By Brenda Tarr
Lynda Cooper, a member since 1996, has completed 3 scheduled 110 km End-to-End hikes on the Avon Trail. She recalls that some of the earlier End-to-Ends were done in 7 sections not the 11 we do now. Linda has a Beacon Herald photograph of her first End-to-End hike in 2000. She proudly keeps this as evidence! Linda, who served on the Board for 2 years, is a regular attendee at meetings and still an active hiker.
Bill Gerber, an Honorary Member since 2011, has a long history with the Club serving as a Director for many years. In 1993 he was honoured with a Hike Ontario award for his invaluable trail maintenance work. He has the distinction of being 1 of 4 hikers who completed the first End-to-End hike held in 1983. Bill is in a select group who has done 5 or more End-to-Ends and together with Jack Nowak, led four.
Renee and Andy joined the club in September 2015. As a child, Renee walked on the Avon Trail and introduced Andy to it more recently. They are hiking end-to-end in stages as time allows. When asked what prompted them to volunteer to become monitors for a 4.6 km section, Andy replied he was following the example of his father who was a trail captain on the Bruce Trail for over 10 years. Thank you Renee and Andy for finding the time to volunteer while working full-time!