Papers of the Countrywide Holidays Association
1893-1993
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General Committee Minute Books 1895-1987, General Committee Minutes Unbound 1987-1992, Sub-Committee Minutes 1897-1988, Membership Lists 1961-1979, Annual Conferences 1962-1993, Subsidiary Conferences 1962-1993, Property Administration And Repair 1940-1993, Tenancy Centres Administration 1940-1980,General Correspondence 1946-1993, CHA Representation In Countryside Matters 1963-1989, CHA Rambling Clubs 1940-1984, British Youth Hostel Association Inception 1930-1933, UK Holidays Administration 1959-1990, Holidays Abroad Administration 1975-1993, Marketing And Future Policy 1973-1991, Booking Statistics 1962-1993, Staff Information and Training 1930-1993
Comradeship/CHA Magazine 1907-1980, CHA News/Countrywide News 1981-1994, Other Magazines 1907-1972, General Circulars/Annual Brochures 1900-1994, Centre Programmes And Guides 1896-1993, Song Books 1895-1961, Other CHA Publications 1957-1993, Route Books For Rambles 1920-1981, Fact Sheets For Special Interest Holidays/Walks 1987-1993, Non-CHA Publications From Centre Libraries 1918-1980, Holiday Fellowship Publications 1930-1983, Youth Hostel Association Publications 1931-1933, Publicity And Stationery Samples 1901-1993.
Memorandum And Articles Of Association 1908-1980, Change Of Name 1952- 1978, Registration Of Name 1971-1972, Tenancy Agreements 1914-1957, Grasmere Tithe Indenture 1930-1958, Register Of Seals Book 1917-1921
Balance Sheet and Annual Reports-Bound 1908-1965, Balance Sheet and Annual Reports-Unbound 1966-1994
Income Tax Appeal 1937,Companies Act Return 1931-1980,Year-End Review Of Accounts 1916-1991
General Budgets, Reports, Cash Flows etc 1981-1993,Correspondence 1962-1991,Subscriptions And Donations 1969-1977,Domestic Expenditure Analyses 1904-1987
Exhibition Sheets 1893-1992, Exhibition Objects 1893-1993, Reminiscences, Obituaries 1893-1993
Golden Jubilee Exhibition 1960, Hope Jubilee 1966, 75th Anniversary Celebrations 1968, 90th Anniversary 1981, 100th Anniversary 1991, T A Leonard Personal Papers And Book 1898-1979, Press Cuttings 1893-1979, Card Index not dated
Postcards 1923-1970, Correspondence with Photographers 1935-1978, Photograph Albums and Loose Photographs 1893-1991, Slides and Transparencies ca1956-1993, Cine Films ca 1956-1993
Related Material:See also the Friendship Holidays Association (ref GB124.B.FHA)
Title:
Papers of the Countrywide Holidays Association
Date of work:
1893-1993
Reference number:
GB124.B.CHA
Level of description:
Fonds
Includes:
Custodial history:
The origins of the Countrywide Holidays Association go back as far as the early 1890's. Its development should be seen as part of a wider and more general concern to improve the lives of working people in industrial cities by providing for the more fruitful use of leisure time, and especially by means of more interesting holidays. The CHA was one of a number of bodies, which tried to raise educational and cultural standards of working people, but it had no marked political bias (as did other organisations, such as the Clarion Clubs and the Workers Travel association).
The CHA was founded by T Arthur Leonard, a Minister of a Congregational Church at Colne in Lancashire, and an enthusiastic lover of the countryside. He was later to play an important part in the founding of the Holiday Fellowship (another holiday organisation), the Youth Hostels Association and the Ramblers' Association. Leonard was dismayed that so many of the young people attending his church knew so little of the countryside beyond their immediate locality and he wanted to show them how to use their holidays to the best advantage. In 1891 he arranged to take a group of young men from his church for a week's holiday in the Lake District, where provision was made for lodgings. So successful was the experiment that it became an annual event.
By 1893, because the venture had attracted the interest of others such as Dr Paton of Nottingham, and had expanded so much, the Association came into being officially although it did not yet have a name.
At a conference in 1895 a committee was appointed. Dr Paton was elected as President and Leonard named as Secretary. Guests were generally housed in lodgings and a common meeting place organised, usually a school or hall, and in this way charges were kept to a minimum. As the movement grew it became necessary to rent premises to accommodate all the participants. In 1896 the Association took a five-year lease on Abbey House, Whitby.
It therefore became necessary to establish some legal organisation and in 1897 a company called the Co-operative Holidays Association was formed. Its stated objects were 'to provide recreation and educational holidays by purchasing, or renting and furnishing, houses and rooms in selected areas; by catering in such houses for parties of members and guests, and by securing helpers who will promote the intellectual and social interests of the party with which they are associated'. Leonard resigned his pastorate and became its permanent secretary and an office was established at the Whitby centre.
It was from these rather insignificant beginnings that the earliest holiday association emerged. Its membership grew rapidly from 268 in 1893 to 14,000 in 1911. By 1931 it had 18 centres. Of these only four were actually owned by the Association, the remainder were held on short leases, and of these five were foreign. The first ventures abroad were made in 1903 and one of the most notable features of the CHA programme has been its concern to develop international contacts.
One centre the Association did own was the Newlands Guest House. Members of the Association's Committee had originally outvoted a proposal to acquire the disused mill because of its poor condition. However, Leonard with a few friends formed a small company - the Newlands Guest Houses Ltd - in order to buy the property and equip it as a guest house. It was opened in 1905 with the CHA as its tenant on a yearly basis. So successful was the project that within three years Newlands Guest House had been taken over by the Association as one of its centres and the shareholders of the company bought out.
In 1913 the Newlands Guest House was handed over to the Holiday Fellowship, the new holiday association set up by Leonard. The HF was an attempt to recreate the simplicity of the CHA in its early years. Leonard had become concerned about the growing unwieldiness of the CHA and felt that it was too conservative and unadventurous in its ways. H
Source:
Deposited 8th November 1993 (accession number 1512) and 1st and 13th June 1994 (1526 & 1527)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedThis material is stored off site and we require 2 weeks notice in order to retrieve it.This material is stored off site and we require 2 weeks notice in order to retrieve it.
Use restrictions:
Unrestricted
General notes:
Arrangement:These papers are arranged by function
Topics:
Record types:
COLLECTION
Language:
English
Record number:
7182704
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Total copies: 1