CYHA News

50 Years & Still going strong

September was quite a month, culminating with our 50^th Anniversary party at Ivinghoe. If you missed the event, then you missed a great do. It was wonderful to meet up with the members from fifty years ago and find them fit & raring for a barn dance. Please see Dave’s article below for details. Thanks go to Dave for all his hard work organising the event and to everyone who brought food along – we had enough to feed a small army!

September also saw our Sunday walk around Bartlow and the famous Bartlow hills. It was a fabulous day with gorgeous weather, only to be marred by Cressida being mown down by an inconsiderate cyclist.

We also had a lovely Sunday walk taking in the delights of October in Epping Forest. Lots of fungi and fallen leaves.

Ali

Epping Forest

A sunny October Sunday saw some 17 of us meet up in the Honey Lane car park for a bracing 8 mile walk through the forest. Half way round there was an opportunity for tea and cake at Butler’s Retreat, followed by a visit to Queen Elizabeth’s Hunting Lodge with a private talk from one of the custodians. We were told that the lodge was built because Henry VIII was too fat to hunt (he had too be winched onto his horse, which was rather demeaning for a ruler supposedly appointed by God). The idea was for the nobility to sit in the comfort of the lodge whilst servants drove the deer past the window and they could take pot shots with a crossbow. Whilst we were there a herd of cyclists rode past and we asked Cress if she was tempted to try her hand after her Barford encounter!

Our walk back involved further meanderings through the forest. Never more than half a mile from our route out, it could have been ten miles for all we knew. There were lots of toadstools, including several impressive fly agaric, leading to conversations about drinking reindeer urine.

A superb walk finished off with a well-earned drink in the pub.

Lesotho Slideshow

Thank go to Gerry for a wonderful slideshow of his trip to Lesotho. Along with his wonderful pictures we had accompanying music and tales from the trip, including the mildly alarming running out of petrol miles from any town. A brilliant study of a beautiful country, so different from our own, where the average life expectancy is only 37 and would see most of us already in our graves.

Weekend at Stratford-upon-Avon

A weekend marked by sumptuous feeding – at least for those meals not supplied by the hostel! A fabulous pub meal Friday night for those who arrived early, whopping doorstep sandwiches (thanks to leftovers of Lorna’s ham from our anniversary party), and a generous chilli cooked by Dave J & Helen.

Saturday saw a delightful walk along the river Avon into the heart of Stratford, past Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and Shakespeare’s house. The closest we came to any culture was sitting on the steps outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre to eat our sandwiches.

Luckily the rain held off for most of Saturday, but the same could not be said for Sunday. A walk around Kenilworth with good views of the castle ended in persistent rain, leading to an extended stay in the pub mid afternoon.

Chelmsford YHA Fifty Years

2006 marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the original Chelmsford YHA Group. To celebrate, we held a reunion weekend at Ivinghoe Hostel on 23rd September for current and past members to get together.

The original Chelmsford YHA Local Group was formed in 1956. The inaugural meeting was held at the Public Library and a programme of Sunday walks was started. The first walk was along the river bank to Maldon. The top floor of the Chelmsford Labour Party H.Q. in London Road was used as a clubroom for weekly meetings. Activities included folk singing, jazz, archaeology, rock climbing and hectic party going, as well as walking and hostelling of course. The local hostels were visited regularly, with longer trips to Wales, The Lake District, Yorkshire and along the Thames Valley. Many happy weekends were spent at the local hostels, Bradwell-on-Sea, Maldon, Nazeing and High Roding, all long since closed.

In the early sixties many members married or moved away from Chelmsford, and the group faded away for a while. But the group was re-started in January 1968, meeting at the Chelmer Cycling Club hut in Waterhouse Lane, and has been active continuously since then.

Last year a message appeared in our website guestbook from Mike Sach, one of the founder members from 1956. I sent him a copy of a photo we had showing three walkers on the Chelmer towpath, labelled “first walk 1956”, and asked him if he knew the people in the picture. He replied that he took the photo, and gave me the names and email addresses of the people shown! He also asked what were we doing for the fiftieth anniversary?

So having made contact with some of the 1956 members, we had to do something to mark the occasion. So we booked beds at Ivinghoe hostel, and hired Ivinghoe town hall for a barn dance. (According to our records, the group has been going to dances at Ivinghoe since 1972)

George persuaded Roy Nichols and friends (formerly of Hornchurch YHA group) to form a band, which they very kindly did for not much more than some petrol money, a hostel bed, and a few sausages.

We also put together a display of photos covering 1956 to 2006, which show that although photographic technology and clothing styles have changed, our activities are much the same as they were fifty years ago.

Dave P

See some more photos from our Ivinghoe weekend and some pictures from Fifty Years Ago!

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