Roger Thomas - Vice-Chair

Have you always lived in Hertfordshire?
No …. 30 years, prior to that West Wales and Wiltshire

What are your main interests/hobbies?
Farming/Rural Activities and the majority of sports

Do you have a favourite walk/cycle/ride route?
A walk through Brocket park

What place would you like to travel to/is on your ‘wish-list’?
Australia and New Zealand

What is your special interest in the LAF?
....... Originally from a landowners viewpoint but more recently linking access from one urban area to another

As a LAF member what would you like to change/improve to make access better in Hertfordshire?
More thought given to how networks can be linked

What is your role within LAF? And, would you like it to change and how?
I have been vice-chair to Liddy for some time although the role has been very much a supportive one as Liddy has always been able to act as chair. I was rather disillusioned initially as Herts LAF seemed to have little impact on local access, more recently I have been more encouraged

Anything else you’d like to add?
I would like to meet more frequently as we always have such long agendas’ and there are always other issues to discuss

Debbie Hougie

Have you always lived in Hertfordshire?
I was born and brought up in Leeds and spent all my free time in the countryside around my home. I walked extensively in the Yorkshire Dales, Lake District and Peak District. I have lived in Hertfordshire since 1991 where I have discovered many great places to walk.

What are your main interests/hobbies?
My main hobby is walking although I do love my bike! I have two small children so we tend to walk to their level (they did conquer Pen y Ghent this summer!). I relax at home by knitting and vegetable gardening. I enjoy cooking and rare visits to the cinema.

Do you have a favourite walk/cycle/ride route?
In Hertfordshire my favourite walk is around Sandridge and Nomansland. Further afield its Ivinghoe Beacon as I love being up high and getting the wind through my hair. In Yorkshire its any of the Three Peaks but especially Inglebrough.

What place would you like to travel to/is on your ‘wish-list’?
I’m very lucky and have travelled extensively (India, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Japan) but I would love to go to Chile! I would love to go back to the Outer Hebrides.

What is your special interest in the LAF?
I am interested in all things walking but have a special interest in inclusivity – children, people with disabilities, young people, people from ethnic minorities – making sure that everyone in the county knows about – and has the opportunity to use - the outdoor recreation opportunities that our magnificent county holds.

As a LAF member what would you like to change/improve to make access better in Hertfordshire?
A clearly waymarked and available rights of way system. Safe road crossing. Joined up routes.

What is your role within LAF? And, would you like it to change and how?
I have on the LAF since started in 2003. I have been proactive in discussion and giving advice to the County Council. I particularly enjoyed helping to organise the Parish Conference that we ran last year. I would like to get the ‘Safe Road Crossings Sub Committee’ up and running as I think it is so important.

Anything else you’d like to add?
My job as a Senior Lecturer in Rural Geography at the University of Hertfordshire gives me many opportunities to take my students out and about around Hertfordshire, showing them the diversity of our County and its many special places. I therefore believe that I am well placed to contribute widely to LAF business.

Norman Jones

Have you always lived in Hertfordshire?
Yes.

What are your main interests/hobbies?
Rambling, political & transport issues, moderate environmentalist, the Arts generally.

Do you have a favourite walk/cycle/ride route?
No, but I enjoy walking route devised just from the map, encompassing some open aspects & ideally including points of interest.

What place would you like to travel to/is on your ‘wish-list’?
Anywhere new, with good upland countryside and/or with historical aspects of interest

What is your special interest in the LAF?
Walking, particularly including interests of not drivers.

As a LAF member what would you like to change/improve to make access better in Hertfordshire?
There is a lot of access in the County which is little known outside the immediate vicinity, I would like to strive to improve this.

What is your role within LAF? And, would you like it to change and how?
Enthusiastic member, would like LAF to be more proactive

Anything else you’d like to add?
A particular area of interest, not noted above, is the relationship between nature conservation and public access; where they generally need not be imcompatible and a combination can often prove beneficial.

Lynn Myland

Have you always lived in Hertfordshire?
I was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire and lived here all my life, except for 10 years when in lived in Spain.

What are your main interests/hobbies?
I enjoy the countryside, love listening to and watching the wildlife, and enjoy the changing seasons especially autumn. I enjoy walking, horse riding and squash.

Do you have a favourite walk/cycle/ride route?
I love to walk from Barley Mow Lane into Knights wood and along the footpath to Highfield Hall and beyond. When horseriding I enjoy the route along the BOAT of Hixberry Lane onto the Alban Way and taking one of the numerous tracks to Sleapsyde and - if I feel brave enought - crossing the A414 onto Colneyheath Common.

What place would you like to travel to/is on your ‘wish-list’?
I would love to explore more the Donana National Park of Andalucia, Spain and spot an Iberian Lynx.

What is your special interest in the LAF?
I am a land owner and a user of PRoW and Open Access. I have been active in the RoWIP for Herts, visiting sites and advertising the RoW unit and working closely with them. I feel very strongly that I should represent the views of users of the RoW and open access spaces in Hertfordshire. I have been influential in the Oakland College development working with the college and council on the sect. 106 agenda, looking at developing new routes and improving existing. I have also worked hard organising and attending meetings regarding the 4 consultation proposals to fence 4 Commons in South Hertfordshire, networking and listening to people's views.

As a LAF member what would you like to change/improve to make access better in Hertfordshire?
I want to improve the safety of road crossing on existing and future RoW. I would like to influence the development of multi-user PRoW and as a horse rider improve the network, so that horses can be kept off the roads. The volume of traffic on out roads has increased, and it is fast and dangerous for horse riders.

What is your role within LAF? And, would you like it to change and how?
I want to see the Open Access land and PRoW in Hertfordshire improve thus encouraging more people to use it. I think we need to raise our profile with other agencies and bodies, and ensure that we are consulted and able to advise on major decision regarding open-air recreation. I would like LAF to be able to make a BIG difference to the improvement of public access. Introducing information for horse riders/carriage drivers and improving information on our existing RoW network.

Anything else you’d like to add?
No.

Robert Bolt

Have you always lived in Hertfordshire?
No, I was born and brought up in the Arrow Valley in Warwickshire. I moved to Hertfordshire in 1968 and have lived here ever since. I had a second home in rural France for seven years and still visit France regularly.

What are your main interests/hobbies?
As a geographer I developed an interest in travel. Most of my working life was spent in the transport industry and transport is still a major interest. This includes travelling by as many means of transport as possible. I am active in the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and in the Association of British Drivers. My first job was at a large dairy farm and I retain a keen interest in rural activities. I am a keen amateur photographer and a regular walker with and without the local U3A walking group and also when on holiday.

Do you have a favourite walk/cycle/ride route?
The Chess Valley from Rickmansworth upstream to Sarratt and Chenies

What place would you like to travel to/is on your ‘wish-list’?
Mountains especially the North American Rockies and the Black Hills, particularly Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. Very healing to the soul. I would like to return to the Falkland Islands to see how they have changed since I visited them soon after the war. Always pleased to return to Venice and to Fort Lauderdale – the Venice of America.

What is your special interest in the LAF?
Seeking best possible access for everyone to all parts of our countryside.

As a LAF member what would you like to change/improve to make access better in Hertfordshire?
Fewer stiles, fewer deliberate obstacles on cycle paths, fewer height barriers that discriminate against disabled people using motor caravans.

What is your role within LAF? And, would you like it to change and how?
As a new member I have yet to develop a role

Rosemary Gilligan

Have you always lived in Hertfordshire?
I was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, but I had my 3rd Birthday in Hertfordshire and have lived here ever since

What are your main interests/hobbies?
Horses and the Outdoors. I like to travel but I have so many animals it’s difficult to get away, so I just have to make do with long days out...

Do you have a favourite walk/cycle/ride route?
Currently my favourite route is the new bridleway in Shenley that means you can get off the main road; I hate riding on the road.

What place would you like to travel to/is on your ‘wish-list’?
I have always been fascinated by Egypt, the Far East and South America. I would love to visit the sites of all the ancient civilisations.

What is your special interest in the LAF?
Having been a rider and a walker all my life, I miss all the rights of way that have been lost locally in my lifetime. I would like to help see some of them reopened, I have strong links with the BHS rights of way officer and have been able to describe paths I have used that have now been lost so that we can try and open them again.
I am on the LAF as a Local Councillor to help link the District Councils knowledge to the work that is being done by Rights of Way.

As a LAF member what would you like to change/improve to make access better in Hertfordshire?
Yes, one of the proactive things that the local councils can do is by the use of various aspects of planning law, to use local development to create or reactive Rights of way surrounding any development.

What is your role within LAF? And, would you like it to change and how?
Communictican and networking. As a Local Councillor you are able to work with other authorities and agencies to further the aims of the LAF.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Being Dyslexic, I hate writing things, as I’m never very good at putting words on paper, but I am always happy to talk with people.

Ian Gregory

Have you always lived in Hertfordshire?
I was born and raised in Hertfordshire but left in 1982 to study mechanical engineering at the University of Birmingham. I then moved to the United States to do postgraduate research in physics before returning to Hatfield where my parents still live. I got a job as a scientist at the Malaysian Rubber Producers' Research Association at Brickendonbury and in 1994 I bought a house in Hatfield. In 1999 I changed jobs and spent the next six years as a systems manager at the University of Hertfordshire before leaving to help organise a bike ride from London to Scotland for the G8 Summit. I am now self employed.

What are your main interests/hobbies?
Since going on a school field trip to the Lake District I have always enjoyed being in the mountains and have climbed extensively in the UK and in the European Alps where I have reached about a dozen 4000m summits. I used to run a lot and even ran for the St Albans Striders one season in the Herts Cross Country League but now I am much more involved
in cycling. Other interests include computers, electronics, music and environmental issues.

Do you have a favourite walk/cycle/ride route?
My favourite walk in Hertfordshire is a circular route starting and finishing at the Huntsman pub in Goose Green, which takes in Hoddesdon, Highfield, Cowheath and Broxbourne Woods. I used to run part of the route when I worked at Brickendonbury but now I just go there once in a while to walk dogs - I enjoy seeing how it changes through the seasons.

What place would you like to travel to/is on your ‘wish-list’?
I am reluctant to fly anywhere now for environmental reasons but ever since reading "The Snow Leopard" I have had a yearning to visit the Himalayas. However, there are plenty of places in the UK I have yet to visit and I would like to explore more of the west coast of Scotland.

What is your special interest in the LAF?
I am keen a cyclist and cycling advocate and would like to see fewer cars and more bikes on our roads. I have been involved with the Welwyn Hatfield Cycling Forum for a couple of years and have recently been involved in setting up a new county-wide group called CycleHerts which will campaign for improved conditions for Hertfordshire's cyclists. I
have been going to LAF public meetings for about a year and when I heard that the LAF was looking for a cycling representative I decided to apply. I have also just become the joint owner of 7.5 acres of woodland in Ware Park, which has a restricted byway running through it. I will be developing a management plan for the wood and will be looking to get input from a variety of organisations - the LAF seems like a good place to network.

As a LAF member what would you like to change/improve to make access better in Hertfordshire?
My main interest is in improving conditions for utility cycling. A large part of that requires improving road conditions but there is also a need for more and better off-road infrastructure. So I would like to see some footpaths widened and upgraded to dual-use and some new off-road cycle paths.

What is your role within LAF? And, would you like it to change and how?
I have only just joined the LAF as a cycling representative and I will have to see how things go before thinking about changing my role.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I am looking forward to getting to know other LAF members and finding out what goes on behind the scenes.