RIGHT TO ROAM - THE RIGHT TO HAVE ACCESS WERE LANDOWNERS DON’T WANT YOU TO GO

WHY WON'T YOU PAY! Dear Roamers, The reviews are in, and OUR LAND is proving a hit, with packed-out screenings and an extensive national release. The film has launched to a flurry of media interest. Channel 4 produced this report covering the film and the recent Kinder mass swim trespass. Meanwhile, a short clip featuring Guy’s, um, ‘interesting’ encounter with aristocratic landowner Francis Fulford has found one and a half million eyeballs and counting. “WHY WON’T YOU PAY” jabs Francis, who seems to believe every countryside walk should start with a BACS transfer to the landed elite. (How much did you pay, Francis?) The Guardian published this feature on the film and delivered a strong four-star review, hailing the “simple, reasonable aim” of the campaign: that England and Wales should follow Scotland in introducing a proper right to roam. Little White Lies gave four stars too, describing the film as "superb" and noting that while it "takes great pains to give both sides of the debate an equal platform” it is nonetheless “clear what side is the one of rational common sense, empathy and creativity”. We quite agree… Time Out found the campaign made its point with “passion and clarity”… but didn’t think much of our fireside singing (fair enough – three stars). The Islington Tribune / Camden New Journal also gave a four-star verdict, describing the film as “excellent” and a “careful polemic”. They found sympathy with the idea “that England should adopt the same laws as Scotland, where land ownership doesn’t mean you can ban people from responsibly accessing it”. The Conversation doesn’t indulge in star ratings, but reflected that “many of the featured landowners and access campaigners agree on the artificial nature of landownership, their individual powerlessness to effect change and on the social and legal constructs that trap us all in an uncomfortable standoff.” We’re not so sure about the powerless bit! You can check the full list of screenings and dates on the distributor’s website here. More are added every week. Please continue sharing the trailer with friends and family to help us reach as wide an audience as possible. And if your local cinema isn’t showing the film, drop them a line and ask why! Politics being what it is, there's no better time to spend an hour and a half in a dark room gazing at a slow-mo advert for a free countryside, while Nadia riffs on justice and belonging in mellifluous Geordie tones. Political turmoil. Again. It won’t have escaped you that the UK government has entered yet another phase of turmoil. All other issues aside, for campaigns like ours, such moments bring upsides and downsides. Downside: the more the government is embroiled in drama, the less attention it gives to the things we care about. Leadership contests, even where the leader survives, trigger reshuffles, which means any work building relationships with ministerial teams is undone. Upside: the government has so far been disappointing on access. It’s possible a change of guard could produce a more engaged set of ministers who are willing to drive the access agenda forward. It remains the case that access reform is popular, affordable, easy to implement, and strongly within the tradition of the Labour party. The greater the need to mash a giant button labelled RESET within the current fiscal and political constraints, the more sweet the sound of the piper may be… Campaign funds We have a favour to ask. We try to avoid coming cap in hand to supporters too often. We know finances are strained and many causes are asking for help. However, if you can afford to donate a fiver a month to the campaign (or whatever is affordable for you) to keep us going we’d be grateful. Around a quarter of the funds we need to continue our current work haven’t materialised this year and we’re working out how to plug the gap. We’re a lean machine, currently sharing around two and half full-time salaries across six members of the team. With that level of resource, we think we do a good job punching above our weight! A few hundred more supporters will help supercharge our work during a crucial year before the King’s Speech in 2027 – which may well be our final shot this parliamentary term. Quick explainer here on how we spend our resources. We’ll continue to keep you updated with our honest assessment of the prospects for achieving concrete political change. The garlic may be on the turn. But the orchids are still to come. Keep roaming, Jon, on behalf of the Right to Roam team ---------- Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. Want to get involved? Visit our website here. This campaign is made possible through small monthly donations from supporters like you. We are currently relying on only 500 monthly subscribers. Without growing that number, our work is at risk. Can you help keep us going by becoming a monthly subscriber? £5 / Month £10 / Month £15 / Month £20 / Month OUR LAND has officially launched nationwide this week. Take Action Visit our social accounts Check out our site This email was sent from this site. If you no longer wish to receive this email, change your email preferences here.