Outward Bound

The Fifty Nine Club's Outward Bound activities originated in 1965 with a suggestion by Alan Anderson and Harold Purchase that occasional weekends in the country should be the focal point of social meetings, to include walks 'of varying severity'! Indeed their original plan was a two-day, 45 mile walk from Aviemore to Blair Atholl through the Lairig Ghru and Glen Tilt, using the overnight sleeper at each end; but, perhaps unsurprisingly, this never featured in the Club's programme. Instead the first weekend was held in the Lake District that May.

For the first nine years the weekends were annual events. The change from spring to autumn in 1968 was a direct consequence of the IAA Congress in Munich that year. The only other Congress-affected weekend was that in the autumn of 1984, earlier than usual for the benefit of those going to Sydney.

This is a comprehensive record of all Outward Bound meetings held to date. A printable copy may be downloaded by clicking the following link - Download list for printing

No.	Date	Place	Hotel	'A' Walk	Organiser	Number Present
1	1965 May 15	Grasmere, Westmorland	Prince of Wales	Bowfell	JAA	20
2	1966 May 14	Studland, Dorset	Knoll House	Purbeck Hills	JAA	nk
3	1967 May 6	Thorpe, Dovedale, Derbyshire	Peveril of the Peak	Dovedale	JAA	36
4	1968 Oct 19	Dunster, Somerset	Luttrell Arms	Dunkery Beacon	JAA	nk
5	1969 Oct 11	Beddgelert, Caernarvon	Royal Goat	Snowdon	JAA	43
6	1970 Oct 3	Abergavenny, Monmouth	Angel	Pen-y-Fan,Brecon Beacons	JAA	38
7	1971 Oct 2	Lifton, Devon(near Launceston)	Arundell Arms	Cranmere Pool, Dartmoor	JAA	32
8	1972 Oct 21	Church Stretton, Shrops	Long Mynd	Long Mynd	JAA	45
9	1973 Oct 6	Patterdale, Westmorland	Patterdale	Helvellyn	JAA	44
10	1974 May 18	Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire	Royal	Symonds Yat	JAA	39
11	1974 Oct 5	Abergavenny, Gwent	Angel	Pen-y-Fan,Brecon Beacons	JAA	nk
12	1975 Jun 14	Thorpe, Dovedale, Derbyshire	Peveril of the Peak	Dovedale	JAA & GWEA	36
13	1975 Oct 18	Chichester, West Sussex	Dolphin Anchor	South Downs Way	GWEA	28
14	1976 May 8	Dolgellau, Gwynedd	Golden Lion Royal	Cader Idris	GWEA	29
15	1976 Oct 9	Studland, Dorset	Knoll House	Purbeck Hills	GWEA	28
16	1977 May 7	Helmsley, Yorks	Black Swan	North York Moors	GWEA	39
17	1977 Oct 15	Great Malvern, Worcs	Foley Arms	Malvern Hills	GWEA	nk
18	1978 Apr 29	Taunton, Somerset	County	Quantock Hills	PS	52
19	1978 Oct 21	Grasmere, Cumbria	Prince of Wales	Pavey Ark via Jack's Rake	PS	52
20	1979 May 12	Newbury, Berks	Chequers	Watership Down	PS	54
21	1979 Oct 13	Sheffield, South Yorks	Hallam Tower	Stanage Edge and Chatsworth	PS	38
22	1980 Apr 19	Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys	Abernant Lake	Tywi &/or Crychan Forests	PS	48
23	1980 Sep 27	Walberton, Arundel, West Sussex	Avisford Park	South Downs	PS	43
24	1981 May 2	Sudbury, Suffolk	Mill	Lavenham	PS	45
25	1981 Oct 3	near Newtown, Powys	Gregynog	Local to Gregynog	PS	29
26	1982 May 1	Street, Somerset	Wessex	Mendip Hills	PS	63
27	1982 Oct 2	Laceby, near Grimsby, Lincs	Oaklands	Lincolnshire Wolds	PS	25
28	1983 Apr 30	Bolton Abbey, Yorks	Devonshire Arms	Simon's Seat	PS	54
29	1983 Oct 15	Rodborough Common, Stroud, Glos	The Bear of Rodborough	Cotswold Way near Coaley Peak	PS	57
30	1984 May 19	Lymington, Hants	Passford House	New Forest	PS	54
31	1984 Sept 29	Broughton, Lancs	Broughton Park	Forest of Bowland	PS	33
32	1985 May 4	Great Malvern, Worcs	Abbey	Malvern Hills	PS	62
33	1985 Oct 12	Llanberis, Gwynedd	Royal Victoria	Snowdon	PS	35
34	1986 May 3	Beverley, Humberside	Beverley Arms	Wolds Way	PS	59
35	1986 Oct 18	near Newtown, Powys	Gregynog	Gregynog and Manafon	PS	59
36	1987 May 30	Mickleton, Glos	Three Ways	Snowshill, and north end of Cotswold Way	JM	73
37	1987 Oct 10	Glenridding, Cumbria	Glenridding	Helvellyn	PN	47
38	1988 May 21	Moretonhampstead, Devon	Manor House	Abbot's Way, Dartmoor	JM	nk
39	1988 Oct 8	Church Stretton, Shrops	Long Mynd	The Long Mynd	PN	58
40	1989 Apr 22	Forest, Guernsey, Channel Islands	Mallard	South Coast Path : Le Gouffre to Calais	NSP	45
41	1989 Oct 21	Thorpe, Dovedale, Derbyshire	Peveril of the Peak	Dovedale and the Tissington Trail	KMJ	60
42	1990 Apr 28	Isle of Portland, Dorset	Portland Heights	Portland Bill : Abbotsbury (2 half-day walks)	NSP	74
43	1990 Oct 20	Bolton Abbey, Yorks	Devonshire Arms	Pen-y-ghent and Malham Cove	PEBF	73
44	1991 Apr 27	Southwold, Suffolk	Swan	Southwold to Minsmere	NSP	79
45	1991 Oct 19	Shaftesbury, Dorset	Grosvenor	Cranborne Chase	PN	60
46	1992 Apr 4	Shanklin, Isle of Wight	Shanklin Manor	The Landslipand Ventnor	NSP	66
47	1992 Oct 17	Old Letchworth, Herts	Letchworth Hall	Icknield Way and Pegsdon Hills	PN	51
48	1993 Apr 24	Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire	Chase	Forest of Dean and Symonds Yat	NSP	67
49	1993 Oct 16	Brecon, Powys	Castle of Brecon	Brecon Beacons	PN	69
50	1994 Apr 23	Grasmere, Cumbria	Red Lion	Fairfield Horseshoe	NSP	80
51	1994 Oct 15	near Worksop, Notts	Clumber Park	Clumber Park	PN	57
52	1995 Apr 8	Beaumaris, Anglesey	Bulkeley	Carneddau	NSP	54
53	1995 Oct 21	Sidmouth, Devon	Belmont	South Devon Coast Path	PN	71
54	1996 Apr 20	St. Omer, France (south-east of Calais)	Château Tilques	Bois de Licques (GR 128)	NSP	53
55	1996 Oct 26	Alfriston, Sussex	Deans Place	Firle Beacon	PN	60
56	1997 Apr 19	Saunton Sands,near Braunton, Devon	Saunton Sands	North Devon Coast Path	MJT	72
57	1997 Oct 18	near Chichester, Sussex	Goodwood Park	South Downs Way	PN	63
58	1998 Apr 18	near Newtown, Powys	Gregynog	Gregynog and Bettws Cedewain	PS	52
59	1998 Oct 17	Skelton, near York	Jarvis	Cleveland Way	PN	52
60	1999 Apr 17	Failand, Somerset(near Bristol)	Redwood Lodge	Mendip Hills	BMcB	71
61	1999 Oct 30	Hollingbourne, Kent	Jarvis Great Danes	North Downs Way	PN	48
62	2000 Apr 15	Great Malvern, Worcs	Foley Arms	Malvern Hills	EF and RLG	64
63	2000 Oct 21	Grasmere, Cumbria	Prince of Wales	Wythburn Fells	PLB	67
64	2001 May 5	Reigate, Surrey	Reigate Manor	Box Hill, North Downs Way	RLG	51
65	2001 Oct 13	Llangollen, Denbigh	Wild Pheasant	Berwyn ridge	NJG	55
66	2002 Mar 3	La Gomera,Canary Islands	Jardin Tecina	Various island walks	AHF	29
67	2002 Oct 26	Southam, Cheltenham, Glos	de la Bere	Cleeve Hill and Cotswold Way	NSP	61
68	2003 Apr 12	Failand, Somerset(near Bristol)	Redwood Lodge	Ebbor Gorge	BMcB	49
69	2003 Oct 25	Moretonhampstead, Devon	Manor House	Two Moors Way	SLJ and PLB	50
70	2004 Apr 24	Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria	Grange	Coniston Old Man : Morecambe Bay (Sat & Sun walks)	PLB	32
71	2004 Oct 9	Tintern, Monmouth	Abbey	Along and above the River Wye	MJT	61
72	2005 Apr 16	Woodenbridge,Co. Wicklow, Ireland	Woodenbridge Lodge	Lugnaquillia	AJJ	44
73	2005 Nov 12	Church Stretton, Shrops	Long Mynd	Stiperstones	EF	42
74	2006 Apr 8	Keswick, Cumbria	Keswick	Blencathra	PLB	40
75	2006 Oct 14	Dunkeld, Perth & Kinross	Hilton Dunkeld House	Schiehallion : Clas Maol (Sat & Sun Walks)	BMcB	26
76	2007 Apr 28	Aldeburgh	White Lion	nk	EF	44
77	2007 Oct 6	Chichester	Crouchers	South Downs Way	AP	31
78	2008 Apr 12	Crudwell, Cotswolds	Mayfield House	Westonbirt	CR	42
79	2008 Sep 20	Rockcliffe, Dalbeattie, Dumfries & Galloway	Baron's Craig	Southern Upland Way	RJL & CT	26
80	2009 May 2	Deak, Kent	Royal	Saxon Shore Way	EF	nk
81	2009 Oct 3	Cockermouth	Trout	Buttermere Circuit & Bleaberry Tarn	JT	40

The information in the columns headed 'Date', 'Place' and 'Hotel' is taken from the notices to Club members except for weekends 1 - 3. Nos. 2 and 3 are recorded in the Minute Books. There is no known extant record of the first weekend but the details have been verified, inter alia, from the compiler's photographs which were taken and dated at the time. For consistency and reasonable conciseness the following conventions are used:

The date shown (except for no. 66) is the Saturday; members usually arrived on Friday and left on Sunday although, especially in the early days, arrival on Thursday was not uncommon, and there have always been some enthusiasts who stayed until Monday or even longer.
The county is normally that current at the time of the event, though some discretion has been used.
In giving hotel names, the words 'The' and 'Hotel' are nearly always omitted, as are phrases such as 'Country House'.

On occasions an overflow hotel was used; these are known to include nos. 28, 32, 41, 42, 48, 50, 62 and 71 but there were several others. Further details, even if known, are not recorded here.

The recorded location of the 'A' Walk, the longest or most strenuous of those undertaken, is usually based on recollections of those present. Space permits only a note of the region, or a key objective reached. In a few early cases there are either no recollections, or conflicting ones, and a fairly general description is used.

The organisation of the weekends has been undertaken by many members, and the Club is grateful to all of them. Organisers are identified in the list by their initials; in order of appearance they are Alan Anderson (JAA), Geoff Allaway (GWEA), Peter Stirrup (PS), Jeff Medlock (JM), Peter Norton (PN), Neil Parrack (NSP), Keith Jecks (KMJ), Peter Ford (PEBF), Michael Turner (MJT), Brendan McBride (BMcB), Elaine Fairless (EF), Ron Goldby (RLG), Peter Bennett (PLB), Nick Greenwood (NJG), Alan Fraser (AHF), Simon Jeffery (SLJ), Tony Jeffery (AJJ), Alan Pemberton (AP), Colin Redman (CR), Roger Laker (RL), Colin Taylor (CT) and John Taylor (JT). Photographic assistance was provided for many years by P L ('Bunny') Grainge. The compiler of this list has designed and led several of the more recent 'A' walks: many other members, not recorded, have assisted by planning and leading walks, including the shorter ('B' and 'C') walks each Saturday.

The 'Number present' is normally taken as the number dining on the Saturday night, but adjustments are made if these seem to give a fairer picture. Quite apart from the difficulty of defining the number present, the figure recorded is always approximate, though reliable except for early weekends. The information usually comes from the organiser's list of those attending, but sometimes (particularly for the first 10 weekends) from a note in the Minute Book. In a few cases the entry is 'nk' (not known).

Many members made comments during the original compilation of this list in 1994 (and later), and I am grateful to them all. The following contributed in a substantial way, and my thanks are especially due to Peter Norton, Neil Parrack, Ken Smith, Peter Stirrup, Simon Stoye and Graham Titford. As is traditional in such an exercise, I take full responsibility for any remaining errors: however if any member notices one I should appreciate an advice in order that the next update of the list is an improved version.

David Purchase
December 2009 version
(original version December 1994, major updates June 2005 and January 1999)