The White Cliffs Ramblers celebrated their 30th birthday yesterday with a walk to remember the group’s first chairman.

The 10-mile ramble, which started from Walmer seafront, visited the bench on Hawkshill Common which the group installed in memory of Charles Wake, who lived in Carlton Road, Kingsdown, and chaired the group when it was founded in 1989.

Charles died in 2009, just before the group’s 10th birthday.

The White Cliffs Ramblers is the branch of the national Ramblers organisation covering the Dover and Deal, Folkestone and Hythe and Thanet areas. With some 500 members, the group is the fastest growing, and the second largest, in Kent (behind Bromley).

The group organises a busy walks programme ranging from 5-6 miles to 15-20 miles.

Walks are usually on Sundays and Thursdays, increasingly on Tuesdays and sometimes on Saturdays.

It is estimated that each year, group members collectively walk more than 25,500 miles.

The group organises the annual White Cliffs Walking Festival, which this year takes place between August 22-28 and will be opened by national Ramblers chairman Kate Ashbrook in a ceremony on Walmer Green. The festival attracts walkers from all over Kent and the South East (and beyond), with more than 1200 attendances last year.

Footpath work, to ensure walkers have good, clear paths to walk on, is a very important part of the group’s activities.

A team of path maintenance volunteers work hard throughout the year clearing vegetation and other obstructions, fitting metal gates, installing earth steps and wooden waymarker posts, and refurbishing stiles.

Members also organise map reading/navigation courses, plus various social activities including walking holidays, barn dances, skittles evenings, theatre trips and quiz nights.

Fifty-eight group members went on yesterday’s walk, led by founder member Graham Smith, and a celebration cake was enjoyed during the lunch stop, The Smugglers in St Margaret’s.

Group chairman Margaret Lubbock said: "Who would have thought that we would still be here as a thriving group after 30 years?

“And it all started with our first chairman, Charles Wake, who showed such dedication and is still fondly remembered by some of our members.

“Our success is all down to the dedication and enthusiasm of members. This is what makes us such a friendly and successful group with an envious reputation in Kent. Long may it last. Not every new group achieves this accolade.”

On Thursday the White Cliffs Ramblers have a 10-mile group from Wye Downs, and on Sunday there is a choice of two walks – a 5.5-mile one from Chartham and a 13-mile one from Norwich.