youth hostels, the history, people and ideas behind them
Tours, travel writing and youth hostels In the 1920s people were flocking to the countryside in greater numbers than ever before, laying the foundations of the youth hostels movement in Britain. One popular journalist blamed roads, coaches and the cheap motor car for the growth in travel. Throwing open to ordinary people regions which had... Continue Reading →
Trustees of the oldest building in Portsmouth want to hear from any YHA members who stayed there. Wymering Manor was a youth hostel from 1961 for more than 40 years. Despite the long history of the building the trustees have no records for the period when the building was a youth hostel. They now want... Continue Reading →
Three cyclists set off from Glasgow in October, recreating the journey taken by three sisters in 1936. Along the way the sisters encountered friendliness and hospitality, met and made new friends, had punctures and accidents, and the sun burned them until they were red as lobsters. Many others took similar journeys and some, like Mary... Continue Reading →
YHA’s archive recently received the kind donation of a rare membership card from 1931 along with valuable information about an early youth hostel in Devon. The Plymouth and District Regional group issued its card no 5 to Blyth Palk, one of 78 who joined YHA in 1931 in that region. Palk went on to marry... Continue Reading →
In 1932 YHA aimed to make touring affordable by creating circuits and chains of hostels especially for young people like Hilary Hughes and her friend Margaret who toured through Hampshire and the New Forest that year. [1] They were part of a fashion for travel, to discover Britain, which arose after the first world war.... Continue Reading →
SIMPLY HOSTELS 