The official opening of Maeshafn youth hostel on 4th July 1931. Tom Fairclough, Rev HH Symonds and Berta Gough are all present.
From the beginning, YHA has always been a grassroots organisation. Its formation came about thanks to people all over the country – of all ages and from all walks of life – who helped urge, propel and strengthen the youth hostels movement. Among them, however, a handful of founding figures had particular impact.
The official opening of Maeshafn youth hostel on 4th July 1931. Tom Fairclough, Rev HH Symonds and Berta Gough are all present.
Tom Fairclough
When seven young friends from Liverpool sailed to Germany on a hostelling trip in the summer of 1929, they came back impressed. One of them, office clerk Tom Fairclough, was determined to act on his enthusiasm, and became instrumental in gathering early support for a youth hostels movement in the UK.
Connie Alexander
Connie Alexander, one of Fairclough’s travelling companions, was also an integral part of the early story. In December 1930 she was asked to preside over the opening of Britain’s first youth hostel, Pennant Hall in Denbighshire, then later spent nine years as warden at Idwal Cottage in Eryri (Snowdonia).
Rev HH Symonds
Rev Symonds was a Liverpool headmaster, a fell-walker, and a keen advocate of the fact that young people learn best by gaining experience of the world around them. His credentials and enthusiasm meant he was asked to become YHA chairman – he turned down the role, but remained a strong supporter of the cause.
TA Leonard
As the founder of the Holiday Fellowship – which aimed to bring “holidays within reach of poorer folk” – Thomas Arthur Leonard was one of those who helped YHA establish itself as an organisation, and is today remembered as a pivotal figure in the British outdoor movement. He was also involved with the Ramblers.
Barclay Baron
YHA’s inaugural chairman was a religious man, previously heavily involved in the famous WWI-era soldiers’ refuge Talbot House, close to the Western Front in Belgium. His dream was to see YHA at the vanguard of things that were “lovely and of good report in the life of our nation”.
Jack Catchpool
A social reformist, and passionate believer in the power of youth hostels to change young lives, Jack Catchpool was perhaps the single biggest force behind the development of UK hostels. He was deeply influential as YHA’s first secretary, a position he took up after years as an aid worker in Russia and the Caucasus.
Berta Gough
A great friend of Connie Alexander’s and a part-time secretary for the Holiday Fellowship – which shared many of YHA’s values – Berta Gough helped the fledgling hostel organisation develop an emphasis on sociability and low cost. Her diary records of early meetings remain invaluable.
GM Trevelyan
The organisation’s first president was historian and author GM Trevelyan. He brought with him valuable connections to the National Trust and a firm (if now rather dated) belief in the benefits of spartan youth hostels. A keen walker, he later became master of Trinity College at Cambridge University.
Image credit for Trevelyan: Beresford
