Welcome to the January 2007 Electronic Newsletter of the Volkssport Club of West Point!


We organize our letter with the next month’s club events first, followed by new club information first, then “old” (previously published) club news that is still newsworthy , followed by other walking information, then a Calendar of Events

 

Happy New Year!

 

Next Group Walk:

  • Highland Falls - Saturday, 20 January 2007 -   Club meeting at 9 AM, walking at 10:30 AM. (See Calendar below)
     

Next Club Event(s):

 

 

New Club News Appearing This Month for the first time!

 

Welcome President Nancy Patrick!

January brings our new VCWP Club President Nancy Patrick! 

Nancy is now the President of the club and former club President Joan Kimmel is now the secretary.   Good luck to both in their new positions!  (Farrell Patrick remains VP, and Andrew Schmidt remains Treasurer.  All four were voted to their current positions at Round Pond in October 2006).

Thanks to the Renewals and New Members!

Recently, we’ve received renewals and membership dues from the following last month:

  • Nancy Carswell

Membership Dues Notices and VCWP 2007 Flyer in the mail shortly!

Club members whose memberships in the club expire in the first half of 2007 will receive a club membership dues notice in the mail shortly.  All club members (and those who membership recently lapsed) will also be receiving a hardcopy of the Club Walking Flyer for 2007, outlining our five Year Round Events (YREs).   Membership dues per household remain only $10/year, and help fund the club’s activities, such as events and mailings.  We appreciate any and all members, new and old!

It is true we maintain a free mailing list for our emails and such, but we REALLY appreciate those folks who join and support the club with their $10 dues!

Northeast and Atlantic Region Walking List

Club Secretary Joan Kimmel has provided us with the usual walking lists for both the Atlantic and Northeast AVA Regions.  We’ve posted this on our Volkssport Club of West Point Yahoo! Group list – this is our repository, so we’ll no longer have the need to ‘attach’ files to these monthly newsletters.  This keeps the transmissions shorter, and you can also know where the latest and greatest information is stored!

Description : Northeast and Atlantic Region AVA Walk List

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/volkssportclubofwestpoint/files/

If you’re not a member of our Yahoo! Group, please join!!

Previously Published Club News that is still relevant!

 

Yahoo! Group Created for our club!

 

We created a Yahoo! Group for our Volkssport Club in November.  For those familiar with Yahoo! Groups, it’s an online community where we can publish event calendars, post items of interest that can be automatically sent to your email ID, and the like.  We’d like ALL members of the club (and others as well!) to consider joining.

 

Details on how to join can be seen at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/volkssportclubofwestpoint

 

News from other Venues:

Letter from our Northeast Regional Director (originally published on our Club’s Yahoo! Group):

This is a note we received from Alfred Olsen, our Northeast Regional Director....

"Hello, I am your regional director for the AVA. I have been doing this since July 1st. I was asked to step in and fill the remainder of my predecessor's term. I got off to a rough start having suffered
through a flood a few days before I was to start. Now I think I am back to normal, or as normal as I ever will be. I've been learning on the job and it has been fun.

I have been in volksmarching for about 20 years. I first heard about it through my wife and her husband when they lived in
Germany. I started in the Empire State Capital Volkssporters Club     back in the late 80s. I know I wasn't a charter member but began soon after they did. In the late nineties my involvement waned due to work schedules. It seemed the only sunny days were walking days, and I was mowing lawns as a second job to support my main hobby, model
railroading. I then moved to
Rochester where there isn't a club. The Niagara club covers that city. Marriage and a new career steered me away that time.

My sister's husband is T.I. Weintraub, the Rocky Mountain Regional Director. In case you didn't know, there are two clubs in the northeast with more members each than his whole region. We have some clout around here!

I have lived my whole life in
New York State, bouncing from the Capital District to Rochester and now to the Southern Tier/Western Catskills areas. I can't think of a better place to live and walk.

History is what draws me towards events and walks. I like walking in the man made world as opposed to nature. Nothing against nature, I just get lost amongst the leaves if I am walking alone. You'll probably not see me doing a volksmarch alone, or if I am then it will be on concrete and asphalt.

I am glad that this is a non-competitive association. This summer's flood ruined my books. I learned that the red ink in them is water-soluble. The books are dry and could just as well have been left out in the rain.

By now I am sure you have heard that there is a new special interest program involving covered bridges. My home
county of Delaware has three of them still in existence. I have been brainstorming on how to include them in walks. I remember seeing one off Route 7 right on
the NY-VT border a few years ago. That is another draw for our corner of the country.

At the end of January is our next National Executive Committee meeting. This one is in
Atlanta. If anyone has anything they want brought up before the meeting, let me know by January 20th, so that I can bring it along. I won't have internet access there, so please give me some lead time."

(Alfred’s email address is ne_rd@ava.org)

 

Letter to our club from Margo concerning the upcoming election of the Northeast Regional Director:

 

Hello,

 

I had sent out 11 emails to the Northeastern Regional Clubs along with 3 letters by regular mail on December 3. I was asking that person to please mention to their club members about the opportunity to run for NERD. I stated that Joan Lampart had notify me that if anyone was interested in running for the position to please submit their name to her before January 15.

 

Last night I received an email with an update from Joan Lampart stating that AVA is now giving everyone until February 15 to throw his or her hat into the ring. If you do know anyone interested in this position, please have he or she forward their name to me, not Joan. I will then send them the job description plus three questions that the National Nominating Committee has selected and posed for any candidate running for a National Office.  These three questions with their answers will be published in TAW. Remember this must be done before February 15.  

 

As of now Alfred Olsen is staying in the running and Patty Proulx is contemplating running.

 

 

Thank you

Margo Craven

President of Walk'n Mass

 

(Margo’s email address is Magoo249@aol.com).

 

Letter to our club from the Princeton Area Walkers (Maureen Penta):

 

Here are planned group walks for some YRE's.  Directions to the start points are on our web - or feel free to give me a call or E-mail:  

 

January 7, SUNDAY: 12:00 Noon: Long Branch Ocean Walk.  Meet at the 7-Eleven in West End, Long Branch.

 

January 20, SATURDAY: 12:00 Noon   Princeton Tow Path. Meet at the Clarion Hotel, Route 1 South, Princeton.

 

January 28, SUNDAY: 12:00 Noon.  NYC  Midtown Walk.  Meet at the New Balance Store on 42nd St.

 

I will be bringing the 2007 Start Point Books to all these walks except Midtown, NYC.   If you have ordered the book from me and have not yet paid please bring or forward a check for $15.00 made out to PAW. 

 

Thanks,

 

Maureen

 

732-229-8169

 

 

Current Calendar!


Please note that the Calendar of Events contains both confirmed and tentative dates of events.

 

These below are 'confirmed' times and dates!

We are sometime asked what a 'Group Walk' (as opposed to a Year Round Event (YRE) or Event) is - We credit our sister club in Albany, the ESCV (EMPIRE STATE CAPITAL VOLKSSPORTERS) for the following definition of GROUP walks: "Group Walk  means all meet and signup together at the same time,  get a map and start together, then you proceed at your own pace.  There are NO GUIDES for this kind of walk.. Nor does a group have to stay together. "; so when you see this term in our calendar below, you'll now know what it means!   We usually have fast walkers, slow walkers, and medium walkers,  there's almost always someone you can walk with if you join us for your first time in a GROUP WALK!


As always, changes from the previous month in
RED

 

 

(1)  Highland Falls Group YRE Walk

 

Saturday, 20 January 2007

 

Event Special Classifications- Cemeteries, College Campus, US Presidents, Riverwalk America, American Authors and Literary Landmarks

 

            Club Group Walk on Saturday, 20 January 2007.   Our usual breakfast meeting will be held at 9 AM at the PARK Restaurant, 451 Main Street, in the Village of Highland Falls.  All are welcomed to the breakfast and meeting! 

            Remember to bring government-issued photo ID for ALL walkers!  You will not be allowed on the West Point Campus without it!!

 

            Registration at 10:15 AM at the West Point Visitor’s Center, walking at 10:30 AM.

(2) Annual Orange County Girl Scout Event – Goshen, NY


Sunday, 18 March 2007

This information below is directly from the AVA website for our Goshen 2007 Event, # 77237    :

3/18/2007 Goshen  NY

Distance and Trail Rating:  10 KM    1

Start Point Address / Driving Directions:

     33 Park Place, Goshen, NY 10934 From the NY State Thruway I-87 From the North: Take New York State Rte 17 to Goshen, exit 124. Follow Rte 207 into the center of town. ***At the light, the Berkshire Bank will be on your right. Make a right onto South Church Street. The First Presbyterian Church will be on your left--the church with the tall steeple and the clock tower. Make a left at the monument on your left. Make another left into the parking lot of the church. Entrance to the program will be at the double set of doors on the Park Place side. From the NY State Thruway I-87 From the South: Exit 16 (Harriman) to Route 17 West. Take Route 17 West to Exit 124 to Route 207 to Goshen. Follow directions from (***) above. From I-84 From I-84 Exit 4E to Route 17 East. Take Route 17 East to exit 124 to Route 207 to Goshen. Follow Directions from (***) above.. 

Event Description:  The walk is on sidewalks through the historic town of Goshen, NY. There will also be both 5 KM and 10 KM trails available.

Start Times:  1:00 PM - 2:30 PM; Finish by 5:30 PM

Contact: Joan Kimmel ,  (845 ) 462 - 6845

E-Mail Contact:  jvkimmel@optonline.net

Awards and Fees:

     A Award 

Comments:

      This walk is cosponsored with the Sarah Wells Girl Scout Council. The Girl Scouts will be selling soup for a donation of $2. The A award is the Girl Scout / AVA “Walk-Together” patch for 2006/2007. 

Amenities:

   Strollers:  easy   Wheelchairs: medium Pets: Yes Restrooms:  Yes

 

These events below are tentative at this for 2007

Hold the dates, and we'll issue confirmations in our newsletters as we get AVA sanction confirmations and firm up details - as always, you'll send them confirmed in our monthly newsletters:

  • April – Bear Mountain Event / Earth Day (TENTATIVE)

  • June – Joint walk of a Manhattan YRE with our friends from Princeton (TENTATIVE)

  • September – Hudson Valley Ramble Event (Cold Spring) and Nyack Street Fair Event and Highland Falls/street festival YRE (wow!) (TENTATIVE)

  • October - Round Pond (TENTATIVE)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your privacy is important to us!  If you received this email from us and you do not wish to receive electronic mail from the Volkssport Club of West Point, please send us a note to the email address below (or simply hit ‘reply’ to this email and let us know), let us know, and we will remove your name from our email list immediately.  The club ONLY uses the email lists for club business, and does not provide them to other organizations or people without specific individual authorizations.  We hate SPAM just as much as you do!

Website:

http://www.ava.org/clubs/WestPoint/

email:

volkssportclubofwestpoint@hotmail.com

Yahoo Group!:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/volkssportclubofwestpoint/

US Postal Address:

 

Volkssport Club of West Point

PO Box 30

West Point, NY  10996-0030 

“See you on the trail!”

- Nancy, Farrell, Joan, and Andrew