Newsletter: Imbolc (winter, but signs of new growth) 2017
U3A Group craft a piece of Todmorden to signal ‘Walkers are Welcome!’
The Craft Group of Todmorden’s U3A (University of the Third Age) has collectively created a collaged and embroidered square so that Todmorden can take its place in the national Banner of Walkers are Welcome Towns. Each town contributes a piece which reflects its attractions as a walking destination. The U3A Craft Group members say “Our theme was inspired by the Hunter’s (or Blood) Moon of 2016. It was an impressive sight, rising behind Stoodley Pike, against a dark sky. In our design we have incorporated wool, cotton felt and corduroy, as they are part of our heritage. ‘Tod’ is an old word for a fox so he has been included, slinking from behind a dry stone wall, with his eye on the lambs. The rose symbolises the White Rose of Yorkshire and the Red Rose of Lancashire, to demonstrate our unusual position as a border town. An intrepid hiker is making his way past the Pike knowing that ‘Walkers are Welcome in Todmorden’ “
The Banner, including Todmorden’s square, will be exhibited at the National Walkers are Welcome Annual Gathering , which this year will be held at the Birchcliffe Centre, Hebden Bridge on 14-15 October 2017.
For more information about Todmorden U3A, see www.u3atod.org.uk
Heart of the Pennines
This collaboration between towns and villages in the Upper Valley is continuing to take shape. There is now a Heart of the Pennines website www.heartofthepennines.org.uk
And within it, a link to the on-line shop run by Todmorden Information Centre, which should help people get hold of guides to the area more easily.
Continuing Monitoring Project
Our fortune is in our footpaths! So we need to keep them open and in good condition. We can fix problems, but only if we know about them, so we would urge anyone who encounters a ‘footpaths and obstructions’ problem to let us or CROWS know (see below) so that we can raise it with the appropriate body. We have been re-walking the Todmorden Bus Walk routes recently, which are very muddy at the moment. If you complete any of these walks and have anything to say about them, please email us at
The new boardwalk at Dicks Lane at Stoodley Pike is now completed, thanks to help from volunteers. Good stuff.
CROWS say:
There are 4 ways to report a problem to CROWS:
· Call their new Path problem line on 0784 964 0784 and leave a message (why not put this number in your contact list?)
· Send a message through the CROWS Facebook page
· Email (a photo of the problem would help)
· Leave a note at Mountain Wild, Hebden Bridge or White Ribbon in Mytholmroyd or at Todmorden Visitor centre
Please tell us about any problem, not just those related to flood damage.
Why not put the number in your contacts and please share this with your walking friends.
The Canal and River Trust have been working hard to repair the flood damage to the canal towpath, and the route from Todmorden to Hebden Bridge is now open again. There are stretches closed, however, between Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge. And there will be work on further developing the canal tow path as a cycling route (for which there were some recent consultations in Todmorden Town Hall). Obviously this will be a route shared with walkers (not to mention dogs and push chairs...) so it will be interesting to see how it works out.
For further information see http://cyclecityconnect.co.uk/projects/calderdale-canals/
There are TodWalkers projects that we would like some help with:
Urgent: Walk Testing
Todmorden Centenary Way Project, with Todmorden Town Council and the Ramblers.
This has involved the revival of all the Todmorden Centenary Way routes and a re-write of the Guide. The revised directions for whole route, divided into sections and link paths, are now ready to be tested. If you would like to walk any or all parts, and provide your comments, we would be very grateful. Ideally the directions should be tested by someone who doesn’t know the area, so if you’re walking with visitors, let them lead! We are currently particularly interested in getting the Link Paths sorted. For the latest directions, please contact David Lepper, email:
Three Walks to Hebden Bridge
These are walks developed by the Hebden Bridge Walkers Action group. They are ‘Lumb Falls and return via Smeekin Pike War Memorial’ ; ‘High Brown Knoll’ ; ‘Circular route to/from Hebden Bridge via Old Town and Chiserley’. Again, it would be better if the testers were new to the area, but that might apply to us Todmordians anyway!
If you would like copies of the directions, please contact
Chronically important: The Accommodation Project
Accommodation in general is in short supply in and around Todmorden. We want to create a register for our website of accommodation that is welcoming to walkers. That might not be everywhere, so we would like to tap into your knowledge of the places to stay that you would recommend to fellow walkers. Email us at
And this: More Walks Around Todmorden Project
We would like to collect even more walks around Todmorden, particularly shorter walks. They could be an off-road way of getting somewhere local, or a favourite dog- walking circuit. ...we have so many paths here! If you have something to offer, please send a description to us at
Other new TodWalkers projects
Photo-diaries of the TodWalker’s website Bus Walks.
We think it would be good to have a detailed photo-diary for each of the six longer ‘bus walks’ which are published on the TodWalkers website. These are a useful and very attractive addition to the written directions and maps. If you’d like to document one of the walks, we’ll turn it into a slideshow on the website. Contact
Reviving the Paulinus Way Project
The Paulinus Way was launched in August 2011 with a pilgrimage from Todmorden to York, but has since faded into the background. There seem to be only a few copies left of the lovely route maps, ‘In the Footsteps of Paulinus’ by Tina and Stuart Clayton, but routes can be checked and maybe amended, and it would seem a good opportunity to collaborate with any other WaW towns along the way. The main issue for walkers is that the Pilgrimage currently depends on very basic accommodation in churches, and it may be prudent to find alternatives. If you’re interested in working on this project, contact
Another thing......
There are some interesting new ideas afloat in Todmorden, from new people. See below from Nicholas Franchini. Email: . His particular interest is cycling, but what he says also applies to walkers. He writes :
Background
I am one of the three new owners of Kava Kafe. We bought it because we fell in love with the interior of the cafe and its setting next to the canal. Coincidentally, I am working with the town council of Asiago (PostcodeI-36012)my hometown in Italy which shares similar characteristics to Todmorden. While the latter is a destination for nature lovers and setin a valley, the former is a similardestination on an alpine plateau. Although neither are currently considered as world class tourism destinations but both have enormous potential.On buying the Kava Kafe in Todmorden and talking to local staff and customers including local councillors and other activists,I can see that what I envisaged for Asiago could work here as well.
Building on the success of innovations like AirBnB and Eventbrite
Over the last year I have been successful at attracting visitors on AirBnB to our family apartment in Asiago and for social motives I would like to use the web to offer more to visitors. Many of my friends there are talented people but economically vulnerable and we are working on a scheme to make it easier for visitors to book activities (he means with local people as guides/instructors for cultural / food / historic / nature / outdoor / sport tourism) as well as accommodationin advance using online portals such as AirBnB and EventBrite. The scheme would also benefit from a wifi hotspot in the town centre especially as mobile phone reception is so poor.
The business case is simple
A major issue with making tourism sustainable in every sense - commercial, environmental, human and social -is the difficulty of matching capacity with demand. Making it easier for visitors topre-book activities for their trip helps to meet this challenge.
Using the Kava Kafe as an example
For example, historically a large unannounced group of cyclists wouldflood our cafe in the summerleaving no room for regular customers and putting a strain on every aspect of our business. But if they were to book in advance online as a routine habit, we could lay on extra staff and stock, offer customised services and invest in a cyclist pitstop in some spare space we have at the rear by the car park and the Rochdale Canal. This pitstopcould also act as a socialhub and promotional spacefor local cycling related businesses and local people with a passion for cycling such as cycle mechanics who could offer their services to visitors with the online bookingsystem.
If our cafe was to offer such booking in concert with other local businesses we could enable visitors to create a trip full of adventures before they leave home. This would also create a web of local relationships which could foster innovations that we can barely imagine.
And another thing ......
For those who think that walking is good, but it’s SO SLOW – how about running the Calderdale Way? See http://cannonballevents.co.uk/calderdale-way-ultra/
Or for something a bit less strenuous : http://cannonballevents.co.uk/canalathon/
Or easy-peasy (hah!)
http://cannonballevents.co.uk/todmorden-park-summer-5k-series-1/
Another another thing......
Todmorden Neighbourhood Plan (last call for ideas and opinions)
The final Neighbourhood Plan consultation will be held from 10.00am -3.00pm on Saturday, February 25th 2017 upstairs in the Town Hall. Come and have your say!
There is also a survey that you can access from the Todmorden Town Council website www.todmordencouncil.org.uk
And finally
Unless anything urgent crops up, the next meeting of TodWalkers will be held at 10.30am on April 25th 2017 in the White Hart, Todmorden. This is a Committee meeting but all members are very welcome to join in the discussions, or raise any issues.
Our website: www.todwalkers.org.uk