Earlier this month, retired National Trust wardens and rangers reunited on Kinder Scout to celebrate the achievements over the last three decades since Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District, came into the hands of the Trust.
Kinder Project Officer, Tom Harman, who joined them on their hike up Kinder Scout, said: “It was a good day to look at the challenges that have faced the charity over the last 30 years."
Whilst walking up the flagged path to the trig point, retired warden Bob James said; “Before the Trust acquired this iconic feature in the Peak District landscape, the wardens were passionate that the Trust was the best hope for Kinders future and went to great length to ensure that the Trust took on the management of this land”.
And they were right! 30 years on, as they arrived to a trig point bathed in sunshine the retired wardens – flask of coffee in hand - looked across the restored plateau, some for the first time in 20 years. You couldn’t count how many times the words "unbelievable" and "amazing" were said as they made their way around Sphagnum filled bogs and across waterlogged gullies.
Shane Bates, Area Ranger for Kinder said: “I think sometimes it takes a day out like this to realise what we have achieved. 34 years ago this month, these wardens had a vision for Kinder - now their vision has become a reality. Let's not forget, that in 1982 this place was as lifeless as the moon, but now it's an upland oasis."
“It's amazing to think what we can achieve: you plant a few trees here, spread a bit of heather seed there, and the change sometimes might seem insignificant given the size of the estate - but it's not,” said Tom Harman.
“I only needed to see the faces of the wardens as they reached the trig point on Kinder to understand that. It's taken 30 years to restore Kinder, and I think every warden, ranger and volunteer who has worked up here in the bitter cold and driving rain would say – 'it was worth it!'”
Bob James was one of seven former wardens who joined the current ranger team to witness the result of more than thirty years’ of hard work.
“We were gobsmacked by the change,” he says. “You could see heather coming through and bilberries starting to get established.”
Bob, now 70, was a warden in the Peak District from 1981 to 1989. He says: “I’d been walking on Kinder since the late 1960s as part of the local mountain rescue team.
“In most parts, Kinder was like a moonscape – the result of heavy grazing by sheep and big accidental heather fires."
“Without the efforts of these wardens, rangers and volunteers, we wouldn’t own Kinder – let alone have restored it,” Tom adds, “30 years ago, we had a vision. It seemed impossible to some that we might restore this vast and desolate landscape – but we did it. For the High Peak, we now have a vision for the next 50 years of what we want to achieve. To some it seems ambitious, but we have been here before and we made it happen.”
Find out more about the High Peak Moors vision.
