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The Open Spaces Society will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass which took place on 24 April 1932. Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook is speaking at the launch event on Tuesday 24 April and the society has contributed to the programme.
Says Kate: ‘There is nothing like the right to roam—freedom to wander over open country in pursuit of bird, flower, view or prehistoric remains, no fuss about keeping to the path. It wasn’t always so, and the Kinder trespassers heinously went to prison for harmlessly stepping out on open country.
‘It is argued how significant the trespass was to our rambling history: sad to say that my predecessor at the Open Spaces Society, Lawrence Chubb, scorned it. But the courage of those ramblers, so poor and starved of fresh air, yet so determined that the few owners and gamekeepers should not deprive us of such simple pleasures, is truly inspiring.
‘There’s still much to do: Scotland is way ahead of England and Wales with its access laws, and landowners and occupiers still put up barriers to keep us out and refuse to dedicate new access. But the memory of Kinder gives us hope and a renewed determination to fight on.’
The launch is at the Moorland Centre, Edale at 10am on Tuesday 24 April. Other speakers are BBC Radio 2’s Mike Harding, Stuart Maconie, author and broadcaster, and Fiona Reynolds, director general of the National Trust.
See details of the festival here.