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Those of you lucky enough to have visited Pwll Deri YH will know that it is a fantastic place. Perched on a cliff, on a remote stretch of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, it has one of the best views of any hostel in the network and some pretty fine walking too. An ideal spot to escape the trials and tribulations of 21st century life.

Sadly, though, there are some things that you just can’t get away from. The Western Telegraph reports that the hostel was broken into at some time on Tuesday afternoon. The theives escaped with two laptops and a bag, it’s not clear whether they belonged to hostel staff or to guests.

I suppose this unhappy incident just serves to remind us to be careful with our valuables, even in the “safe” confines of a remote youth hostel.

Recent events at Cambridge have brought fire safety very much to the attention of hostellers. Now, it is reported in the Cornish Guardian that Golant YH has been found wanting after a recent inspection:

Faults including inadequate fire detection and warning systems were recorded by the visiting fire safety officers at Penquite House youth hostel.

Escape routes and exits could not be used as quickly and safely as possible, escape doors could not be easily and immediately opened from the inside and escape routes did not have adequate signs.

Firefighters also reported that the escape routes did not have adequate emergency lighting in case the normal lighting circuits failed.

Steps have already been taken to remedy some of these shortcomings, and a specialist contractor is to be called in to complete the necessary work.

Just a couple of weeks after Eastbourne YH rose from the ashes of an arson attack in 2004, another hostel has received the same treatment.

On saturday evening, a fire was started in a first floor toilet at Cambridge Youth Hostel. Soon the building’s corridors were filling with smoke and about 80 panicky hostellers. Fortunately, the first of four fire engines was on the scene within three minutes of the alarm being raised. The Cambridge News describes the scene:

On arrival the first crew from Cambridge established that not everyone had been accounted for, and was met with a large crowd of about 80 people, many of whom were quite panicky.

“The crews immediately entered the building. One person had collapsed on the ground floor and was rescued by a firefighter.”

As well as freeing a woman from a bedroom with a ladder, three other people who had fled to a flat roof were helped down by firefighters. Another man found near an emergency exit was led to safety.

Apart from two people who were later taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, there were no serious injuries to anybody involved.

Of course, there was quite a lot of damage to the hostel, but fortunately not on the scale experienced at Eastbourne. According to Duncan Simpson yesterday, it suffered mainly smoke and water damage and will be closed for at least two weeks.

Meanwhile, the BBC reports today that a 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the blaze.

No, it’s not a reprise of the old 24-hour drinks license story, but the fears of some of the inhabitants of Easdale, faced by the prospect of a youth hostel opening on their island.

According to a story in the Press & Journal, there are plans afoot to open a 30-bed hostel on the mile-long island of Easdale, the smallest inhabited island in the Inner Hebrides (though not a SYHA hostel, as far as I can tell). The island has some B&Bs and holiday cottages, but nowhere else for visitors to stay if, for example, they want to take part in the World Stone Skimming Championships.

The plan has been welcomed by local businesses, but not by residents like Tina Jordan who believe it would undermine the business of existing holiday cottages and cause noise nuisance through “alcohol-fuelled activity”.

I can’t say I’ve found hostels to be hotbeds of alcohol-crazed rowdiness. After a day out on the hills, most of us don’t have the energy even if we had the inclination. Could it be that what Ms Jordan is really afraid of is – crivens! – poor people.

If everyone on the island is as welcoming as she is, I’m not sure I want to go there anyway.

We’ve already seen a boost in YHA bookings due to the credit crunch, well the same is happening north of the border, according to BBC News:

Louise Nowell, head of sales and marketing at the Scottish Youth Hostels Association, said: “Our advance bookings are up 7% compared to the same time last year.

In an ordinary year I wouldn’t have expected the figures to go up as they have. There’s a reason for it – the economic situation.

The exchange rate is keeping Brits at home, foreign visitors are getting more value for money, and people are becoming more value-conscious due to the credit crunch. Suddenly we’re being seen as an affordable destination.”

It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good!

The Peak District National Park Authority has just appointed former YHA Chief Executive Roger Clarke as a new member.

So, if they close down Dovedale and spend huge amounts making Kinder Scout “fit for purpose”, you’ll know why…

Thirty-one members of fifteen groups assembled at National Forest YH for this year’s Affiliated Groups’ Conference. Jeff Murry took the chair, and welcomed the delegates to the day’s proceedings.

First up was a presentation by yours truly on How to Improve on Your Website. Subjects covered included ways of getting an online presence in the first place, what content to include, and some of the features made available by people like Google Code.

If you’re interested, you can read my presentation slides. There’ll also soon be a series of practical articles on this website showing how to incorporate features like Google Maps and RSS feeds.

After a break for tea & coffee and a welcome from the hostel manager, it was time for the main event of the morning: a talk by YHA Chairman Chris Darmon. With the YHA’s financial year having just finished, Chris was able to fill us in on how YHA is weathering the credit crunch.

As you might expect, it’s not good news – overnights down 1% and a “difficult year” for food and beverage sales. Overall the association ran a trading deficit of £0.5 million.

That’s not a situation that can be sustained, and hard decisions need to be taken to remedy it. Fortuantely, Chris said, the almost total replacement of the management team over the last year or so has given the Association its best leadership in years. On the agenda are a rethink on hostel catering – “home cooked, solid food, traditional food” – more shepherd’s pies and less posh nosh. With hostel staff already cut to the bone, staffing cuts will need to be made at national office – 15 redundancies are expected at Matlock. Over all the aim is to break even next year and be strong for 2011: “At the end of this recession, YHA needs to be here, needs to be vibrant and ready to respond to the new world.”

That’s not to say that YHA won’t be spending money over the next couple of years. There’s £11.5 million’s worth of work underway making hostels “fit for purpose”, with £37 million still planned for. Improvements will not just benefit hostellers, staff accommodation is to be improved too. Not a moment too soon, reckons Chris, “You wouldn’t put your dog in places that we ask some of our staff to live in!”

Inevitably, hostel closures are under consideration. One already earmarked to go is London Thameside (formerly Rotherhithe), which will close some time after 2012. Not that YHA’s looking to get out of the capital, far from it! The weak pound is making London such a hot destination that the seven London hostels provided 25% of YHA’s income last year. What they’re looking for is a big 400-bed hostel along the lines of Sydney Central. The property crash may give them the chance.

Chris then went on to talk about the ongoing governance review. Still smarting at the check administered at last month’s EGM, he said that the Board has no choice but to come back on governance proposals. Should the proposals be rejected a second time we would be in “a crisis of governance“, and Chris believes that the Charity Commission would intervene.

With that in mind, perhaps, he encouraged affiliated group members to go to their next regional council meeting and get elected to attend the AGM. Personally, I’m not sure that this is entirely constitutional, since Councils elect their delegations from amongst their members, and they were elected back in the autumn. Still, no doubt many councils would welcome an influx of new blood however late in the year it arrives.

It was good to see the YHA Chairman attending the Groups’ conference, and to see him so positive about our role within the organisation. Hopefully it signals a thaw in our sometimes frosty relationship with Matlock.

After an improvised lunch, we returned to elect five delegates to the national AGM. They were:

• Ann Mayhew – Bedford
• Chris Moyle – Stafford
• Alan Summers – Leicester
• Matthew Webber – Harrogate
• Paul Wright – Ipswich

Next was the presentation of the President’s Awards. As head of the judges, Paul Madge read out the results in each category as well as the overall winner. This year was dominated by two groups, with Croydon and Barnet dividing all the categories between them.

Paul noted that the structure of the awards had not changed since the abolition of the old NHLGC. Does it need to be updated? Are groups doing new things that need to have awards? Paul’s open to ideas, so contact him or comment below if you have a view.

The presentation was followed by the chance for each winning group to describe what they did, and to field questions from the rest of us. Hopefully, enough tips were picked up to ensure a wider spread of results next year!

Finally, it was time to discuss the two motions raised by Bedford Group. The first, it was agreed, was not really a motion in its original form and was amended to read:

We call on the Trustees to explore filling the gaps in the hostel network as soon as finances allow, where viable.

In this form it was passed 12-1, though just when finances might be so abundant as to consider a return to low-demand places like Ivinghoe is an open question.

The second motion, calling on hostels to have members’ kitchens was pushing at an open door with YHA’s new management. “My advice is to pass this motion and move on” was Chris Darmon’s suggestion, so the conference did just that. Unanimously.

An open forum at the end allowed a few loose ends to be tied up. What will YHA do to celebrate its 80th birthday next year? “Time we had a rally”, thinks the Chairman, probably a major event at Ilam Hall to which we’ll invite the Queen (who is patron of the Association).

With nothing else of note to discuss, it was time to fix a date for next year’s conference. The most likely date is 20th March, or possibly the 27th. However, it was made clear that we need to get more groups to attend. I hope this site can contribute to making next year’s event something that meets groups’ needs, and that they want to turn up to.

My thanks to Ivan Morley for providing some of the photographs used on this and the previous story

The President’s Awards were introduced in 1985 to recognise the work that local groups do for the YHA and 2008 marked the twenty-fourth year of the awards.

Eight groups entered for 2008, sadly down from twelve the previous year, but the standard of entries remained high and not only for the two groups that have dominated the awards this time.

Four judges marked the awards this time, rather than the usual three, and as usual each of the categories will be presented before moving on to the overall results.

First of the eight categories is for the Best Conservation Project and this was won by COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group. Several members of the group spent a couple of days working with the Downlands Countryside Management Project thinning out a band of scrubby woodland adjacent to the ancient woodland at Banstead Woods near Coulsdon just south of Croydon.

Good entries for the Best Publicity Strategy were submitted by Barnet, Guildford and Stafford Groups but the winner is COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group who organised outdoor events that would attract the general public, produced and widely distributed a new full colour leaflet, introduced a new promotional booklet, revamped their display stands and made the most of their email list and website.

Six groups entered the Best Programme category with Guildford in third place, Croydon a close second and Barnet YHA Group winning. Barnet offer two hostelling weekends a month, day walks, evening walks and a wide variety of evening social events.

COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group won the Best Fundraising Initiative category with a mock auction of unwanted Christmas presents, the Weald Walkers Wander and the Gatliff Marathon, the proceeds of these events going towards Puttenham Youth Hostel, last year’s conference and a fund for future projects.

Croydon came second in the Best Work Undertaken At A Hostel category which was won by Barnet YHA Group. A dozen members of Barnet group spent a January weekend redecorating eleven dormitories at Cambridge Youth Hostel.

Stagger from St Albans Group and Footprint from Barnet Group were excellent entries for the Best Newsletter Or Magazine category but the clear winner yet again is Viewpoint from COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group. Dating back to the 1930s, Viewpoint now has up to 28 pages with a variety of well written articles and many photographs.

Barnet YHA Group and COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group are joint winners of the Best New Members Package category. Both groups work hard to ensure that the potential new members they’ve attracted are integrated into the group.

Six groups entered the Best Website category, with Dunstable coming third, Croydon second and Barnet YHA Group winning. www.barnetyha.org first features a welcoming countryside photo, then prominently shows forthcoming events and a welcome to the group and has easy access to other well prepared areas such as a photo album, membership details and the public version of the groups newsletters.

With thanks to Alan, Ivan, Kathy and Maggy for judging the 2008 President’s Awards, we now move on to the overall results.

• Dunstable and St Albans Groups came joint fifth.
• In Fourth place are Stafford YHA Group.
• Guildford Outdoor Group gained Third place.
• Barnet YHA Group are the runners-up for 2008.
• Winner of the President’s Trophy are the 2003, 2004 and 2007 winners,COPSE, the Croydon YHA Group

Each year, walkers descend on the Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire to take part in the 25-mile Chatsworth Challenge walk. The event raises money for charity, and this year’s beneficiary is the YHA’s Breaks 4 Kids fund.

If you or your group fancies taking part, entries cost £12 each and include refreshments en route, a meal at the end, and certificates and badges for all finishers. If 25 miles and 3500 feet of ascent in 11 hours is a bit beyond you, the organisers are looking for people to man checkpoints and otherwise help out.

This year’s walk takes place on the 13th Setember. Why not make a group weekend of it? YHA have a number of hostels and camping barns in the area that would provide a perfect base.

No, it’s not my typical itinerary for a hostelling weekend (well, actually it is, but that’s not important right now) it’s the fate suffered by the inhabitants of Ivinghoe according to The Bucks Herald.

The village’s youth hostel was closed in 2007, despite an attempt to save it, and now the local pub’s going the same way. According to the landlady, the two facts are not unrelated:

There used to be a youth hostel in the village and I got the majority of my trade from there, but when that closed, it was a massive blow to the business.

Of course it’s not just the dearth of thirsty hostellers that has done the damage – the smoking ban and the credit crunch have done their part – but it’s a striking example of how important hostels can be to the local economy.