Behold Ye Ramblers – Townsend Theatre Productions – Whitehaven

‘Behold Ye Ramblers’ is the story of the beginnings of the struggle for the right to roam freely across open moors on ancient paths and enjoy the benefits of outdoor activities and pursuits. It’s a history based in the Clarion movement that in the 1890s onwards encouraged and celebrated healthy community activity such as cycling, music and choral singing, drama groups, handicrafts, whilst collectively building Clarion Houses as rural community centres to enable people to escape the daily grind of work and cramped city living. There are active Clarion Cycling Clubs and Choirs to this day!

This is a highly entertaining celebration through Music Hall, poetry and song of the birth of The Clarion newspaper and the movement that grew in its name; of its founder Robert Blatchford and his self-styled journalism influenced by William Morris and Edward Carpenter; of his ability to convert hundreds of thousands to his collective vision, including some of the richest in society, such as the Countess of Warwick; and of the heroic working class disciples such as GHB Ward and his fellow activists from the Sheffield Clarion Ramblers that campaigned and trespassed for public access across Derbyshire’s moorlands.

Find out how this happened, who fought for our Right to Roam and be entertained at the same time.

A show for all to see and to be determined to be able to walk alone and with others!