When we retired to our new community, I decided I needed a group to be involved with so I joined a walking group. I wasn’t new to walking groups; everywhere we had travelled and lived I made a point of walking. This was probably the best thing I could have done for myself over the years. Keeping fit, meeting people all the things you need to keep healthy. My husband would laugh and say “I needed my space.” This was probably true as he had spent as much time away from home before we retired as I did at home.
The walking group I joined meets every week and there are from 10 to 20 people that go on these walks. We usually walk for two hours and then go for lunch. We have hiked various trails some on level ground, some with elevation, some by the seaside, and some in the mountains. The group prides itself on walking rain or shine.
We have a variety of ages, although I may be one of the youngest of the group. Our 84 year old Mary loves to be out front and leads the group on some occasions. It takes a great deal of effort to keep up to her. Mainly, we have a leader from the local recreation center that takes us every time to a different location. We pay her minimum wage because she has her first aid training and plans out the route. The older members of the group like to not have the responsibility of leading, planning, and being prepared for any first aid.
When first I joined this group they talked a lot about a leader they had about a year before I joined. She moved away which I think rather left a big gap and a big expectation from this group. Apparently, from what I heard group members say, she knew “all the walking trails,” never repeating them and it was mentioned on more than one occasion, “she was good at pointing out the vegetation, birds and any prominent landmarks along the paths.” I really noticed the resistance to change by the seniors.
This new leader has a family and three jobs she holds down. This left her little time to plan out a route to walk every week. She would sometimes settle for an easy walk close to the recreation center that many people had walked before. Some people expressed the view that, “she just has too much on her plate” while others just grumbled, “why is she taking us on this easy walk?”
The recreation center was to print out a sheet every three months with the new walks on it and discuss it with our leader Jenny. She had protested to the center several times that there were some repeats on the walking list. However, since she was a paid employee she didn’t want to cause too much of a disturbance with her employers.
Time went by, summer came and Jenny took the summer off saying, “see you in September.” This left the group on their own with appointed leaders from within and mapping out their own walks. There were no problems and no one had to pay, everyone seemed happy with this situation. Then September came and Jenny phoned in saying, “I broke my ankle” and “I won’t be back for the next six weeks, I need to heal.”
The recreation center resolved to find us a leader to continue the weekly event. So they sent out Chrissy, she was prepared and had walked the route on the weekend before. She had a map and she was a fast walker, many had a hard time keeping up with her. Then our elder lady stepped forward and started giving ideas and directions to Chrissy, all she could do was back off and let her lead. Chrissy was quite cheerful about the whole thing, stating, “it’s nice to learn from someone else.”
Then came Kim she got us on one of the very rainy days, it came down in torrents. Luckily, the walk was through woods so we were protected by the overhanging trees. Then we popped out into a lovely garden. This is where things got a little confusing as we kept going around the same paths in and out of this garden. There were more rumblings in the back of the crowd, several people said, “haven’t we gone this direction already?”
We had Kim again the next week, she really did fumble through this part of the city as she had never walked there before and didn’t know where to lead us. That day we had two people who decided to stride out front on their own completely ignoring the rest of group. This sent more unsettled comments amongst group members. “She’s lived here all her life” one woman said, and “she doesn’t know the way, I think that’s why those two ladies went ahead.”
Jenny was supposed to return this sixth week but the extent of her injury was so bad she couldn’t. No one came out this week to lead us. Mary stepped forward and said, “I will lead you around, today.” She was quite upset; you know she said, quite hotly, “that the recreation center was thinking of asking us to pay for this walk!” I did respect her angry remark as it wasn’t fair for the group to pay when one of our members was leading.
This was really the last straw, many didn’t want to pay for these walks that seemed too simple to do. They also wanted someone that would actually lead and know the route beforehand. They weren’t getting what someone expressed as “enough bang for their buck.”
This led the group to a meeting at lunch as to what to do next. Many comments were talked over and then a letter was drafted and approved by the group for Jenny to see and take to the recreation center. Three things came out of the meeting to lower the rate; have a planned walk schedule; have Jenny really lead us.
We are waiting to see what comes of this letter but I fear that it will break the group into two fragments. Perhaps it is time for that to happen, I will wait and see. All I really want to do is keep walking!
I can certainly relate to how you have described the conflict occurring when change happens, especially in voluntary groups. Hope you get to keep walking. It was a good clear read about how changes do affect the group in different ways. Well done.
very good and did show the conflict and how it began to brew. wanting to walk and be safe is what all walkers want and no hassles. thank you for your thoughts.
This was thoughtful and very respectful too – and I could sense the conflict inside you from your writing which is such an accomplishment, I think.