Although Kinder is a peaceful place today, 80 years ago it was the scene of confrontation, beatings and social injustice. This month sees the 80th anniversary of the ground breaking Kinder Mass Trespass in 1932, and a whole week of celebrations are planned.

In 1932 a brave band of mainly working class ramblers decided to change things for the better. Punch ups, chases, bad language and imprisonment all followed their decision to make a stand on April 24th 1932, but the seeds of change had been sown and we are left with wide open spaces today that we can all enjoy.

The Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout 80 years ago has been described as the most significant event in the century-old battle for the Right to Roam on Britain’s mountains and moors, a right now enshrined in the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act, 2000.

The events of Sunday, April 24, 1932 have long since entered the realms of rambling mythology. Members of the Communist-inspired Lancashire branch of the British Workers’ Sport Federation had been turned off by gamekeepers on Bleaklow a few weeks before and they were frustrated by the lack of progress between landowners. They decided they would make a public mass trespass on Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District.

After a rally addressed by Benny Rothman, about 400 ramblers set off from Bowden Bridge quarry, on that bright spring morning. About halfway up William Clough, the trespassers scrambled off the Snake path, which had been established as a right of way in 1897, and up towards the Kinder plateau. They came face-to-face with a line of owner James Watt’s gamekeepers, and in the ensuing scuffle one keeper was slightly hurt, but the ramblers pressed on towards the plateau.

The arrest and subsequent imprisonment of the trespassers unleashed a huge wave of public sympathy, and ironically united the ramblers’ cause. A few weeks later in 1932 10,000 ramblers– the largest number in history – assembled for an access rally in the Winnats Pass, near Castleton, and the pressure for greater access continued to grow.

The 80th anniversary will be taking place in April 2012, and the BMC has a part in that glorious week long celebrations.

View the programme of events

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