The Rushden Rambling and Environmental Group was started in 1971 as an offshoot of the South Ward Labour Party, on the initiative of Alan Wilson and Dr. Paul Wix. It was felt at the time that not only was there a need for a rambling group in Rushden but from the environmental point of view, a need to try to get some restoration started on the footpaths, stiles and footbridges where they existed and had fallen into disrepair and neglect.
This was the period when agriculture was expanding at a tremendous rate. Hedges were being pulled down wholesale, footpaths ploughed up and lost, trees felled which often showed the line of the footpath or bridleway, and old meadows turned into miniature prairies in order to justify the use of the range of the large agricultural vehicles that were coning into use.
The first ramble came about as a result of an advert in the Evening Telegraph, when interested people were invited to meet at the "Tecnic" car park in Bedford Road, for a ramble to the "Higham Park" hunting lodge where Dr. Wix gave a short talk on the history of the place and its association with Higham Castle. The ramble then continued on to Souldrop and back to Rushden.
All the rambles in the early part of the Club were local walks and started from Rushden or Higham. During this period, pubs used as lunch venues included:-
Quite a number of these have now changed their "image" or licencees and would not now be available. We also went on several occasions to the Podington Services Club where we were always made welcome.
As the club became a little more ambitious, and since insufficient members had cars then, we began to use buses to take us out a little farther to points from which to start rambles. That is largely why we used to meet at 10 a.m. because that was the time when the first bus came into Rushden on Sunday mornings.
This rather unwieldy scheme came to an end on one ramble when the bus duly dropped us off at Barton Seagrave, and we walked via Cranford to Slipton, lunch, then Twywell to Woodford where we were to catch the bus back to Irthlingborough and home. It was a very warm day and the shop at Woodford did a roaring trade in ice creams etc. whilst we were waiting. After about an hour we concluded that the bus was not coming and we had no alternative but to walk hone. After that we started the scheme where members picked up other members in their cars. When Dr. Wix came out his Land Rover could cope with about half a dozen.
On one ramble, I remember one lady turned out as though she was going for a walk along Oxford Street, high heeled fashion shoes and all. We went via Irchester to Farndish along what I believe was one of Alan's unofficial paths, it was ploughed up and very muddy, and before we reached Farndish the lady had lost one of her heels and her 'ensemble' was decidedly splashed. Her husband came in for some "mild" criticism and the lady refused to go any further, and he had to go back to Rushden to fetch the car. We didn't seem them again.
There was also that famous occasion when the club tried to emulate the deplorable habits of the notorious Ogo-Pogo bird when a certain lady (who I daredn't mention) had the club going round in rings in the forest between Lowick and Lyveden so that the leaders caught up with the back-markers So far as I know, she has never since been asked to lead another ramble.
We never had a great number of regular members, but many came out once or twice and then finished. Alan also arranged with the principal of the Arkwright School at Knuston for some of the girls to come out with us and who, I believe, enjoyed the walks and the freedom they gave.
The first club outing was to Dovedale, walking from Thorpe Cloud to Hartington. It was cold with rain and sleet showers, but we felt it had been a success and it has been repeated each year with different venues at about the same time.
Other outings have been to the Malverns, Forest of Dean, Froggatt Edge, Suffolk Coast, Blakeney, Cromer, Blue John Caves and Edale, Castleton, and more recently, Sheringham, Avebury and the Chilterns, Cotswolds, Long Mynd and West Midlands. Weekend outings started when Alan arranged with the Northants Youth organisation and the Rev. Whitaker to use their hostel near Tal-y-bont on the Welsh Coast for one weekend. This served for two or three weekends, but the distance involved and the difficulty in hiring transport eventually finished it. Once a year at Christmas time we would go to the Labour Hall in Raunds for a member's slide show and photos. Refreshments were given and prepared by the ladies in the Club. The Labour Hall was eventually sold and redeveloped and we have been using the Hensman Hall in Higham for the past few years.
About 1974, membership seemed to slump a little and frequently we had no more than 10 or 12 out. During this time, Alan and I did virtually all the walks between us. We were able to get out a little farther into the County and to ramble some more of the 2,000 miles or so of footpaths, bridleways and towpaths that exist and which still provide a seemingly inexhaustible variety of walks.
Perhaps it was a little more interesting in those days trying to find a neglected or forgotten path, for frequently one was confronted by an irate farmer, complete with dog and shotgun who would demand to know "where the h- do you think you're going?" or "Am I supposed to get any b- crops off here when you lot have finished trampling it down?" This was the point when we produced a map and politely asked if he could kindly show us where the footpath is, “that Her Majesty's Ordnance Dept. says goes across here” and which he had ploughed up. We usually parted on amicable terms, but even now in these days of waymarks galore and signposts right, left and centre, I still carry my map with me in case the occasion should arise. Now, more often than not, farmers and landowners take no notice, and even sometimes
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Ramblers at Cotstrope in the Chilterns, Oct 1988
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encourage walkers and riders e.g. "landowners welcome careful walkers and riders". We have found however that some of their "waymarks" can be misleading, for they tend to follow hedges and borders, so that map reading can be wrong and one can walk much farther than is necessary, in fact, I have found "landowners' waymarks" and official waymarks contradicting one another on the same path.However the situation is so much easier now, and walks are much easier to arrange, for it has been recognised as a right to use paths and bridleways, and with the growth of long-distance paths it is possible to walk from one end of the country to the other, using only paths, all of which has come about almost in the short life of this club.
Committee meetings were always held at "Biddy's" (Mrs. Morris') at Kings Road when 3 or 4 of us would meet and decide the next walks list, weekends and outings and any other social activities, and annual meetings were almost invariably held at Knuston Hall when Alan would present plans and alternatives for the next annual outing, and election of officers.
As far as I can remember, these people are some of the early members:-
