NEWS ABOUT THE NESS!.....Books In Books…..’Right to Roam’…….
by Bernie Bell - 09:18 on 03 February 2024
NEWS ABOUT THE NESS!.....
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/open-days-2024/
A second Open Day – and open on the Fridays before the Open Days – ‘twas needed.
I must admit, I’m trying to work out when to go when it won’t be hoochin’ with people! Possibly not possible – reminding myself of how many folk will have been there back in the day - the first time it was a place of pilgrimage…..
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16429
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Books In Books….
I’m still reading ‘Waterlog’ by Roger Deakin, in which he mentions his liking for the book ‘Tarka the Otter’ by Henry Williamson… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarka_the_Otter , and that Ted Hughes was ‘caught’ by this book at the age of eleven, then continued to admire it. I’ve never read it - don’t know why, as we have a copy. I admire Roger Deakin, I admire Ted Hughes, so it’s now been added to my reading pile, next after ‘Waterlog’.
I kind-of met Ted Hughes once. When I was at Lampeter University he came to do a poetry reading. He read out a poem about a lamb being born – a difficult birth. There was a crash behind me, and a young woman had passed out – it was too much for her. Being from farming stock what he was describing didn’t hit me so hard – I appreciated how well he was describing it. I think maybe it was something out of her ken, and ….she fainted. She was taken out, given a drink of water, had a sit down and picked up again.
After the reading, Ted Hughes was in the Union bar sitting with some of the English Department lecturers, one of whom said me to come and meet Ted, as he knew I liked his work. He said hello, and was OK with me but……I felt like he was a weight, sitting there. There was a heaviness hanging over him and around him. I sat for a few minutes, but found this hard to take – though he was being quite sociable – talking a bit with the people around him. I said something or other and left.
Later, finding out more of him and his life – ( I also like Sylvia Plath’s work – ‘The Bell Jar’ – chimes with me – greatly) – I wondered if each had been with someone more steady, maybe they would have been happier? Or maybe that’s how it has to be sometimes.
I could see why I’d felt that weight around him – there was a weight around him – that weight being – his way of being.
In Chapter 8 – ‘Borrow & Thoreau’ - Roger describes swimming and walking in Wales. I’m in agreement with him about George Borrow’s style of writing. When I lived there, I tried to tread ‘Wild Wales’……
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Wales
…. and I couldn’t! It’s like reading one of those very long captions to cartoons in a Victorian edition of ‘Punch’ magazine – only more so.
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From ‘Right to Roam’…..
“IS RIGHT TO ROAM A 'CULTURE WAR'?
Dear Roamers,
Thanks to all of you who got in touch following our previous newsletter (“What does the Right to Roam mean to you?” – 19th Jan). We received many beautiful responses about places dear to your hearts, since lost to the depredations of landscape exclusivity. A common theme is just how tightly policed the countryside has become in the past few decades, and especially since the 2020 lockdowns. Barbed wire has been with us since the late 19th century but the architecture of misanthropy it pioneered seems to grow ever more abundant.
POLLING IS IN – So much for countryside culture wars…
It’s sometimes claimed by our opponents that the right to roam is an urban fixation being imposed upon the countryside. One that rural people themselves want nothing to do with. Now, most of our team grew up and live in rural areas, so we knew in our bones that this was bollocks. Still, since it has become the chief attack line of those seeking to prevent access reform, we thought we’d test the claim in a fresh YouGov poll.
Well, the results are in. As in our previous poll, support for reform is strong and extensive across all ages, political affiliations and regions – even more so when you emphasise the responsibilities which would adjoin any new rights. 69% of respondents would support extending ‘rights of responsible access to the rest of the countryside’, provided it gives space for all the usual sensible exceptions (crops, privacy and highly sensitive wildlife areas) as we’re proposing.
This time though, we asked for an additional cross-break to test the alleged rural vs urban divide. Low and behold: support was completely identical. And we mean identical: 68% in both demographics, with ‘Town & Fringe’ leading the charge at 70% favourability. The Times covered the story (‘Country dwellers just as keen as townies on nature access’ – 23rd Jan) rightly highlighting the cold water it poured on claims made by the Countryside Alliance and others that our campaign is some kind of rural culture war.
As so often in country affairs, those who purport to represent the countryside are in reality only speaking for a tiny proportion of it. So we’d love for you all to share these results as much as possible in your networks. It’s time the rest of us had a voice.
FORBIDDEN ISLAND TRESPASS
A reminder that our next big event, held in tandem with our Devon group, will take place on Dartmoor on February 24th, where we’ll be trespassing to an ‘access island’ – that is, an area of land where we do have the right to roam already under the CRoW Act, but have no lawful means of reaching. This is to highlight why we think just extending the CRoW Act to a few new landscape designations won’t really cut the mustard. More on that soon.
You can sign up to the event here. Do read the event details carefully. Note that we’re experimenting with a deposit to reserve coach places. This is to minimise folk holding pricey coach spots and then not showing up last minute. A crisp tenner will be available to recollect from one of our stewards or if you’re flush you can opt to donate it to the campaign to help us cover the event costs. Parking will be limited on the day.
One of you pointed out that sometimes actual offshore islands are forbidden for good reason – namely to protect seabird colonies. So remember, friends: leave them birds alone! Despite the island theme, our event will be firmly inland and involve no water except the kind which rains down from Dartmoor’s skies.
LOCAL GROUP DIGEST
Undeterred by winter, our local groups have been out and about spreading (and sometimes singing) the word, as well as getting stuck into some brilliant acts of Wild Service.
- This month, Manchester Right to Roam teamed up with Radical Tradition to learn songs from the access movements of old. We’re looking forward to these being heartily delivered at events soon. Check out this scene of their spooky cave-based trespass singalong! Catch them next on 12th February at the Manchester Patagonia store for a talk with river campaigners, Save the River Bollin. More details here.
-Norwich Right to Roam have been doing great work myth-busting common misconceptions about the campaign as well as organising a fresh trespass walk for February 18th. Meet at Cantley Train Station at 2pm if you’re in the area and would like to be involved.
-Nearby, the Norfolk Right to Swim group will also be continuing its periodic ‘swimpasses’ with another walk and dip on February 12th: meet outside Leziate village hall car park at 10.30am. A great reminder that reform is about access to water as much as land!
-Bristol Right to Roam teamed up with our pals at Conham Bathing to clear the litter brought up by the recent floods. They spoke with locals who had been doing the same and were grateful there were more people to help. A powerful reminder that access to land also means taking ownership of its care.
-This weekend, our friends at the Sussex-based group, Landscapes of Freedom will be holding one of their monthly trespasses with a five mile walk “along an undulating landscape of fragmented woodland” concluding in an Imbolc celebration at Future Roots. Meet on Sunday 4th February at 10am outside Sussex House Car Park 4 (University of Sussex). More details on their Instagram here.
-Scotland might already have a right to roam (okay, “right of responsible access…” or is that a “right of access exercised responsibly”?) but our Right to Roam Scotland group is showing that hard-won rights always need to be defended. Join them at Holyrood park on 17th February for a gentle walk and awareness raising about the closure of the Radical Road. More on their Instagram here.
Want to get involved with this kind of amazing local activity? You can check and see if there’s a local group or contact in your area here.
Can’t see anyone nearby but would like help starting your own? Get in touch with our local groups coordinator, Maria at maria@righttoroam.org.uk and she’ll give you a hand.
Till then, enjoy the snowdrops and keep on roaming.
From Jon and the rest of the Right to Roam team
Take me to the Right to Roam website
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