Women, history and hostels #6 Mary Lander was one of the few women at two meetings which established youth hostels in Britain and Europe, and played a central part in the revival of youth hostels during the second world war. She was one of eight, among 28 men, at the first meeting of a youth... Continue Reading →

Women, history and hostels #5 During the first years after the founding of YHA, Edith Bulmer was the most prominent of YHA’s pioneering women. As editor of The Rucksack magazine, the association’s magazine for all its members, she guided and shaped YHA’s new public voice until a scandal shifted her from the scene. A claim... Continue Reading →

Women, history and hostels #4 We’ve many reasons to be grateful to Berta Gough (above left). She was one of the small band on Merseyside who opened the first youth hostels in Wales, and some of the first in Britain. She took part in early important meetings that set the tone for youth hostels to... Continue Reading →

Women, history and hostels #3 Connie Alexander epitomised the best of those who ran youth hostels, a woman with a lively sense of adventure, full of genuine care for others. Wardens, as hostel managers were then known, were hard to find at the beginning. YHA paid them them “a pittance”, about £50 a year, and... Continue Reading →

Women, history, hostels #2 When it came to opening youth hostels, women often did the work like architecture student, Dorothy Tomkins, who led the work at Winchester. She was unemployed, available and, with a good knowledge of buildings, was ideal to furnish and prepare an old mill to be one of Britain’s first youth hostels.... Continue Reading →