The Ramblers’ Association (RA) will pay homage on 21 and 22 April, at the 75th anniversary of the Kinder Scout mass trespass, to the men who were imprisoned for walking over the mountain.
Addressing the celebrating crowd at New Mills, Derbyshire, Kate Ashbrook, chairman of the RA, will say:
‘It is hard for us to imagine that a walk across a moor caused five young men to be gaoled, but that is what happened to Benny Rothman and his comrades on these hills three quarters of a century ago.
‘They demonstrated for the right to roam; now we enjoy that right. Every time we go freely onto the moors and the mountains, or onto the local common, we should remember our debt to the mass trespassers.
‘We now have two goals. The first is to see the right to roam extended fully to the downs of the midlands and the south of England. The second is to win freedom to walk around the coasts of England and Wales. On this we now have pledges from government. It will be our job to see those pledges are fully implemented.’
The two-day celebratory event will include walks that follow in the footsteps of the men who were wrongly imprisoned; hear speeches by Kate Ashbrook, chairman, the Ramblers’ Association, David Miliband, Secretary of State for the Environment, Sir Martin Doughty, chair, Natural England and Lord Hattersley, president of Friends of the Peak District with music by Mike Harding.
It took 70 years for the Countryside and Rights of Way Act to come into force opening up some of England’s wild open spaces, many of which had previously been forbidden.
The law permits legal access to mountain, moor, heath, down and common land and specifically excludes cultivated farmland and gardens. It does not affect privacy and allows restrictions for nature conservation and land management. Access to England’s coast is next on the government’s agenda and the Department of Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will soon launch a public consultation, following recommendations by Natural England for a coastal corridor.
Organisers are asking that those who attend the event travel by public transport. Car parking in both New Mills and Hayfield is very limited.
