DVA member

We are an organisation of volunteer workers in the heart of Sussex, founded in 1961, who build and maintain stiles and other wooden structures on public rights-of-way, as well as working to keep them clear of obstructions and overgrowth.

The Monday Group was established in the early 1960’s as a small group of local volunteers and has now grown into a significant contributor to the local community and visitors across Mid Sussex, through the preservation, maintenance and protection of Public Rights of Way and other access routes in the local countryside in order to facilitate and encourage their use by all. 

We have around 50 members who meet (nearly) every Monday, rain or shine, to undertake the clearance of overgrowth, the maintenance of path surfaces, the manufacture, assembly, installation and repair of suitable furniture such as stiles, gates, walkways and way markers, in cooperation with landowners and other stakeholders. Production demands now require additional working on Tuesdays to ensure a steady supply.  

For many years the Group has been producing and installing their iconic stiles which land owners and managers have accepted as being particularly stock proof and effective. The design have evolved over time to incorporate lower steps and higher uprights to improve accessibility, dog gates for our canine friends and simple installation and repair to ease maintenance. 

In recent years there has been a marked trend towards opening up footpaths to less able users and, whilst we promote a gap in a hedge as the preferred option, in many cases, the presence of livestock make this impracticable. 

We now offer kissing gates as the next best solution. Made in our own workshops, they are bespoke to the location, self closing and made of more durable timber than those usually offered  commercially. Also, being all wood, they are much more attractive than galvanised steel! They are harder to install than stiles but are equally robust. 

A currant initiative, in conjunction with The Friends of the South Downs, is looking for opportunities to make the entire length of a path feeding the South Downs National Park from the surrounding areas “Stile Free”. This entails  removing redundant stiles or replacing them with kissing gates. We are achieving some success in our negotiations with the land managers and have so far completed two such  projects with more planned. 

The much higher footfall experienced across the Covid years seems to have reduced somewhat but its impact on footpath surfaces, compounded by wet weather on the interim, is plain to see, particularly where footpaths have been fenced in, to restrict walkers and dogs roaming across the adjacent  fields. 

After a steep learning curve, we can now apply either a rubble and substrate infill or a suspended walkway, depending on the ground conditions encountered to sections that become impassable at times with deep mud or standing water.

A large number of our volunteers are engaged, throughout the year in cutting back the overgrowth that often restricts the width of footpaths, creating hazards and increasing wear in the middle. 

Many landowners assist by cutting both sides of their hedges. but there is always plenty of clearance work to be done especially in the Spring and Autumn 

For further information visit our website at www.mondaygroup.org  or e-mail us at hello@mondaygroup.org.