Ewan MacColl once wrote a song, the Manchester Rambler, about workers walking groups in the 1930s. Midwives from Poole maternity Hospital have revived the ghost of MacColls words and set up their own workplace rambling group.

The idea of a rambling club came from a participant on the RCM branch recent program of events at Weymouth Sailing Club in 2014 - something the branch won a Partnership Learning Award for.

Jill Ireland is a ULR at the Hospital and said;

We were admiring the beautiful Dorset coast from high up on a rocky ledge during the rock climbing exercise and Poole Midwife Heather Cook, said she had walked a lot of the coastline when she had lived in Weymouth years ago and would like to do it again."

This was all that fellow ULR Sara Fripp needed to hear, and soon she was on the case seeking out routes and resources in the local area to get them started.

Sara discovered a fairly moderate initial walk near Moreton called the Lawrence of Arabia trail, so named as it takes in the home and church where writer T.E.Lawrence lived and is buried. She set up an “Eventbrite” link and sent out emails to work colleagues along with a trail map made clear that it was a ramble we were doing together with shared responsibility for getting around the route i.e. stressing that there would be no 'leader'!

Around 20 people signed up, and Sara takes up the story;

It was a gorgeous, fresh spring day and we all enjoyed the sights as we crossed over a river, walked over some heathland passing soldiers using fancy radio kit and through woodland. We stopped to look inside the lovely St Nicholas Church at Moreton and made a mental note to visit the tea rooms across the road on a future date.”

After the walk the midwives arranged with a local pub, The Frampton Arms to have a hot drink, care of the Learning Fund, or lunch if people wanted to eat stay a bit longer.

Sara continues;

It really started as an idea of how to extend the great fun we'd had at Portland with the watersports/climbing and get outside with others. All employees, their friends, family and dogs were invited. The online booking system worked well.

The feedback was very positive and there were suggestions regarding what days to schedule and a possible weekend walk every so often so that Mon-Fri staff could come along.”

The group are already planning their next ramble, for mid March, and members are looking forward to spending some 'down' time again with people they work with, but never get a chance to talk to.

It is also an opportunity for the two ULRs who have organised the walks to have a chat about what workplace learning they offer take suggestions from people when they are relaxed or talking in a group, sparking ideas off each other.

Jill added that;

Sometimes what starts off as a joke can turn into a really positive learning experience which fulfils us in ways we could never have predicted. Our Midwives Rambling Group is one of those times.”