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We Are The Champions! (...well, almost)This year as evidence of our hard work and commitment to hostelling we were awarded two first prizes at the Presidents Awards at this year's YHA Local Groups Conference. 
We won in the category of "Best Programme" (out of 12 groups entered) and also in "Best Work at a Hostel" for our work on the garden at Saffron Walden Youth Hostel. We were also awarded 2nd prize in the overall Presidents Award. For each of these we were presented with a certificate and a cheque, the cheques totalling £90 together. Other winners were: Conservation: COPSE (Croydon); Publicity: Barnet; Fundraising: COPSE; Magazine: Guildford; New Members pack: Barnet; Website: Leicester; Overall 1st Prize: COPSE Our thanks goes out to the committee, the numerous volunteers at Saffron Walden and the various contributors to the Newsletter for all their hard work and ideas which lead to our being awarded these prizes. In particular we would like to thank Jim for all the effort he's put in to organising the many stints at Saffron Walden YH (see pictures); and to Lorna who bravely stood up at the conference to accept our awards and gave a speech (of course we don't actually know what she said...). It only remains to decide what we are going to do with the money. It has already been decided to use £15 to purchase the medlar tree for Saffron Walden YH, but the other £75 has yet to be earmarked. If anyone has any suggestions we would love to hear them. Suggestions so far:
Bridges Hostel Weekend 
Another superb weekend from CYHA. Sixteen of us stayed at Bridges Youth Hostel, a charming former school in the heart of the Shropshire hills. Saturday dawned sunny and bright and most of us decided on a circuit of Long Mynd. 
En route up the hill we spotted an ostrich farm. In spite of numerous signs warning of "dangerous wild animals", Dave still stuck his camera through the fence to get a picture…of the whites of their eyes as they came charging towards him! From the viewpoint at Pole Bank we could see for miles - right into the snow-capped mountains of Wales. 
After such a fabulous day on Saturday it was only to be expected that Sunday would be a bit disappointing. It was. We walked around the Stiperstones in steady drizzle which left us cold and damp right down to our underclothes. This was obviously God's way of telling us we should have been at the Local Groups Conference with Lorna. Saffron Walden One Year On: Tree Planting One year to the weekend after we started work to renovate the Saffron Walden hostel garden, we returned to plant a tree to commemorate what we have achieved over that year. Darren chose a medlar tree; a type of fruit tree which is contemporary to the hostel which was built around 500 years ago. Darren and a couple of us dug the hole, and planted the tree while everyone else offered moral support and drank tea. Over the year, we have spent nine days surveying, clearing, grassing and planting to transform the garden according to Darren's plan with its medieval theme. The next, and hopefully last, planned working weekend is 1st and 2nd April, when we will lay 50 paving slabs to form a path around the side of the garden, and perhaps a small fence to protect the sage and lavender. I will be leading a cycling weekend from Chelmsford to Saffron Walden on 12th August so we can admire our handiwork. JIM See also pictures of our project.
Buster's Maiden Walk! Back in January Sarah's Jack Russell, Buster came on his maiden walk with us. In spite of being the equivalent of a doggy pensioner he still has more energy than the rest of us put together. Here is what he thought of our walk round Henham. It started off as an ordinary soggy Sunday and my short 20 minute walk. Then my friend Polly popped in with her Mum Trudi. The next thing I knew I was in a pub car park with some strange looking people with big boots on. Two little people came too. One didn't seem to have any legs as she sat in a seat on a big human's back. The other little one had special boots on which meant she had to walk in every puddle. The bigger humans walk much faster than Sarah but I still had to run 100 yards ahead on principle. They seemed to get stuck in the mud a lot. If only they ran up the bank under the barbed wire and through the hedges - it was much drier! There is also more chance of catching rabbits, but apparently they're not interested in the thrill of the chase. There was one scary moment when we met a Rottweiller and two horses. I really could defend myself but Sarah insisted on putting me on the lead. It wasn't all go. The humans stopped for chocolate breaks but all I got was dog biscuits! Sarah also stopped my fun as we passed a flock of geese - that lead has got to be buried one day. I was looking forward to a pub lunch but Polly and I were bundled in the car. We were wet, smelly, tired, but happy. Please take me on another one soon, but bring a few extra chocolate biscuits next time - and can I leave Sarah behind? Buster A Walk in The Woods A beautifully crisp March Sunday saw some seventeen of us meet up in the already quite crowded car park for Hatfield Forest. George proceeded to give us dire warnings on the waist deep mud on some of the bridleways and we all looked nervously at our clean socks and shiny boots. Before long we were indeed slithering about on the muddy paths, though thankfully no more than ankle deep. Luckily no one managed to fall over, although Polly-dog was encouraging her muddy tide-mark by rolling over at regular intervals (she had to be hermetically sealed in a blanket before being allowed back into Jim's shiny new car). Lunch was had at the Hop Poles Inn, eventually! I don't think they'd ever had to cater for so many all at once. Judging by the time it took to get served they must have had to go out and slaughter another cow for our roasts. After lunch we circled back into the forest, passing very close to the crash site of the Korean cargo plane from last December. Still cordoned off it was easy to see how perilously close the plane had come to hitting people on the ground as it was only a few meters from two farmhouses. It was an indication of the force of the impact that there was still so much debris scattered in the trees; and also an indication of how hard the volunteers must have worked to clear the rest of the forest so quickly. The rest of the walk was very pleasant, if slippery. We got the chance to see loads of mistletoe in flower. Impressive vigorous, green shoots parasitically attached to thorn trees still gnarled and barren from winter. At the end of the walk many of us drove on to Saffron Walden for Jim and Darren's tree planting ceremony, lured by the promise of tea and Trudi's banana cake. Canadian Mountains Many thanks to Dave's colleague Chris for sharing his slides of the Canadian Rockies with us. The views were stupendous, with snowy mountains, azure lakes and even a bear (from some way away!). As the show was accompanied throughout by lots of "Oooh"s and "Aaahh"s I think it's safe to assume that the Rockies have now been added to many members' long-term holiday plans. Megazone Laser Games Armed with flashing walking, talking lollypops, the three adventurers
Lynn, Paul and Jim set out into the deepest, darkest depths of Megazone. They blasted, zapped and nearly whipped
out a complete race of little people. However, the little people to there advantage, hide in nooks and crevices
(for sure they cheated). Fantastic evening - well done Jim - can we return soon for Lynn Shrove Wednesday Our traditional pancake flipping round at Lornas was its usual roaring success. Whilst Lorna and Roz were the only ones brave enough to try tossing in front of an audience, everyone else seemed more than willing to eat up the products of their labours. Yum, yum! CYHA go Continental Last weekend saw eight of us struggling through the weekend roadworks to get to the ferry terminal at Dover in time for our crossing to France. Sprinting through the departure gate with just ten minutes to spare we were foiled at the last moment by Robert's need to use a remotely located convenience (somewhere near Scarborough judging by the time it took him to get back!). However we managed to catch the next ferry arriving in Calais in time for lunch. An orgy of food, wine, chocolate and sightseeing followed and we rounded off the day at a genuine French Italian restaurant being serenaded by car horns (apparently Calais had just got through to the French equivalent of the cup final). Everyone was really friendly and it was not without some regret that we eventually set back to the ferry terminal. We could have wished for sunnier weather and a slightly smoother return crossing (especially after all that rich food) but otherwise an excellent day out. Thanks to everyone who came for making it such an entertaining day and to Dave and Helen for their organisation and warm hospitality. Definitely a trip to repeat in the future. |
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