Ramblers
"You want to get the Birmingham factory lads and lassies out in your beautiful countryside..."
As a contribution to the 75th anniversary celebrations, Michael Bird has produced a book on the history of the Ramblers Midland Area ('The Midland Area of the Ramblers’ Association 1930-1987'). This free to download document has a lot of revealtions about the rambling movement, as the below extracts reveal.
On the origins, Michael writes, "Following its formation in 1930, the Midland Federation was soon at work organising large outdoor rallies. The first was held at British Camp on the Malvern Hills in September 1932. The following year one of the speakers at the rally, John E Walsh, Editor of The Hiker Camper, wrote in the Midland Federation Handbook: 'I had the honor to speak at your first Federation Rally and I still have lively recollections of the tramp some of us took back over the Malverns, and as far as I am concerned the Birmingham crowd get full marks. You are a young Federation that has still to make a noise in the hiking game. You want to get the Birmingham factory lads and lassies out in your beautiful countryside, but I am certain that you will do it, and soon. Pick the right sort; if they are the ukulele playing, won‘t shut the gate kind, leave them at home.'"
Another extract gives an insight into the cultural attitudes of the day:
"Most of the pre-twentieth century rambling clubs, such as the Forest Ramblers, were for gentlemen only, with — as their advert in the 1931 National Federation Handbook states —'rambles occasionally arranged in which ladies are invited to take part'. The Institute Ramblers, however, because they were formed from among the students and teachers at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, were a mixed club from the start. In March 1894, the Institute Magazine included the following paragraphs: 'The programme should include a walk of not more than five or six miles, such as ladies might undertake without fatigue, and tea at a country cottage or wayside inn.'"
Kate Ashbrook, a Trustee of the Ramblers and former Chair, said, "Michael Bird has done a valuable job in pulling together the history of Midland Area... What this history does show is that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to those campaigners of Midland Area who fought to get paths recorded and to stop damaging developments in the lovely countryside of their territory. They didn‘t claim all the paths or stop all the developments, but this chunk of England and Wales would be a poorer place for walkers were it not for their efforts."
Read more here: www.warwickshireramblers.org.uk/mra%20history.html
