Ramblers set off from Hayfield for the 1932 mass trespass
The children of two of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespassers who were jailed for their part in the incident will take part in the celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of the event.
Harry Rothman, son of the trespass leader Benny Rothman, will make the journey from his home in Wales for the Kinder 80 Festival next month.
And Jan Gillett, whose father Tona Gillett was also imprisoned, for two months, despite only being at the event to observe it as a student, will be coming from Warwickshire to join the celebrations.
The festival will be launched by author and broadcaster Stuart Maconie at the Moorland Centre, Edale. Other speakers to the invited audience will include BBC Radio 2’s Mike Harding; outgoing National Trust director general Dame Fiona Reynolds and Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society.
The launch of the festival, which includes a week of nearly 30 walks, talks and other events in the Peak District, will be on 24 April and will mark the anniversary of the mass trespass, a key event in the struggle for public access to Britain’s hills.
Chairman of the Kinder 80 committee Roly Smith said: “The 1932 mass trespass was an iconic event not only for freedom to roam legislation, finally achieved by the CRoW Act of 2000, but as a catalyst towards the creation of our national parks, of which the Peak District was the first in 1951.
“The trespass anniversary has become an important date in the outdoor calendar, and many people believe that the sacrifice made 80 years ago by these ramblers should never be forgotten.
“But importantly we will also be looking forward to what has been achieved on Kinder by bodies like the National Trust since then.”
The Peak District National Park Authority; Derbyshire County Council; the National Trust, the Ramblers, the British Mountaineering Council and the Sheffield Campaign for Access to Moorland, have all been involved in the organised the week of activities.
These will include a re-enactment walk on Wednesday 25 April from Hayfield and Edale by ramblers, some in 1930s gear, from Manchester and Sheffield, who will meet up for a victory celebration. That evening, photographer John Beatty will give his Wild Vision audio-visual show at the Hope Valley College, Hope.
There will also be talks on the History of Kinder by Sheffield historian David Hey and Climbing on Kinder by the BMC’s Martin Kocsis.
Walks will include special ones linked to the High Peak Health Walks programme, a timeline walk, and others aimed at families with a focus on fun, adventure and exploration.
A trespass-themed ceilidh featuring the Well Dressed Band and local singer-songwriter Sally Goldsmith will be held, and special exhibitions will be staged at the Moorland Visitor Centre, Edale; Castleton Visitor Centre, and at the New Mills Heritage Centre.
A revised and updated version of leader Benny Rothman’s book on the trespass, published by Willow Publishing, will also be launched at the event on April 24.
More details are on the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass website.
Barry Levene
10 August 2012John Lennon once sang "a working class hero is something to be".
The name of Benny Rothman......., although not on everyone's lips, fits the bill with distinction . The history of Benny Rothman needs to told and put into perspective - and who better to do this then Benny himself!! A new DVD plus an audio CD are soon to be released by MNVDISCS/Discs International , titled......
" BENNY ROTHMAN IN HIS OWN WORDS"
Producer Will Scally, who interviewed and filmed Rothman at home in the mid 1980's, explained that "this interview has never been seen and has created a lot of interest from not just ramblers but social historians. He speaks about many issues and the people that he came up against, this was against a very turbulent backdrop" Benny Rothman led the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass of 1932, the first significant event in the movement demanding public access to the countryside; within three years it had inspired the formation of the Ramblers' Association. This became known as the mass trespass of Kinder Scout and was an act of willful trespass by the ramblers. It took place at Kinder Scout, in the Peak District of Derbyshire on April 24th.
On that day a small crowd was expected to join in, but what took place surprised many, the small expected crowd became a 500- strong ramblers army.Two hundred police failed to stop them from surging on to the broad shoulder of Kinder Scout, now one of the park's most visited glories. The trespass proceeded via William Clough to the plateau of Kinder Scout, where they were met by the gamekeepers, violent scuffles and brief fights took place and a drunken gamekeeper suffered a broken ankle.
They reached their destination and met with another group. On the return, five of the group along with Rothman were arrested and others detained. Rothman just turned twenty-one was up on charges of riotous assembly and assault.
He soon prepared notes of what he was going to say to the jury. He wanted to make a case, he said, for the right to go walking in the countryside. Trespass was not a criminal offence, but they would receive prison sentences of two to six months for offences relating to violence against the gamekeepers. The mass trespass marked the beginning of a media campaign by The Ramblers Association, culminating in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which legislates rights to walk on mapped access land. Just how much was against him purely because of his Jewish background and being an active member of the Communist Party? This year has been the 80th anniversary of Kinder Scout Mass Trespass. "The Manchester Rambler - Benny Rothman "In His Own Words" DVD has made a timely appearance and should not be missed. Benny Rothman died in 2002 aged 90 - his legacy lives on .
Barry Levene.
Information on how to order this DVD and other rare interviews in the MNVDISCS catalogue please contact: 3sixtypr@gmx.com