Hayfield Kinder Trespass Group (HKTG) was formed in 2011, as the Kinder Visitor Centre Group (KVCG). Its key purpose was to set up a visitor centre in Hayfield, which is where the 1932 Mass Trespassers assembled before setting off on their historic walk. It is also where five of the leaders or alleged leaders were arrested that afternoon, at the end of their walk. Hayfield had for years been a very popular destination for Manchester ramblers, because of its convenient railway connection with the city. The Trespass was organised and publicised by radical young Mancunians, and it is believed that most of the 400 who assembled in Hayfield on 24th April 1932 were from the Greater Manchester area.
The name change was decided in 2018, to recognise that the group had other objectives relating to the Trespass, which could be pursued whether or not we succeeded in our goal of establishing a visitor centre to publicise and explain the importance of that event.
In 2012 KVCG received a grant from the Peak District National Park, via its Sustainable Development fund. This was for our Archive Project, and enabled us to develop a website to bring together a wealth of information not only about the Mass Trespass, but also about its context and about the contribution to countryside access made by so many other groups and individuals. A few years later another grant from the same source enabled KVCG to set up some permanent installations in and around the village to explain the Trespass to visitors, and residents. Together with some pre-existing interpretation boards these have been deemed to constitute a “Trespass Trail”, which was launched in 2017.
Other things the group has done over the past seven years include advising media representatives about the Trespass, giving talks to various groups and organizations, setting up a Friends scheme to help to raise funds, and developing merchandise to sell at village events and elsewhere, again to contribute to our running costs and fundraising. While still working towards the long term aim of obtaining premises for a visitor centre, the next initiative of HKTG may be in the field of arranging more guided walks, utilizing our Trespass Trail, whereby we can simultaneously discuss the Trespass with participants, and perhaps also enable some people to access hill walking who might not otherwise do so without our assistance.
