Thursday, April 06, 2006
Ivinghoe Youth Hostel proposed closure
PRESS RELEASE 25TH FEBRUARY 2006
GROUP FORMED TO RESIST CLOSING IVINGHOE YOUTH HOSTEL
Local people and amenity groups have stepped up their campaign to save the Ivinghoe youth hostel, threatened with closure later this year.
A crowded meeting in the Ivinghoe Village centre agreed to seek urgent responses to key unanswered questions about the Youth Hostel Association’s (YHA) case for shutting the 80-year-old hostel.
“The proposed closure could make it much harder for young people to visit and enjoy the local facilities and some beautiful countryside, in part of the Chilterns’ Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,” said local councillor Mrs Avril Davies.
“ We believe the hostel is an essential feature of the Ivinghoe conservation area and has been part of daily village life for 80 years. We need to know if the YHA has spoken to the affected communities, or consulted with anyone on this important decision.
“The YHA’s mission statement is to aim to help all, especially the young of limited means, to greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside. How does the decision to close this hostel square with this mission?”
Various speakers reiterated how well positioned the hostel was very long list of attractions. As well as enabling the study of a village community, it is a within walking distance of Pitstone Farm Museum, Pitstone Windmill and Ford End Watermill. The European award -winning College Lake nature reserve, the Ridgeway long distance path, the Chilterns chalk downland, Ashridge forest, the Grand Union canal, Tring reservoirs, and Whipsnade zoo are all close by.
Local people highlighted the hostel’s other uses. The hostel had been the baby clinic for years, it is currently used by the Ivinghoe handbell ringers for practice, by the church for social occasions,.
The meeting was read a letter from the YHA, which wants to close the hostel from October this year. The letter said the Ivinghoe hostel is only up to one star standard , and would require an investment of about £250, 000 to bring it up to the association’s required three star standard. According to the YHA, the hostel is only 35% full over the year, with around 6000 overnight stays a year.
However speakers at the meeting questioned these figures, and asked that the YHA explain them. For instance, were the hostel’s accommodation figures above or below the average for YHA hostels? And if numbers are the issue, where is the YHA’s marketing strategy? Has consideration been given to extending the activities available at the hostel?
The meeting agreed that the next steps would be to form a campaigning group, and to write as individuals to: YHA trustees; the YHA chief executive and
regional director; to the Charity Commission, and other influential bodies involved in the countryside.
It agreed to create a dossier of all letters, the history of the hostel and its role within the village, to send on behalf of the group to key individuals in the decision making process. Cllr Mrs Davies said the aim was to support the hostel to stay open by whatever means appropriate, and invite the YHA to talk.
Contact Avril Davies on 01296 668152
acdavies@buckscc.gov.uk
GROUP FORMED TO RESIST CLOSING IVINGHOE YOUTH HOSTEL
Local people and amenity groups have stepped up their campaign to save the Ivinghoe youth hostel, threatened with closure later this year.
A crowded meeting in the Ivinghoe Village centre agreed to seek urgent responses to key unanswered questions about the Youth Hostel Association’s (YHA) case for shutting the 80-year-old hostel.
“The proposed closure could make it much harder for young people to visit and enjoy the local facilities and some beautiful countryside, in part of the Chilterns’ Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty,” said local councillor Mrs Avril Davies.
“ We believe the hostel is an essential feature of the Ivinghoe conservation area and has been part of daily village life for 80 years. We need to know if the YHA has spoken to the affected communities, or consulted with anyone on this important decision.
“The YHA’s mission statement is to aim to help all, especially the young of limited means, to greater knowledge, love and care of the countryside. How does the decision to close this hostel square with this mission?”
Various speakers reiterated how well positioned the hostel was very long list of attractions. As well as enabling the study of a village community, it is a within walking distance of Pitstone Farm Museum, Pitstone Windmill and Ford End Watermill. The European award -winning College Lake nature reserve, the Ridgeway long distance path, the Chilterns chalk downland, Ashridge forest, the Grand Union canal, Tring reservoirs, and Whipsnade zoo are all close by.
Local people highlighted the hostel’s other uses. The hostel had been the baby clinic for years, it is currently used by the Ivinghoe handbell ringers for practice, by the church for social occasions,.
The meeting was read a letter from the YHA, which wants to close the hostel from October this year. The letter said the Ivinghoe hostel is only up to one star standard , and would require an investment of about £250, 000 to bring it up to the association’s required three star standard. According to the YHA, the hostel is only 35% full over the year, with around 6000 overnight stays a year.
However speakers at the meeting questioned these figures, and asked that the YHA explain them. For instance, were the hostel’s accommodation figures above or below the average for YHA hostels? And if numbers are the issue, where is the YHA’s marketing strategy? Has consideration been given to extending the activities available at the hostel?
The meeting agreed that the next steps would be to form a campaigning group, and to write as individuals to: YHA trustees; the YHA chief executive and
regional director; to the Charity Commission, and other influential bodies involved in the countryside.
It agreed to create a dossier of all letters, the history of the hostel and its role within the village, to send on behalf of the group to key individuals in the decision making process. Cllr Mrs Davies said the aim was to support the hostel to stay open by whatever means appropriate, and invite the YHA to talk.
Contact Avril Davies on 01296 668152
acdavies@buckscc.gov.uk
# posted by Avril Davies @ 7:57 PM 
