Pickering’s Boots and Steam walking festival took place this year on 8/9/10 April with 13 different walks throughout the area, ranging in distance from 1.5 miles to 15 miles, plus Saturday evening entertainment. Over 160 places were booked on walks by people from as far afield as Norwich, Ipswich, Uxbridge, Liverpool, Morpeth, and Newcastle, as well as attracting lots of local walkers.

            Sam Borman, Chairman of Pickering Walkers are Welcome said, “What was so great about this year’s festival was the number of different people and organisations who helped to make this the great success it was. It’s fantastic to see all these people working together to make this walking festival a great event for the town.”

            The North Yorkshire Moors Railway sponsored the event and many of the walks used the trains to get to or from the walks. There was also a special interest walk that talked about the forgotten railways south of Pickering.

            Two of our walks were led by Rangers from North Yorkshire County Council and North York Moors National Park, both of whom worked hard to clear footpath  obstructions before the festival.

            Red Fox Travel supplied the mini buses so that walkers could enjoy the more remote parts of the North York Moors. Trailblazer Outdoors printed all the leaflets and posters so that the event could be effectively advertised at a very reasonable cost. The Tourist Information Centre handled all the bookings for both the walks and the folk and acoustic night on Saturday 9 April. The Black Swan hotel supplied a room for us to register walkers as they arrived for their walks. The Beck Isle museum offered all participants at the walking festival £1 off entry to the museum. Raffle prizes were donated by North Yorkshire Moors Railway, the Forest and Vale hotel, No. 4 Bar, Capplemans, Taylor’s and the White Swan hotel.

            The folk and acoustic night was thoroughly enjoyed by nearly 100 people. All the performers gave their time freely which means the proceeds will be donated to St. Catherine’s Hospice.

            In addition to this, there were nearly 30 other people giving their time freely to help with all the many jobs that needed doing to ensure the smooth running of this festival.

            While the walking festival is a major event it is not the only activity that we do. As Walkers are Welcome town we have the responsibility of ensuring that all paths within the parish of Pickering are in good condition. We are addressing this by our Adopt a Footpath scheme. We are one of the groups who are consulted about footpath changes in our local area, including changes within the national park. This gives us the opportunity to make real changes that benefit all users of rights of way.

            To continue all this good work we need more volunteers. If you would like to help with practical work such as   surveying a proposed change to a right of way, or would like to help with organising events such as a walking festival then please contact us for a chat.

            The Pickering Walkers are Welcome website (www.pickeringwaw.btck.co.uk ) is updated regularly with what the local group is doing, and there is also information on the national website:

 (www.walkersarewelcome.org.uk ).  And of course, you can also call us on 01751 477325 or 077 5280 1488 for further  information.

Sam Borman,Chairman, Pickering Walkers are Welcome