anonymous. I think the point being made at the AGM was that someone may be happy to have their phone number published in a club publication of limited circulation, but it's different to have it available to anyone in the world.

I think it's a good idea to have a mobile number in the programme. This then means that the leader can be contacted on the day if someone is trying to get to a walk but is delayed or gets lost. It also means that the home phone number is not published.

I think this world is now so unsafe perhaps we shouldn't even answer the door. It's a good job those nasty people who want our phone numbers are only on the internet, and don't go into Stockport library and other places to pick up our programme. Dohhh! I've just tipped off anyone monitoring our website as to what to do next...