Mike Harding leads the singing of The Manchester Rambler, supported by the Chapel-en-le-Frith Male Voice Choir, complete in walking boots. Photo: Keith Keith Warrender

An author and broadcaster said the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass was as important a part of England’s history as kings’ and queens’ coronations and the story should be on the curriculum in every school.

Stuart Maconie, a BBC 6 Music broadcaster and walking enthusiast, told a gathering in the Peak District the trespass was an example of the idealism that permeates the rambling community.

The meeting at the Moorland Centre in Edale commemorated the event 80 years ago when a group of young working-class ramblers battled with gamekeepers on Kinder Scout, the Peak District’s highest hill.

Launching the anniversary event, Mr Maconie praised the actions of the group’s leader Benny Rothman and his fellow trespassers, claiming that the event – which resulted in the imprisonment of Mr Rothman and four other ramblers – originated from the long-standing tradition of dissent and idealism which existed in the rambling movement.

“It is as significant an event in our history as any coronation of a king or queen, and it should be taught in every school,” Mr Maconie told the gathering of about 200 walkers.

Dame Fiona Reynolds, outgoing director-general of the National Trust which now owns Kinder Scout, told children from Edale and Hayfield Primary Schools, who had produced artwork commemorating the event: “You are the most important people here today.

“It is sobering to think that, unlike you, one in five children in this country don’t get the chance to go out into the countryside. We are paying tribute today to the iconic event of 80 years ago which gave us places like Kinder Scout where we can all enjoy the freedom of the hills.”

And Kate Ashbrook, newly elected Ramblers’ president and general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, added: “We must keep the Kinder trespassers’ torch aflame. We cannot be complacent. The threats which the trespassers fought are still very much with us, but in a different guise. We live in uncertain times, when finance comes before freedom.”

The launch event ended with the singing of the traditional walkers’ anthem, Ewan MacColl’s Manchester Rambler, led by broadcaster, folk singer and author Mike Harding and the Chapel-en-le-Frith Male Voice choir, complete in uniform – and walking boots. Mr Harding said the choir was ‘The best backing group I’ve ever had’.

Surviving mass trespasser 96-year-old George Haigh, formerly of Stockport, was at the event after travelling up from his home in Oxfordshire to be present. “It’s wonderful people are remembering what we did,” he said. “The right to get out and be in the countryside is as important today as it was back then.”

Also present were two children of the jailed ramblers on the 1932 trespass, Harry Rothman, son of the trespass leader Benny Rothman, who received four months’ imprisonment, and Jan Gillett, son of the then-student Tona Gillett, who was locked up for two months.

Chairman of the Kinder 80 committee Roly Smith said: “I was delighted our speakers put the emphasis on young people. There is still much to be done in achieving the right to walk in places like our English coastline and in our forests.

“Benny Rothman and his pals would not be resting on their laurels now we have the right to roam in open country. We should have the same rights as those enjoyed in Scotland the rest of the Europe.”

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act, introduced by the Labour Government in 2000, granted a limited right to go off-path on designated open access land in England and Wales. In Scotland, a much wider right to access countryside responsibly exists under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act.

A week of walks, talks and exhibitions is being held in the Peak District to mark the Kinder 80th anniversary.