We were delighted to welcome one of our patrons, Nicola Beauman, and her husband, to this traditional annual celebratory walk. A nice watery sun gave approval and a touch of warmth to the gaggle as it straggled through the churchyard, past the Forster monument in to the open country.

The Chairman may have surprised the following by pointing with enthusiasm to the enforced marriage between North Herts and Stevenage planning areas under the new SNAP arrangement. He candidly admitted that the Friends of the Forster Country had always regarded this as Forster Country and indeed our letterhead was in fact a charming panorama just over the border in North Herts.

For the first time in the history of this walk, numbers demanded that the walking party divide into two to avoid rural congestion. A third contingent, John Hepworth and June Pitcher, returned to Dominic Cottage to mash a bucketful of tea for the eventual consumption by the multitude.