YHAgroup.org.uk

With the festive season almost upon us, what do you get the hill walker in your life? Yet another pair of gloves or socks? A pin-up of Julia Bradbury? Perhaps not. How about a stretch of Lakeland footpath?

Fix the Fells has been featured on these pages before - it’s a partnership run by the Lake District National Park Authority, The National Trust and Natural England to repair Lake District paths and combat erosion in the future. All their work is heavily dependent on public fund-raising.

This year they’re running a Fix a Fell for Christmas campaign. Simply donate a sum on your loved one’s behalf and it will go towards upland paths. Just £10 will replant vegetation alongside one metre of path, whilst £600 will pay for an hour of helicopter time. What’s more any amount you give will be tripled by the Heritage Lottery Fund, so a donation of £10 actually gets them £30.

But how do you wrap up a few square metres of Cumbria and put it under the tree? Don’t worry, they’ve thought of that. When you make a donation, a personalised certificate is generated for you to print out and give as your gift.

But remember, a Lakeland footpath isn’t just for Christmas…

OK, forget name changes, how about a new hostel altogether? YHA announced this morning that they have “no plans to return to Haute de la Garenne on Jersey and [have] begun discussions with the island’s government about finding an alternative site.”

The search for a new site is progressing pretty well if reports from the Jersey Evening Post and BBC News are to be believed. In the frame as a possible replacement is Elizabeth Castle - a 16th century fortification that was once the home of Sir Walter Raleigh. Expect lots of potatoes with the hostel meals!

There could be a captive market for those meals too: the castle is cut off from the main island at high tide - so there’s not much chance of slipping down to the pub!

The YHA’s most remote youth hostel looks set for an healthy and environmentally friendly future. According to a report in The Westmorland Gazette, the YHA has agreed a new 25 year lease that will assure the hostel’s continuing role in the network.

In addition, the hostel will be fully refurbished next year, including a hydro-electric power generator and other eco-friendly features  - fruits of the Ennerdale and Black Sail appeal that was launched two years ago. The whole scheme forms part of the Wild Ennerdale project - an attempt to return the remote valley as far as possible to its natural state.

Thankfully for fans of the warden’s legendary curries, hostel meals will continue to be served at Black Sail. An earlier plan had called for the catering service to be withdrawn in an effort to reduce vehicle runs to the hostel. This decision proved unpopular with members and led to a re-think. YHA Development Manager Simon Ainley said:

While we still need to take a Land Rover to the hostel to transport laundry, refuse, gas bottles and cleaning products, through proposed changes to energy use and storage capacity on site, we can also provide catering while keeping the number of journeys to an absolute minimum.

We have also agreed in principle, a scope of works with our partners which will see Black Sail improved and reduce its environmental impact while retaining its essence and unique character.

Despite being the antithesis of the plush, coach party-friendly establishments that YHA is often associated with these days, Black Sail remains a talisman of what hostelling is all about. It’s good to see its place in the network being kept safe.

I’m sure everybody is glad to learn that there weren’t any children murdered at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home after all. Not least the YHA, who had invested a significant amount into turning the place into Jersey’s first youth hostel only for it to become a centre of attention for all the wrong reasons.

Understandably, reports the Jersey Evening Post, they’re thinking of changing the name of the hostel. Unfortunately, the new name may not be all that helpful:

There is talk of rebranding it as the Gorey Youth Hostel or something similar.

Information is beginning to emerge about next year’s Affiliated Groups’ conference. It appears that news of this event’s demise has been greatly exaggerated - as not only is it to take place again next year, but it’s expected to return to the old two-day format, complete with entertainment and a local walk.

The conference is to take place at National Forest YH in Leicestershire, which opened earlier this year. It’s a modern building with good meeting facilities, located centrally within the country. If it has a drawback, it’s not a great place to get to by public transport, but I’m sure that can be handled nearer the time.

In another blast from the past, taking a leading role in the event’s organisation is Jeff Murry - long-standing member of Surrey YHA Group and the NHLGC.

If you have a view on what should (or should not, for that matter) be discussed at the conference, please contact Jeff  by email, by phone on 01737 362036 or by post to 40 Preston Lane, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 5HD. I’d also welcome any comments that you might have below…

In what is hopefully the start of a higher profile for governance events, there’s a report on the Broad Haven “Get Involved” Forum on the YHA Site:

YHA supporters in Wales gathered together in Broad Haven at the weekend to celebrate a new programme to encourage more people, including young people, to get involved in the charity’s work…

Visit the YHA website to read the full report.

Last year this site reported a £24,000 grant made to Eskdale YH for a biomass boiler. Well, it’s now been bought, installed and even officially opened (well, switched on I suppose) by the local mayor, according to the Whitehaven News.

The boiler will run on wood chippings from the nearby Miterdale Forest, a renewable form of energy that should lower the hostel’s carbon footprint. So next time you turn your own footprints towards Eskdale in search of a little warmth, you’ll be doing your bit for the environment too!

Tom Levitt, MP for High Peak and a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Youth Hostelling Group (or Westminster Local Group, as I suppose we might call it), has a beef with the YHA. When Buxton YH was closed in 2002, the YHA made a commitment to find a replacement in the town. Nearly six years later there’s still no sign of a hostel in Buxton.

According to a report in the Buxton Advertiser, Mr Levitt has voiced his disappointment at this delay:

I am very disappointed. I know the YHA has been looking at a number of premises in the town and they still believe Buxton can play an important strategic point in their youth hostel network.

But although they have had support from High Peak Borough Council in trying to find the right location they haven’t been able to find a suitable site or building, so far.

Of course, suitable properties - and the money to buy them - don’t appear by magic. Maybe the downturn in the property market might place one or two more of them within YHA’s reach.

Buxton’s certainly somewhere that should have a youth hostel. Not only is it an attractive spa town on the north west edge of the Peak District, it has important bus and rail links for car-free visitors. Let’s hope this gap in the network can be plugged soon.

One thing’s for sure though - we won’t see a Coldingham-style community buy out of the old hostel.  It’s been demolished and replaced with a block of flats!

Rodings Rally is an all night orienteering cum map reading competition that takes place in Epping Forest and is organised by Epping Forest Outdoor Group. Full details can be found on their website.

Catherine Lees of Worcester and Malvern Group writes with details of this year’s Cadbury Cup results:

The 2008 Cadbury Cup competition took place at Bridges Hostel on 28th September. It was won by Potteries Outdoor Group who were entering for the first time. Five groups - Bedford, Bristol, Gloucester, Newport and Potteries took part. The course, set by the Worcester and Malvern Group was quite a challenging one - 12 miles over the Long Mynd.

It was good to see so many (tired and muddy) competitors gathered together in the hostel dining room at the end for tea and cakes and the presentation of the Cup. Potteries Group will be organising the event next Autumn.

Potteries Group (whose team are pictured above receiving their prize) are planning to host next year’s competition somewhere in the Peak District. Hopefully such a central location will encourage more groups to enter. Watch this space for more information!