Ramblers Association

The Ramblers is a charity whose goal is to protect the ability of people to enjoy the sense of freedom and benefits that come from being outdoors on foot.

It's an association of people and groups who come together to both enjoy walking and other outdoor pursuits and also to ensure that we protect and expand the infrastructure and places people go walking.

Our roots are in groups of walkers who wanted access for the public to the countryside. To this day most of our work is done by members who volunteer their time.

We have dramatically increased the ability of the public to access the countryside:

• In 2000 through the Countryside and Rights of Way Act we gained access to 865,000 hectares of land in England and Wales where the public can access the countryside without depending on a footpath
• In 2003 through the Land Reform Act we secured responsible access over most areas of land and water in Scotland
• In 2009, the public won the right to walk along the entire coast of England; this will give access to some of the wildest and most dramatic landscapes in England
• In 2012 the Welsh Coast Path opened

Our other role as a charity is to give current and potential walkers a helping hand.

We enable and organise group walks led by walk leaders across Britain. Each year 300,000 people take part in Ramblers organised walks alone. Our members can join a walk anywhere in the country, and new walkers are always welcome.

History

Walking in the countryside, or rambling, became a popular form of recreation in the 19th century. For many people living in towns and cities walking offered a welcome relief from a polluted environment and the stress of daily life. Access to the countryside, however, was becoming more of a challenge thanks to the Enclosure movement, with many private landowners closing off their land. In response, the number of walking clubs and groups that campaigned for walkers' rights grew from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1930s.

In 1931, six regional federations representing walkers from all over Britain joined to create the National Council of Ramblers Federations, a body that could advocate on behalf of walkers' rights at a national level. During the following year, 400 walkers took part in the landmark Kinder Scout Trespass. Although not all members of the Ramblers Federations were in favour of the trespass, the event added considerable momentum to the campaign for walkers' rights.

On 1 January 1935, the Ramblers Association was officially created. The first Ramblers Association office was established in Liverpool in 1938. Ten years later the organisation began to employ a secretary, Tom Stephenson, full-time.

Over the past eight decades, we've continued to grow and change with the times. Following national trends towards devolution, Ramblers Cymru became a separate entity in 1974 and Ramblers Scotland followed suit in 1985. And in the 1990s, in response to the growing number of people leading inactive lifestyles, we widened our activities to include promoting walking as an easy and accessible form of exercise.

We proudly celebrated our 80th birthday in January 2015.

Much more on the Ramblers can be found on the Ramblers Association website.

Originally migrated from https://sevenoaksramblers.org.uk/walks/how-ramblers-started.html.