YOUTH HOSTELS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 13

YOUTH HOSTELS

GROWING MOVEMENT

The Youth Hostels movement in Britain is playing an important part in the efforts to improve the physical fitness of the nation, says the 'Daily Telegraph." . .-„„;„„ In England the movement is going ahead rapidly. Last year the membership was 47,000. This year it has increased to nearly 60,000. People seeking exercise and tresn air by undertaking walking and cycling tours through the country can, by joining the movement, have the advantages of inexpensive- accommodation and meals at the associations hostels, which are situated throughout the country at distances of from U to 18 miles apart. An evening meal may be had for Is breakfast for Is, and the use of a dormitory for the night for the same price. Membership fees for boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 16 is Is for those between the ages of 16 and 25, 2s 6d, and for those over 25,

5s ' In England and Wales there are 270 hostels at present, and the number is being rapidly increased. New hostels have been planned for Lakeland, South Wales, in the Pennines and East Anglia, and on the south coast near the New Forest. This year 10,000 visits were made by members to the hostels in the Highgate area and 9758 to the hostels in the Keswick area—the two most popu"lrtj* ppntrcs In Scotland there has also been a rapid increase in membership during the past year. The sixth annual report of the Scottish Youth Hostels' Association states that the membership this year is 14,424, an increase of 1345 over last year. During the year the number of hostels was increased by six, bringing the total to 53. The total overnight visits by members to the hostels throughout Scotland during the year was 113,500. The most popular hostels were Glen Nevis, with 6777 overnight visitors, and Edinburgh, with 6136 overnight visitors. At the end of the year Glen Nevis hostel was unfortunately destroyed by fire. ______