News & Views for Local YHA Groups
I’ve been putting it off for months, but I’ve finally upgraded the software which runs this site to the latest version of Wordpress - version 2.3.3. As the functions of the site have been fairly heavily augmented from the standard set-up, there’s a chance that some features will be broken by this process.
Can you please let me know if anything on the site isn’t working properly. If I don’t know about it, i can’t fix it!
Independent hostelling website Hostelworld announced the winners of their annual “Hoscar” awards in a ceremony held in Dublin last week. Based on the votes of visitors to their site, these awards pick out the best of the more than 15,000 hostels that they list.
The 2008 Local Groups’ Conference is nearing the deadline for those wishing to stay at Milton Keynes hostel. Any group that wishes to go should fill in a booking form and get it off to Paul Madge asap.
As part of the £13.5 million plans announced last week, YHA have appointed design consultancy Blacksheep to develop “interior concepts” for up to 37 of it properties, according to a report in Design Week.
These concepts will be based around five themes: city, coastal, country, activities and heritage. In addition, finished designs will need to push the YHA brand whilst reflecting the individual character of each property. No simple task then!
We looked at part of the YHA’s mission statement,’ says Blacksheep senior designer Kylie Holton, ‘and have drawn out four things that we will apply – integrity, inclusivity, a useful element and a sense of value. There are different ways we can go about these things. There must be longevity in the design, with a natural look which can be reflected in the graphics. County schemes will be featured, such as moose heads made out of timber. We are looking towards a kind of “budget chic”.
Tempting though it is to snigger about wooden moose heads, I think that it’s good to see YHA investing in the design of its hostels - maybe it will tackle issues like the lack of ambience The Guardian found at National Forest last month. I just hope they don’t allow form to override function, members’ kitchens and drying rooms may not be chic but they’re vital to what hostelling is about.
YHA announced today a £13.5 million spending plan for hostels across the country.
Work is already nearing completion on improvements to eleven hostels, including Manchester, St Pancras and Pwll Deri, whilst next month will see the opening of a new £4.3 million hostel in central London. Brand new hostels are scheduled to open next year in Eastbourne and Lewes.
A wide range of improvements will be made to hostels across the country:
Major schemes approved include a £2million revamp at YHA Ilam in the Peak District, £1million at YHA Bristol and almost another £1million to be spent at YHA Pen y Pass, in Snowdonia.
There will be £820,000 spent at YHA Penzance, in Cornwall, nearly £730,000 at YHA Conwy, in north Wales and £600,000 at YHA Ambleside in the Lake District.
YHA St David’s, in South Wales, YHA Grinton, in North Yorkshire, YHA Treyarnon Bay, in Cornwall, YHA Windermere, in the Lake District and YHA Exeter, in Devon, will each benefit from improvement projects costing around £½ million.
While schemes in excess of £250,000 are scheduled for YHA Arundel, in Sussex, YHA Coalport, in Shropshire, YHA Coverack, in Cornwall, YHA Haworth, in West Yorkshire, YHA Port Eynon, in South Wales, YHA Salcombe, in Devon and YHA St Briavel’s Castle, in Gloucesterhire.
A total of 37 building improvement schemes have been approved for this year, with a further 77 to follow over the next two years.
The announcement does include some bad news too: the hostels at Bangor, Great Yarmouth and Slimbridge will close at the end of the year.
Coming pretty much on the second anniversary of the announcement of the closure of 39 hostels, it’s nice to be able to report (mostly) good news coming from Matlock this time!
A new youth hostel has opened in the welsh town of Abergavenny. According to the South Wales Argus it’s the first YHA hostel to open in Gwent. If true, that’s a most surprising fact - given the (former) county encompasses the eastern edge of the Brecons and the lower reaches of the Wye valley. Surely there used to be a hostel in Chepstow?
Maybe they mean it’s the first affiliated hostel, rather than a fully in-house YHA one. The hostel’s been hosting school parties for thirty years under the name of the Mulberry House Environmental Studies Centre. A deal with the YHA has made it available to the rest of us.
First in the county or not, Abergavenny’s a great place for a hostel. Good road and rail links make it relatively easy to get to, and the town is surrounded with mountains and other things to do. The opening of this hostel also goes some way to make up for the closing of nearby (but next county!) Capel-y-Ffin last year.
You can find out more about Abergavenny YH on the YHA’s hostel page or from the Mulberry House website.
Taking a welcome break from the licensing saga, The Guardian published a lengthy review of National Forest YH in Saturday’s travel section. The reporter, who visited the hostel with her teenage children, makes some interesting points about the experience.
The furore surrounding YHA’s application for 24-hour drinks licences for 118 of its hostels has persisted into the new year. Last week stories appeared in The Guardian, The Times and on BBC News, together with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek leader in The Independent. Whilst the nationals have generally passed on message about YHA not actually wanting to set up 24-hour drinking dens, local papers have been less measured:
YHA have, at least, published a press release about its licensing plans. Curiously, it was issued the day after I posted my previous article on the subject on this website. I don’t think the two facts are related!
We’ve already seen the re-opening of Skiddaw House, could Carrock Fell be set to join it one day? According to the Times & Star, one Brian Thompson has been labouring mightily on behalf of the Maryport Boys’ Club:
Mr Thompson has spent the winter doing up the old youth hostel at Carrick Fell[sic], which will be used by his members this summer.
If Carrock Fell has not become a private house (as I’d always assumed it would have done by now), but is actually still set up for group accommodation, maybe the MBC could be persuaded to open it to other groups? Well, it’s just a thought…
John Annett, Chair of YHA Southern Regional Council and stalwart of Croydon Local Group and of groups generally, has fallen seriously ill whilst travelling in Africa. He is currently in a coma and arrangements are being put in place to fly him home.
I know that everybody in the movement who knows John will be thinking of him and his family at this time, and wishing him a speedy recovery.