YHAgroup.org.uk

The absence of an up-to-date handbook of YHA’s hostels is an issue covered before on this website, and only partially addressed by the “handbook update” issued last year. According to a post by Karl Shepherdson in the YHA forum this weekend, a replacement could finally be on its way:

A new handbook/guide is in the process of being put together. I’m in the loop and have recently had meetings with the lead manager. I can promise the concept is not dead. Don’t ask me when it will come through letterboxes just yet as I don’t have a date yet. It is at the writing and editing stage at National Office. Perishable information will be left for the website, like opening dates and prices, but I have requested an increase in the amount of ‘practical information’, in particular meal options and times, and hostel shop provision if relevant.

The new handbook will probably have the hostel’s “real” telephone number as well as the 0845 one, and the OS map reference. If there are other things you’d like to see included, I’m sure Karl would be happy to hear from you.

I really welcome this news. The internet is great, but not always accessible when you’re in the wilds (or if you have limited means). You still need something you can stuff into a rucksac, pannier or glove compartment that you can use to find a hostel. I’m glad YHA has finally listened to its members on this issue.

If you can’t wait for the official handbook to land on your doormat, there is a little-known alternative. Hostelling International, the world-wide hostelling body, publish free downloadable hostel guides for every continent and country. The England & Wales guide (Warning: 9MB pdf file) lists all hostels alphabetically and even includes some information left out of the last official guide, like public transport links. Well worth a look if your trusty handbook is getting a bit dog eared!

The Derby Telegraph has been telling tales of hostelling past as part of its “Bygones” column. The article was put together with help from trustees Lindsey Porter and Helen Maurice-Jones, and harks back to an time when YHA occupied a significantly different price point:

In an era when it would cost at least half-a-crown (25p) to stay in bed-and-breakfast accommodation, youth hostels were charging just a shilling (5p), supplying visitors with cooking facilities and a bed for the night. This suddenly opened up rural holidays and tourism to many more individuals and it proved very popular.

I don’t think you’d find many B&Bs costing five times more than a nearby hostel these days. Have they got significantly cheaper over the years, or have hostels got more expensive? Probably a little of both, I suspect.

The article asked readers to share their own hostelling stories, and drew this response from one John Richmond:

I joined the YHA in 1958, aged 17, prior to a cycling tour of north Wales and south Shropshire.

Annual subscription then was 7s 6d, with a small overnight fee at each hostel. 

Sleeping accommodation consisted of two-tier bunk beds and a mattress. 

A pillow and three grey or khaki blankets were provided. The latter had to be folded neatly each morning and were re-used by the next occupants without laundering so a light-weight, cotton sleeping bag was mandatory. Some hostels provided breakfast and evening meal, but nearly all had self-catering facilities – a Calor gas “stove” and utensils. 

A small task had to be performed each stay. My most unusual task was at Clun, south Shropshire, where I had to replenish the drinking water. This entailed wheeling a metal tub some half-a-mile each way to the communal standpipe, housed in a small brick building in the village. 

At a nearby hostel on the ridge, known as the Long Mynd, washing was done in an enamelled bowl filled from a nearby stream. 

Modern hostels are much more refined!

Indeed they are! I thought I had it bad being given the “duty” of chopping a pile of logs with a blunt axe. What’s the worst/weirdest duty you were ever given?

As our new chancellor prepares to plot our way out of the economic crisis, there’s one organisation that may be hoping he’s not too successful. Whatever pain the recession may be causing, it’s doing wonders for the SYHA, according to a report in The Herald:

Scotland’s largest youth hostelling association increased its membership by a third in May, taking the roll from 20,000 to nearly 26,500. The SYHA also reported it is receiving more bookings from within Scotland, suggesting that exchange rates, recession and flight disruption are influencing people’s holiday choices.

They’d already seen a similar effect last year, but this really is startling – membership up by a third in a single month? What I don’t understand is why have we not seen anything like the same effect south of the border? I know people will say that SYHA is cheaper, both to join and to stay at, but the difference isn’t really all that marked. Could it be that the alternative – flying to mainland Europe – is sufficiently more expensive when you start from Scotland to form a tipping point? No doubt the truth is more complicated than that. What do you think YHA could learn from its northern neighbours?

It’s been a long time since I heard anything about the community buy-out plan for Coldingham YH, which started with massive local support after the SYHA closed the hostel in 2008.

Well, the news is in, but it’s not good for those hoping to see this hostel reopen. The Berwickshire News reports:

Community efforts to buy Coldingham Youth Hostel and keep it running as a low budget tourism facility were thwarted when they failed to secure lottery funding to help them purchase the building, and now there are plans to turn it into two houses and two flats.

Read the full story to find out more.