Children and Minimum number of walkers

From: Brett Davis To: info@shoalhavenbushwalkers.com Subject: Children and Minimum number of walkers Date sent: April 9, 2025

Hi SBW committee, I was intending to send you an email about the fact that by allowing children on walks about a year ago, and by reducing the minimum number of walkers required for an official club walk from 4 to 3 about six months ago, you had actually allowed a club walk to be made up of one adult member / leader and two children (and let's assume they are aged 5 and 7). With no restriction on the grade of walk that children are allowed to go on, that club walk could go anywhere - even into the Ettrema. Of course, the leader would have to take a PLB on the walk - it's a safety requirement! I was intending to describe a scenario where the adult leader was bitten by a snake and quickly lapsed into a coma before he could activate the PLB. I was then intending to ask this question - "When the children had no idea what a PLB was or were unable to read the instructions on the PLB and could not activate it, should the 5 year old stay with the injured party and the 7 year old go for help - or should the 7 year old stay with the injured party and the 5 year old go for help?" 😀 The club rule for minimum numbers on a walk is found in "Leader Responsibilities" where it says "The minimum number of participants for a walk is 3 for safety reasons. This number can be made up of people outside of SBW members." I was intending to suggest that the wording should be changed from "participants" - which accommodates children - to "adults" so that the ridiculous situation shown above could not occur. I was further intending to suggest that even "adults" is probably inadequate - as those adults could be prospective members on their first bushwalk ever - and that "members" would be the safest option i.e. "A club walk or recce must be made up of at least 3 SBW members". If the issues of having children on club walks disappear - see my other recent emails - then most of what I described above is superfluous, but I think the final solution is relevant. I suggest that the club rules for the minimum number of participants on a walk be changed to "A club walk or recce must be made up of at least 3 SBW members". Regards, Brett TOP

This page shows one of the 35 suggestions to improve the club and its procedures sent by the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers webmaster to the SBW committee in 2025. The Shoalhaven Bushwalkers webmaster would have his membership cancelled for sending in these suggestions, although the real reason was probably because of two disputes he raised with the Shoalhaven Bushwalkers committee which they seemingly did not want to deal with. The cancellation of the webmaster's membership was arguably illegal under NSW law and could lead to the club being taken to court.