Archive – our past outdoor festivals

Did you come to one of our past walking festivals? We hope you enjoyed our walks and we are looking forward to seeing you for our next events. They are always on the first May Bank Holiday. In the meantime, look at the pictures we took, you might recognise yourself!

1. 2023 – Sixth Outdoor Festival

2. 2022 – Fifth Outdoor Festival

3. 2021 – Fourth Outdoor Festival

4. 2019 – Third Outdoor Festival

5. 2018 – Second Outdoor Festival

6. 2017 – First Outdoor Festival

If you joined us in the past, why not leave us a comment?

The 2023 edition had a bit of a theme going on. One of our walks went to see a place famously once said to be haunted, and another one was all about fairies! Despite the 'risks,' more than 200 people turned up across all our walks, which happened on the early May Bank Holiday. We also had a record of £280 in donations, and our sponsor Specsavers gave away some water bottles for free to all participants.

The day started with a 'Baildon Moor Jaunt,' where more than 30 people joined on an 11-mile trip to Baildon and back. Our friends at Baildon Walkers are Welcome even had a welcoming party for us, offering refreshments and snacks for our walkers! The second walk was a gentle 2.5-mile route along the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal via Hirst Wood. In contrast to the first one, this short and easy walk was meant to be as inclusive as possible for people of all abilities. Then we had a 'walk in the past,' which took a small group of 20 people to the ruins of the Milner Field estate – said to be once haunted before its destruction! The first walk of the afternoon took a whopping 82 people to Cottingley in search of the legendary fairies. Finally, our last walk was all about the jewel in the crown of Bingley, our famous Five Rise Locks! What a day!

In 2022, our event came back to its original spot of the Early May Bank Holiday. And we were really happy to see so many people attending! We had a record number of 221 walkers who joined us during the day across the four different walks on offer.

This year, we also had a Nordic Walking taster session as a fifth option. It was organised in Myrtle Park by Discover Nordic Walking. Our History Walk led by Susan Hart was certainly the most popular with more than 80 people who attended! Our other walks also attracted many people including the “Aire and Altar Walk" – a Wildlife Walk along the River Aire – the Long Walk “Harden Moor & Moor" and the Eldwick Farms & Fields which started at the Acorn Inn in Eldwick.

We also raised more than £232 in donations during the event which will help organising the next one! Thanks for your generosity.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, unfortunately we had to cancel our 2020 event which was planned on the first Bank Holiday in May. For 2021, after careful considerations we decided to go ahead with the festival but moved the date to the Monday Bank Holiday 30th August. So we were really glad to be back after more than a year of absence!

And it was worth the wait! We had about 135 walkers who joined us during the day across the five different walks we organised. And this year we even had two guests organisations helping us out. The Aire River Trust led a gentle easy walk for us and the Bingley Camera Club took a group on a great photo walk. The other three walks were all led by Bingley Walkers are Welcome committee members and included the Welcome Way Bingley Loop, one of the Sir Fred Hoyle walks and a walk starting a the Glen pub in Gilstead.

We raised more than £180 in donations which will definitely be used to organise and plan more events like this over the coming months.

Our third walking festival happened on Monday Bank Holiday 6th May 2019. Again, that year we had five different walks and we still had a great turn out – about 130 people across all the walks.

We might not have been as lucky as the two previous years when it came to the weather, however we had a fantastic sponsor to help us out this year. Having heard of our third walking festival, Specsavers from Keighley came forward and asked us if there was anything they could do to help with the event. We suggested that they distribute refillable water bottles and they did!

We also had help to lead one of our walks from the Aire Rivers Trust. Nick Milsom did a great job at leading the family walk for us and we thank him dearly for that.

Did you noticed the weather that year? I mean, was it just me or it's been quite an exceptional year! English weather doesn't usually prepare you for so much sunshine. It's a funny thing in a way because Summer officially starts on the Summer Solstice which was 21st June 2018 that year. However, we had a fantastic Spring and Bingley Walkers are Welcome were able to make the most of it.

Most of all, we had our second walking festival on Monday Bank Holiday 7th May and we were blessed with a wonderful weather. This year we had five different walks, one more than the previous year and we still had a great turn out – about 150 people across all the walks. One of the most popular was the long walk which took a group of about 50 people across the Harden Valley and Goit stock Waterfall. Below are some pictures taken at the beginning of each walks on Market Square:

Today we can be very proud of ourselves. Our first ever outdoor festival is now finished and what a day we had! More than 150 people turned out on four different walks during our Bingley Walking Festival on Bank Holiday Monday May 1st. A week before, on 25th April, we held our second AGM and we successfully recruited four new committee members. Back in March, we also recruited six more walk leaders after they went on a special training course. Another course this month will see two more walk leaders fully trained. This will mean we have 11 fully trained walk leaders in our group. All of this is proof that people in Bingley have a passion for walking and the great outdoors. This is so encouraging and we are all looking forward to organising our second walking festival in 2018!

The outdoor festival was a great occasion for every participant to discover or rediscover various parts of Bingley. Local businesses also benefited from the extra customs the festival brought in town for the day. However, none of this could have happened without the help and support of various people and organisations.

First of all, Bingley Town Council gave us a grant of £500 which was used to design and print our leaflets and posters for the festival. This was a necessary step to get noticed by the local community. We soon realised it could be a success when we had to re-print a new batch because all the flyers were gone! A special thank you goes to Emma Gregg at Fullstop Studio who designed the attractive leaflets and posters.

Note: the grant was also awarded on condition that we would produce a special leaflet dedicated to walks about Sir Fred Hoyle early life in Bingley and surrounding areas.

Then of course our walk leaders and backmarkers who gave their time to prepare and lead the walks during the festival. Safety on all walks is very important to us and having both walk leaders and backmarkers gave reassurance to all walkers that we would take care of them no matter what.

Canal & River Trust also supported us and sent us some “Quack Snacks" pouches which we filled with porridge oats for the Bingley Five Rise Locks Family Walk. This was a great occasion to make children and grown-ups aware about what food should be given to ducks. Each year, tonnes of bread are thrown away in our canals and unfortunately it's a real misery for both animals and habitats. The Trust is trying to change this and launched a great campaign about it. Have you seen their video yet?

Canal & River Trust video

Finally a great thank you to the local press and websites who publicised the festival in their columns and pages. We had a wealth of publicity and thanks to them our outreach went beyond the boundaries of Bingley. Below are some of the best we collected: