YHA Celebrates Its 75th By Helping Da Kidz

The YHA - Youth Hostel Association - celebrates its 75th birthday this year and has added a new string to its bow with the news that it will be launching a scheme to introduce 11-17 year olds to the outdoors.

The YHA has been selected by the Big Lottery Fund to run Do It 4 Real, an £11.5 million programme of summer activity holidays for youngsters, with some 40 per-cent of those taking part coming from disadvantaged or socially excluded communities.

The scheme will allow some 21,000 young people the chance to try a huge range of outdoor activites ranging from rock climbing through to film-making during six-day breaks taking place in 2005 and 2006. If you're a young person and want to learn more, call 0870 1188018 to register for an information pack.

With youth hostels increasingly seeming to cater for what might politely be called a 'more mature audience' anything that introduces youngsters both to the outdoors and the network of youth hostels throughout the UK has to be a good thing and a step back towards the YHA's roots and traditional role in opening up the outdoors to everyone.

In addition, it says here, the YHA has removed the membership requirement to stay in a Youth Hostel so non-members may now check into a hostel for the night.

YHA chief executive Roger Clarke said: "Our 75th anniversary celebrations are about the future of YHA, as well as celebrating the past. In particular, we will focus on enabling young people to experience travel and outdoor activity and education.

"Do It 4 Real is a fantastic opportunity for YHA, as well as for the young people who will be taking part, and we have extended that spirit of opportunity and adventure further by removing the membership requirement and, in effect, truly opening up Youth Hostels to everyone."

More information about the YHA from www.yha.org.uk