Friends of the Dales is the brand name of the Yorkshire Dales Society, a registered charity. Please help us to keep the Dales
special and vibrant for years to come!
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We really need your support to help keep the Dales special and vibrant for years to come. We are thrilled that over
200 people have signed up to become Friends over the last financial year - a fantastic boost to our membership and the clout we have as a campaigning charity! Thank you to all our Friends for their support!
Please join us or donate to support our charitable work to protect the Dales - you can use our secure online
payment - and you can Gift Aid your contibution too! Join us or Donate
Already a Friend - You can renew online!
Existing members of Friends of the Dales/Yorkshire Dales Society - you can now renew your subscriptions or
make a donation online using our secure online payment - just go to Renew Online
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twitter and instagram for fantastic photos of the
Dales, and more.
Read about our campaigns and comments on major planning applications affecting the Dales.
Latest News...
18th May 2019. We were delighted to receive a cheque today in Grassington on behalf of our
DalesBus subsidiary from senior leaders of the Sikh community in Bradford. The Bradford Gurdwaras are very kindly supporting the launch of the DalesBus 74 Saturday service from Bradford to
Grassington, which we hope will improve access to the National Park from the communities of urban Bradford, opening up the delights of the Dales to them. The support of Bradford Rotary in this
important initiative is much appreciated. Details of the service can be found here: Bradford DalesBus
2 May 2019. News - Clapham primary school to stay open, thanks to local campaigners, who we were pleased to
support. See Craven
Herald
To celebrate 70 years of National Parks and the Access to the Countryside our subsidiary DalesBus is marking the anniversary by operating several new and improved
Sunday and Bank Holiday bus services. See the details in the press release:
Press coverage from the Craven Herald
30 March 2019 The Yorkshire Post is running a series of articles on the challenegs facing the Dales, with their
Saturday edition focusing on the threat to community sustainability. Comments from Friends of the Dales are included. See Front Page
18 March 2019
We've joined forces with Campaign for National Parks to welcome the recommendation to planners to refuse the damaging proposals for a leisure village at Hellifield.
Read our full response below
25 February 2019 Our current Chair, Mark Corner, is stepping down at the 2019 AGM in September after four very
successful years. We are seeking a new person to fill this very important and rewarding role! Mark and other Trustees are very happy to work with a new person over the next few months leading up to
our AGM. We are keen to bring in an active person who is passionate about the countryside, ideally the Dales, to work with our committed Trustees, volunteers and staff. You don't need to be a current
member of FOTD and you are welcome to contact us for an informal chat about what's involved. If you or someone you know might be interested, check out the
info downloads below.
9th February 2019. Many thanks to all who made today's 'Community Action in Addingham' event such a success.
Despite the threat of poor weather a good turnout enjoyed a fascinating walk around the village of Addingham, guided very ably by Don Barrett, author of Walks around Addingham. We saw members
of the Addingham Environment Group in action working on litter picking
and woodland maintenance. In the afternoon, Prof Rick Batterbee gave us a fascinating talk on 'The big environmental issues: thinking globally, acting locally' and decribed the impressive
iniatiatives being taken in the village to encourage wildflower propagation, manage the becks, and to reduce the village's carbon footprint. Thanks to Don, Rick, and Jonathan White for organising our
grand day out in Addingham, a village well worth a visit.
4th February 2019. CPRE has issued an insightful analysis on the need to improve access to our National Parks. See
the CPRE report, and particularly the link to the detailed maps.
This has been covered in an interesting article in The
Guardian including comments by our VP Colin Speakman. The article has generated some interesting letters in The Guardian.
16 January 2019. Our article in the Winter edition of the Yorkshire Dales Review on Barn Conversions in the National Park, which has generated some press coverage.
FOTD-YDR-Barns.pdf Adobe Acrobat document [1.5 MB]
Farming reminiscences by Alan Lord14 January 2019 Alan Lord, member of Friends of the Dales, sent us these fascinating memories of early life helping on the farm (first published in the Westmorland Gazette).
Series of articles by Alan Lord.pdf Adobe Acrobat document [605.6 KB]
17 December 2018 This is Friends of the Dales response to the call of evidence
by the Glover Review of England's National Parks and AONBs, submitted today.
11 December 2018 The Yorkshire Dales National Park Management Plan 2019-2024 - the single most important document
for a National Park - has now been published. Friends of the Dales contributed to the developemnt of the plan and will play a role in holding to account those bodies who are responsible for its
delivery. The plan can be found here: YDNP Management Plan
6 December 2018 Local press coverage of a crtical National Park Authority planning meeting on 11th December to
consider controversial applications to convert barns, incluing comments from Friends of the Dales. See Richmondshire Today
20 November 2018 Trustee Nancy Stedman spoke at a well attended joint meeting with North Craven Heritage
Trust at Langcliffe last week. Nancy has been researching the impact of converting agricultural barns in the Dales to local
occupancy housing or holiday lets in the light of recent changes to National Park policy. You can view Nancy's presention as a PDF download below.
8 November 2018 Next year we'll be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the legislation that created national
parks in England and Wales. If you are interested in social and political history, you might enjoy reading two original Reports (Dower and Hobhouse) which led to the 1949 Act (National Parks and
Access to the Countryside) - downloadable below.
31 October 2018 Dalesbus Winter Timetable - download it below.
We have a good track record - for over 35 years - in campaigning on issues of crucial importance to the Dales. These include affordable housing, rural bus services, biodiversity, green lanes,
Dales farming and landscape conservation - plus many others!
We keep a watching brief on what is happening in the Dales, lobby government and intervene where we believe appropriate. For example, we monitor significant planning applications in the Dales and
comment on many each year - supporting those we believe are right for the Dales
We run varied walks and talks throughout the year
Vibrant Communities - free guided visits to Dales towns and villages organised and led by local members
Dales Insights - afternoon talks and free shorter guided walks
Classic Countryside - free longer guided walks with an extra "something special"
Focus on the Dales - full day event on a topical Dales subject
Come and join us, most are free to all! See Upcoming Events
DalesBus services run on Sundays and Bank Holidays through the summer (and some in the winter) across the Yorkshire Dales, llinking into
bus and train services from across the region.
So you can enjoy the Dales in the most environmentally friendly way!
DalesBus is run by our social enterprise company the Dales & Bowland CIC. Volunteers organise, fundraise and
publicise the services, but the buses themselves are run by bus companies or community providers. Full timetables - see DalesBus
Capturing the Past is our fantastic three year project to work with people and
groups in the Ingleborough Dales area to train them to catalogue and digitise their own local history archives and make these available to the public through a new website.
Our archive project is being funded through Stories in Stone, a four year programme of conservation and community projects concentrated
on the Ingleborough area. The scheme has been developed by the Ingleborough Dales Landscape Partnership and is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Yorkshire Dales Community Archives
This website is operated by the Yorkshire Dales Society, a registered charity (Charity Number 515384) and a company limited by guarantee (Company Number 1822908).
Our Charitable Objects are 1) To promote for the benefit of the public, the conservation of the landscape, biodiversity and cultural heritage of
the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and adjacent areas, and the social and economic wellbeing of its local communities;and to encourage others to engage with,understand,enjoy and protect these areas,
and 2) In pursuance of the above, to advance the education of the public.
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