Last autumn, The Outdoor Society celebrated 60 years of rambling through the gorgeous countryside, accompanied by good friends, a selection of mascots and many a cheeky pit stop at pubs across the country. After hearing about some of the adventures the society has been on, we wanted to share some of their favourite moments.

So if you want to hear about how the society came to be, and even the terrifying moment some of the members watched a hang glider fall off one of the slopes on Ben Nevis, then read on.

The Birth of The Outdoor Society

“In between lectures we took refuge in the Kings Manor JCR, a stately room once used by the Council of The North. This was where we hatched the idea of forming a Ramblers’ Club to take advantage of the wonderful walking country on our doorstep in North Yorkshire. 

To my amazement we quickly recruited over fifty members and I was elected to the Committee, as Treasurer, on the 29th of October 1964. We took a subscription of four shillings from the first members of the Society to join the club. 

Our first ever outing was to Rievaulx Abbey and Helmsley (see photo taken at bus stop with me, my girlfriend Beat, Dave Rockliffe, Rosemary and sadly only half-face in the top-left, Bill). Other trips included walks to Richmond and Fountains Abbey.” – David Corkill, Founder

Outdoor Society’s very strange trip up Ben Nevis

“It was a very hot day, which made it a bit “interesting” (not often the biggest risk of climbing Ben Nevis is heatstroke!) Walking across the top, on a patch of snow, in the hot weather, everything in sight below us, that was quite the experience! 

What I mostly remember about the trip was it being sweltering! Snow was being stuffed into water bottles so we could keep hydrated!” – Simon Challands 

Simon Challands even recalled a frightful moment in which he watched a hang glider fall from a steep slope on Ben Nevis:

“As we were struggling up the last steep slope there were some people drifting down into the valley with paragliders. There was also someone with a hang glider. However, there wasn’t a breath of wind that day, and he’d already failed to get going with the hang glider in a sensible direction. Instead, despite a lot of people saying no, he decided that the 2000′-odd high crags would do the job.

As the hang glider went over the edge it tilted and a wingtip caught the ground, cartwheeling him over. Very, very fortunately it jammed in a bit of a gully a little way down. 

Mountain Rescue arrived and rescued him only with a few broken bones. I think it even featured on an episode of the old BBC 999 Programme.” 

Meet Oswald and his friends, the most well travelled Mascots at York!

“The pictures below are of Oswald and Oswaldetta in their prime (1999)! Oswaldetta now lives in Herefordshire with me and Helen Gidley (both ex Outdoor Society). I’m not sure where Oswald is!” – Ben and Helen Gidley 

Oswald On Tour

Adam Gosling’s deep dive into the extensive travels of Oswald! 

“The first image is one of Oswald on his first ever weekend trip to Scotland back in the summer term of 1997, resting on the rocks by the West Highland Way during lunch.

“These two images belowe are taken in France from summer 1997, when Oswald and six of us from the Outdoor Society travelled to Saint-Francois-Longchamp in the French Alps for what we think was the first ever Outdoor Society overseas trip. Oswald was sitting on the sign at Col De La Madeleine as we celebrated my 21st birthday.”

The friendly rivalry between Outdoor Society and Ben Lairig up the Crib Goch Scramble 

The Ben Lairig is a group from the University’s Mountaineering Society, who focus entirely on rock climbing and bouldering. 

“The final image is one that perhaps will cause some fun with Ben Lairig! It is of the Outdoor society at the top of Snowdon in 1995, in which we met Ben Lairig on the way up. 

The group had stopped after completing the scramble on Crib Goch, and were met by the Ben Lairig group, passing and making lots of comments about how our group was slowing them down.

However,  just as we were sorting out the picture on the summit we heard the Ben Lairig group approaching happily and vocalising how happy they were they’d beaten the Outdoor Society to the summit. The chair of Ben Lairig then looked at the summit, saw us all there smiling and went quiet. The chair of Ben Lairig was so crestfallen that he kindly agreed to take the photo for us, and did a very good job as cameraman!” – Adam Gosling  

Dressing up as Oswald for Fresher’s Week

“I was a member of the Outdoor Society from Freshers Week in 1996 until I left in 1999, and was on the committee as Publicity Officer and walk leader for 2 of those years. Trying to pick one memory from so many happy times is hard – I’ve experienced an Outdoor Soc wedding (Ben G. & Helen F.), walked across the Alps with some of the lifelong friends I made in Outdoor Soc, blizzards in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, teaching Walk Leader training in full black tie, and campus bar crawls.”

“The standout memory must be dressing as a life-size Oswald the Bear for Freshers Week in 1998 to recruit new members. It was a successful (if sweaty) week, including appearing on YSTV presenting the weather forecast and being co-opted into Derwent Bar Sports, starting a tradition that carried into future years. It is heart warming to see the society going still going strong in its 60th year, introducing new generations of students to the joys of the Dales and Moors (and beyond!).” – Tim Hill

From helping with sign ups to sharing brews

“I love to wax lyrical about my times with the Outdoor Soc: from helping with sign ups at Vanbrugh Stalls of a Tuesday lunchtime, sharing a brew due to not having enough tea bags after a minibus run up to Ardgartan one rainy Friday night, through to the energy of the first two hikes of the autumn term and trying to coordinate pub timings for two coaches of wide eyed newcomers. 

But to be honest, the best way to describe the impact of the Outdoor Soc is simple. The shared interest and experiences with the committee members I served with meant we became good friends. We went on all sorts of alpine adventures after York and we’re still in touch today.” – David Stott

Rainy (but happy) walks and committee barbecues

“I’m still trying to think of two sentences that could capture everything Outdoor Society meant (and still means) to me, but maybe this list of words goes someway. Escape from study for one precious day each week, friends for the day and for life (including my partner), Sunday pub lunches, wet feet, snow, sunshine (sometimes!), beautiful scenery, and a wonderful camaraderie that I was delighted to re-experience on the 60th anniversary walk last November.

The photo on the below left was taken on 20th January 1991 (my second term of first year). I have titled the photo in my album “Drenched but still cheerful – waiting for the pub in Horsehouses to open”. My diary notes “28 people all stood shivering and stamping on the cobbles while the clock ticked to 12!” Apparently I was among several of the party that day who were not expecting such poor weather in the Dales – including one fellow walker who “didn’t even have a jacket but then he’s crazy!”

“On the bottom right is the committee barbecue after finals and just before many of us left the University. My diary notes that “it seems everyone brought sausages” and “we ate them till we burst!”, also that we were almost too lucky with the weather.” – Julie Tucker

Prompted by seeing Julie’s photos, alum Neil Trask also sent us some gems from his time with the society in the early 90s!

From a discovery in fresher’s week to a lifelong impact

“I was at York from 2002-2005, and I was really happy that I discovered the existence of Outdoor Society during my first weeks at York: it was so much fun to go hiking somewhere every Sunday (and returning with that ‘glowing’ feeling of having been outside all day in the evening), and to attend Outdoor Soc socials and weekends away.

Almost all my friends at York came from Outdoor Soc and we did many things together beyond Outdoor Soc too. I was asked to be the Chair of the society in my third year and it was a good experience, mainly because we had a such a nice and committed team of committee members that all worked together very well!” – Evelyn Van Kampen

The Outdoor Society’s 60th Anniversary walk

“Our 60th anniversary walk weekend went by like a flash, and what a weekend it was! So many alumni took time out of their busy lives to join us, whether it meant travelling from one side of York to the other, or coming from as far as The Netherlands! We had a lovely time on the eve before the walk exchanging society stories at The Cross Keys. 

We enjoyed good weather on our walk the following day, starting at Rievaulx Abbey, before making our way to Helmsley, where walkers had lunch, with many visiting the All Saints Church (Oswald as pictured), or admiring Helmsley Castle. 

We finished our day off with a return trip to Rievaulx, where, in a final throwback, 60s-style newsletters were given out to all the alumni, hand-typed by our assiduous organiser James Cox using his genuine 1960s typewriter!” – Outdoor Soc Committee

“I was very excited to receive the invitation to celebrate Outdoor Soc’s 60th anniversary last November from the current Outdoor Soc students. They went to amazing lengths to organize the anniversary celebration: we met each other in a pub on Saturday night and then, on Sunday we went on the anniversary hike together with the current outdoor soc members.

It was great to see that actually nothing had really changed to the Outdoor Soc ‘formula’: the coach still left York campus from the same place at the same time, the destination was also on our list, there were still great student walk leaders guiding us all (although with fancier equipment to call one another), we still had time for a pub lunch (or not for those who preferred to hike), mascot Oswald the bear came along on the hike, the route was a little longer than planned due to some unanticipated extra miles, there were still great Outdoor Soc outfits, there was a social drink at one of the campus bars afterwards and the group of students were all very friendly and fun. We noticed quite a few Outdoor Soc relationships too! It was a great weekend, and very nice to see some long lost Outdoor Soc friends after 20 years and to meet some even more ‘ancient’ alumni!” – Evelyn Van Kampen

Many thanks to many of the Outdoor Society alumni who shared their memories with us. We hoped you enjoyed reading them and would love to hear more if you wish to tell you story in the comments!