1932 - The mass trespass
On Sunday 24th April 1932 around five hundred ramblers trespassed in on Kinder Scout, this led to legislation in 1949 to establish the National Parks and to walkers ' rights over open country and common land in 2000. The reason there was a mass trespass was because gamekeepers that owned the land that the ramblers wanted to walk on said they couldn’t, and because of the lack of progress that had been made by the official ramblers’ federations for the ‘Right to Roam’ the mass trespass was organised. The idea was to protest about the lack of access. The land was bad farming land and was used to graze sheep or to keep game birds and was only worked on around 12 days a year, the rest of the time it would have been deserted but walkers weren’t allowed on it. The mass trespassers demanded change, they wanted the land to be opened so when it wasn’t being worked on people could walk on it. Of the 150,000 acres of land in the Peak District only 1,200 acres, had public access and there were only 12 'legal ' paths to choose from, this meant that with the growing popularity of walking the paths were often crowded. If any of the walkers wandered off the paths (which many did, to find somewhere quieter) it was trespassing and they were chased off the land. Many walkers believed it wasn’t right that people should have land as private and access should be available to everyone. So people set out on the mass trespass as a protest against land owners, nothing other than arrests happened immediately, but 17 years later the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 legislation came in. And if it wasn’t for the mass trespass we may not have had access to the countryside this would have made it hard for outdoor education to take place. As access would be restricted and wandering off paths wouldn’t be allowed, going to a crag to climb wouldn’t be allowed, setting up a tent wouldn’t be
Bibliography: http://www.beargrylls.com http://www.scout.org http://www.kindertrespass.com/ http://www.forestry.gov.uk http://7stanesmountainbiking.com