Our new advocate in Northamptonshire and Ceredigion
We have appointed Gerald Davies as our local correspondent for the old Daventry district of Northamptonshire, and five communities in Ceredigion. It may seem a strange combination but while Gerald lives in Brixworth, about five miles north of Northampton, his heart is in mid Wales. Gerald was raised on a farm in mid Wales and…
Read More
Our general secretary opens Nottingham’s historic town trail
On Sunday 26 September our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, will open Nottingham’s Victorian Town Trail. The five-mile route has been devised by the Friends of the Forest with Nottingham City Council to mark and celebrate the 130 acres of open space won by the people of Nottingham when land was inclosed under the Inclosure Act…
Read More
Launch of website for lantern-slide archive
We have launched a new website for our unique collection of lantern slides. Our collection, at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), contains 19th-century legal-case papers, press cuttings and a thousand lantern transparencies of British landscapes from 1900-40. Some time ago a project was undertaken to digitise the lantern slides and instigate a 2020/2021…
Read More
Seventy-fifth anniversary of Home Secretary’s stepping-stones
On 11 September 2021 we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the repaired stepping-stones on the North Downs Way, across the River Mole at Burford Bridge, Westhumble, near Dorking in Surrey (grid reference TQ172 512). The land is owned by the National Trust. The stones were replaced by James Chuter Ede, a member of the Open…
Read More
Winter Hill trespass a milestone, but still a long way to go
The Winter Hill mass demo in 1896 was a milestone in the history of public access—but we still have a long way to go.’ So declares our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, who will speak on 5 September at the 125th anniversary event of the Winter Hill mass trespass. Kate also spoke at the centenary event…
Read More
We join Worthing Downlanders to celebrate public-access victory
Five years on, campaigners celebrated the success of open access to Worthing’s incomparable downland in the South Downs National Park. They held a reunion rally on Sunday 15 August and made a video which includes our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook. We backed the Worthing Downlanders’ campaign from 2009 to 2015, firstly to stop Worthing Borough…
Read More
We call for creation of final link for Maidenhead trail
We have called on Windsor and Maidenhead Council to incorporate a permanent, direct path across Battlemead Common, on the north-east side of Maidenhead, into the popular Maidenhead Millennium Walk. Currently walkers are denied access across this magnificent open space and forced to walk around the edge. The land is owned by the council. The Millennium…
Read More
We appoint Devon paths-expert to new role
The society has appointed Devon paths-expert Helen Clayton to the new post of case officer (rights of way). The society created this post to address the increasing number of issues concerning public paths in England and Wales. Helen will champion public paths for the society, and respond to the many issues raised by its members,…
Read More
We support Climate Cymru – voices for Wales
Climate Cymru is a campaign working for meaningful, evidence-based and fair action to protect the Wales we love from the climate and nature emergency. The campaign wants to make sure the voices of ordinary people from all over the country are heard by the people in power. Climate Cymru is aiming to take 50,000 voices…
Read More
Little comfort from updated planning policies
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has published an updated version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). There are six main changes but we are disappointed that the revisions do not reflect the submission we made on the consultation. Says our case officer Nicola Hodgson: ‘We remain concerned that the government’s…
Read More