Trail Riders Fellowship marks closure of historic route with charity collection at Stanage Pole
Issued 15 September 2014
Members of the Trail Riders Fellowship have raised more than £200 and collected over 40 gifts for the Christmas Child charity at a ride to commemorate the closure of the historic Long Causeway route by the Peak District National Park Authority.
The Trail Riders Fellowship marked the occasion by organising a Teddy Bears Picnic, in which toys and cash were collected for the Christmas Child charity.
The gifts will be shipped to children who have nothing throughout the world as part of the charity’s famous ‘shoebox of gifts’ scheme.
About 80 motorcyclists gathered at the Stanage Pole landmark at the route summit to mourn the closure, which marks the destruction of a century of motorcycling heritage.
The decision to shut the route was taken by a PDNPA committee chaired by Christopher Pennell, who is also a Gold Guardian of the Friends of the Peak District: the organisation which heads the campaign to ban trail riding from the National Park. Mr Pennell has since retired from his position on the PDNPA Committee.
Ride organiser Hugh Cleary of the Manchester Group of the Trail Riders Fellowship contrasted the generosity of the motorcycling community with the mean-spirited actions of the National Park Authority.
“We can only hope that the incoming management at the PDNPA can bring themselves to accept that trail riding on legal rights of way is a legitimate activity which should be catered for like any other,” he said.
“Our little gathering here at this historic landmark has attracted some attention from passing walkers and cyclists today, and a significant number of them have taken the trouble to say that they think the action which the PDNPA has taken against us has been disproportionate.”
The route will finally close to motor traffic on September 18.
Trail Riders Fellowship has been working for the preservation of the green lane network in England and Wales since 1970. More details
Details of Christmas Child
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