OKAY YOU RIGHT TO ROAMERS—YOUR NEWS FROM THE SUMMER OF CLEAN UPS & POSSIBLE TRESPASS

Summer Round-up What we’ve been up to this summer, what’s coming this autumn, and a final call for print orders Dear Roamers, Autumn is beginning to make itself known. Stepping out for my morning walk, I noticed that the branches once laden with blackberries have been picked bare by purple-stained fingers, paws and beaks. It’s been a busy summer of swims, trespasses, investigations, festivals and acts of Wild Service. So, before we head into autumn, here’s a look at where we’ve been, and where we’re going. A summer of swimming During some of the hottest days of the year, many of us did the most natural thing imaginable: went looking for water. But across England and Wales, swimmers and paddlers continue to encounter fences, warning signs and threats of trespass. So this summer we set out to understand just how difficult it is to reach our rivers. Our investigation of 89 English river catchments found that 71% of riverbanks have no access land or public right of way on either bank within 100 metres of the water. The findings put numbers behind something swimmers, paddlers and walkers have known for years: we are a country full of rivers that most people have remarkably little right to reach. As our summers get hotter, access to cool water and shade matters more. We can manage genuine risks without shutting people out. Other countries do. Access, safety and care for nature are not opposites. A weekend in Makerfield Earlier this month we took the campaign to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s own constituency. Despite large areas of Makerfield being Green Belt countryside, there is a right to roam over just 1% of the constituency. We started at the Wigan Diggers’ Festival, spending the day talking with hundreds of people about access to nature and hearing local stories. Among people gathered to celebrate Gerard Winstanley’s belief in the Earth as a “common treasury for all”, we felt very much at home. The following day we put on our boots for the Makerfield Mass Trespass. When we arrived, new fencing had been erected across our intended route through the Winstanley Estate, with police and security waiting nearby. After a friendly conversation with the officers, we were able to continue, albeit not quite as planned. So we did what we do best: we roamed. We found another route, picked up litter and talked about the landscape and access, before finding an unfenced way through and settling down for a picnic on the grass. There was something wonderfully absurd about eating sandwiches while police and security watched from a distance. We caused no damage and left the land in better condition than we found it. You can watch the BBC report of the trespass below. Or read about it here. The wild service workshop At Platt Fields Market Garden in Manchester, we brought together people already doing brilliant things for nature and others with the first seeds of an idea they wanted to grow. Through practical workshops, shared knowledge and plenty of conversation, we explored how to turn our love of nature into action and give something back to the places that give us so much. It was a reminder of something at the heart of our campaign: access and care go hand in hand. People protect the places they know. Trespasses, trails and tidy-ups Our local groups have been busy too. South Devon took to the water on the River Erme and at the Marristow Estate; Dorset cleared a blocked Right of Way on Deadmoor Common; Leicestershire held a swim trespass and picnic; and West Yorkshire joined Trash Free Trails to give the Yorkshire Three Peaks a post-summer spruce. From clearing paths and picking litter to swimming and trespassing, local groups have been putting responsible access into practice in their own patches. New groups are springing up too. Take a look at our website to find, or start, one near you. trailer teaser story visual trailer teaser story visual Final call for this batch of Nick Hayes prints Funding is tight right now. That’s one of the reasons we launched our print shop, featuring artwork by Right to Roam co-founder Nick Hayes. Every penny raised goes back into our investigations, actions, local groups, workshops and campaigning. Our first collection helped fund our work over the summer. Our current collection closes for pre-orders on 30th September and we’re still short of our fundraising target. So if you value what we’ve been doing and want to help us keep doing it, this is a very direct way to support us. And you get to take something beautiful home in return. Newsletter subscribers can also get a free postcard and bookmark set featuring our campaign artwork. Add your chosen print and the gift set to your basket and enter ROAMFREE at checkout. Final orders close on 30th September. If you can help with one final push by ordering a print or sharing the shop, we’d be enormously grateful. Coming up this autumn There’s plenty stirring this autumn. A few dates for your diary: ROAM: Animations Inspired by our Right to Roam - Bimingham, 5th October, 7-8pm Sarah Silverwood, Edd Carr and Grace Lee have created three short films inspired by Right to Roam. Join Animate Projects and Grand Union for a free screening and conversation with Sarah, Edd and Right to Roam’s Jon Moses. Book your free place here. Love Your River - York, 18th October Join Amy-Jane Beer and friends for a day celebrating Yorkshire’s rivers, including a ceremonial mixing of waters and procession through York, followed in the evening by words, music and poetry at the Love Your River Bardic Session. Reserve your free spot here. Summit Wrong?! - 24th October Our North West group will attempt to reach several fenced-off Peak District summits while exploring the life and legacy of pioneering access campaigner Ethel Haythornthwaite. Time and meeting place to come so keep an eye on our channels to stay up to date. South Devon Coming up: a river trespass on 18th October, costume and banner making on 15th November, Wintertide Festival on 21st November, and a solstice sunrise on 20th December. There’s plenty more in the works, so keep an eye on our website and local group channels as we roam our way into winter. Thank you to everyone who swam, walked, trespassed, volunteered, researched, picked litter, came to an event or supported us this summer. See you out there. Jess, on behalf of the Right to Roam team x Can you help keep us roaming? The right to roam campaign is kept afloat by small donations from a few hundred monthly supporters. We are grateful for every single one of you. It’s what keeps the work going, but if we want to scale what’s needed, we need to grow that base. We currently have a target of 1,000 subscribers in order to make the campaign sustainable for the next year. Can you help? £5 / Month £10 / Month £15 / Month £20 / Month As an extra bonus for supporters, those who choose to become monthly paid supporters of the campaign will automatically enter into our ongoing art print giveaway as a thank you for helping sustain the movement long term. Visit our social accounts RIGHTTOROAM.ORG.UK This email was sent from this site. 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