youth hostels, the history, people and ideas behind them
The changing places of youth hostels On a flying visit to Cumbria, we managed a night at the hostel in Keswick. We stayed in a balcony room with a view of the town's Fitz Park, and the river that, in recent years, has flooded twice. Twice the flooding river wrecked the hostel's ground floor and... Continue Reading →
Tom Fairclough and friends in Germany. Tom is centre, his feet marked by a blue cross A small group of friends from Liverpool went to Germany in 1929. I've written about this before; how they emerged from different groups in different places in Britain at the the time, all pledged to start youth hostels, and... Continue Reading →
Len Clark 1916-2019 A friend introduced Len Clark to youth hostels and walking in the countryside. Len remembered him as an amiable and rather romantic communist who took him to the Surrey Hills. They spent a night at the newly built youth hostel at Holmbury St Mary in 1937 and began Len’s interest in youth... Continue Reading →
On 26 August 1909, while on a walking tour from Altena with pupils, a violent storm fired the imagination of Richard Schirrmann, a school teacher who loved taking his pupils on walking holidays. When accommodation he had arranged for the night fell through, Schirrmann headed with his group to the small town of Bröl, where... Continue Reading →
Youth hostels were always magical, dreaming but practical places, run by locals but accommodating guests from far away places. They required generous spirits, and hard work, of the people who ran them and a willingness to welcome visitors from anywhere. They have always been international, places where the world and young people met. I’ve always... Continue Reading →
SIMPLY HOSTELS 