AT A GLANCE:

Highlight public rights of way at risk and the process behind them. Encourage interest in ways through workshops teaching the free heritage resources and  demonstrating information through walks

WHY WAS THE PURPOSE?

Many local people were unaware of the deadline for extinction and risks to rights of way that are not fully registered. This project aimed to raise awareness of the position and enhance interest through heritage and crafted walks. A key differentiator was the approach of tutoring workshops and website to show how people can perform their own research on ways they may already be using.

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WHAT DID IT DO?

Brought over 200 attendees together for education and to improve health. The project delivered 6 x 3hr workshops, 16 walks of up to 4 hours and built the rway.uk website. Additionally, it captured over 2,500 photos from West Yorkshire Archives documents relating to the subject. Delivered across Bramley, Calverley, Farsley, Pudsey, Rodley and Stanningley and involved various council figures across the city. Additionally other community groups attended to introduce themselves, such as Pudsey Civic Society, Farsley Rehoboth, Pudsey Greenside Greenway, British Horse Society and the local 2023 art group.

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WHAT DIFFERENCE DID IT MAKE?

The benefits to local people have been:

• Increased social interaction.

• Physical and mental health benefits from having a 'reason' to walk and explore.

• Heritage appreciation and discussion of the local area.

• Increase awareness of community assets/ groups in the area.

• Digital skills and usage of free access to old maps, old photos, old newspapers and census details.

• Exploration of neighbouring communities.

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"It's still very easy to show people places they haven't been, though they may have lived locally their whole lives"

DID THE GRANT PAY FOR?

6 workshops; venue hire, guest speakers, refreshments and internet data.

6 West Yorkshire archives visit days with photographic rights.

16 walk leader costs.

16 digital historic OS Maps and AO/A2 printing. Initial technical services for rway.uk construction.

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Voluntary time amounted to 684 hours (a single appreciation of the individual) producing ongoing assets for:

• Website

• Rights of Way workshop package

• Heritage resources workshop package.

• Refurbished laptops.

   • Georeferenced historic maps repository

• Walk leader local heritage notes & photos

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NEXT STEPS

The project aimed to experiment which approaches worked in the communities and build links to other local groups. The knowledge, exposure and assets produced can be targeted to for more effective local use. Additionally, the approach can feed in to national bodies such as British Horse Society, Ramblers and Cycling UK.

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WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

Need to allow adequate time to introduce 'rights of way' (takes a minumum of 1 hour). There is a need to increase awareness of free online resources and develop digital literacy skills for many who attended. Britain from Above is a great visual hook to attain interest quickly. Consistently easy to demonstrate local ways people didn't know existed, even when they've lived nearby for a long time.

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