MPC Archive

MPC records in Manchester Central Library

I am beginning to compile a list of contents of the archive of the Manchester Pedestrian Club (MPC). It is planned to store the archive with a library.

(Click on thumbnails for full photo.)

Some Items of Interest

Walks Circulars

• 1956 (only an empty envelope), 1957 (August onwards), 1958
• 1960 - 1969: seems complete
• 1970 - 1979
• 1980 - 1989: seems complete
• 1990 - 1999
• 2000 - 2002 seems complete; 2004 - 2009 very sparse

* indicates that they have been transcribed into the Full List of Walks

Walks Statistics

• Most walks circulars wallets contain sheets with some walks statistics in them, though of varying coverage.
• "Manchester Pedestrian Club Record of Walks Season 1988" Tables of walks by each member from 2 Jan 1988 to 4 December 2004. [Black hard-bound] (Click on pic for full resolution.)

• "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics" - walks statistics 1997-2001.
• Manchester Pedestrian Club Record of Walks Seaaons 2005-16.
• Sundry other sheets containing statistics may be found among the Minutes and other Committee material below.

 

Trophies

   

The Spoons, awarded variously to the annual runner-up or the person who walked most miles during a festival. Notice the different designs of the top, and also that the one more tarnished was made during the General Strike of 1926 and seems of lower quality.

Each spoon is inscribed on the back with the winner and year, and their mileage, as follows:

• [to be added]

Ideas for Walks

• Collection of Walks Leaflets by Trafford Ramblers, Stockport C.H.A. under the heading of "DXT Walks". Details of route for each walk. Collected by John Grieve. [In greenish-beige 1 inch ring binder]

Annual Handbooks

• 1904 to around 2000 in Manchester Ventral library

Booklets

• An Ideal Holiday, typed foolscap sheets with proof changes, probably around 1923.
  

  [I hope to get all scanned, and also to transcribe it. A.B.]

• Manchester Pedestrians 1903-1970, Ernest Kershaw. Published by MPC early 1970s. Available as pdf
  

• A Story of the Manchester Pedestrian Club, Eric Watson, 1991, repreinted 1997. (There is a folder with correspondence concerning this booklet.)

• A Landscape Explored: Wharfedale at Bolton Abbey, by contemporary British Artists. A companion to an exhibition arranged in association with the Bolton Abbey Estate by the Francis Kyle Gallery. No. 510 of 1000. 1984. (With invitation to Mr. C.A. Briggs.)

• Towards the Millennium, Alan Redfern.

• The Millennium, Alan Redfern.

Photograph Albums

• C.R.C & G. Pedestrian Association Wakes Walk, 1920.
• MPC Whit Week 1922: Scarborough to Morecambe  

• MW + TAE Scotland 1926

• A large black album, with good black-and-white photographs held neatly in 'corners' stuck onto grey photograph card. Unknown year. Easily removable.

• "1993" - a set of good photographs in plastic sleeves. Easily removable. [Black ring binder]

Maps

More Recent Maps of UK

• Maps of routes of C walks (around 5 miles) produced mainly by Cyril Briggs in the mid 2000s. [Of interest: some copied onto back of used paper e.g. letters]

Early Maps

• Maps of regions in Alsace, France, Colour, 1:50,000, dated 1939:
  • Colmar
  • Thann
  • Selestat
  • Munster
  • Neuf-Brisach
  These maps are in nice condition, consisting of individual plates stuck on backing muslin, with neat channels between them to enable easy folding.

• Carte Taride No. 3. Carte Routiere pour Automobilistes & Cyclistes - Envieonns De Paris, Section Nord-Est, 1:150,000. (undated)

• Carte du Grand-Duche de Luxembourg Ed. Blondel la Rougery. (undated)
• Carte Routiere du Grand-Duche de Luxembourg et des Regions Limitrophes, colour, 1:100,000. Ed. A. de Boecke. (undated)
• Map of Diekrche & Mersch, Luxembourg, colour, 1:50,000, paper plates glued onto muslin backing, with neat channels between for folding. Par. J. Hansen. (undated)

• Map of Annecy S.O. with Montagne des Frete, 1:50,000, Black-and-white. (undated but older than rest)

• Map of Echternach, colour, 1:30,000, with many advertisements on back. (undated)

Minutes, Club Business and other Committee Material

• Minutes 1956 - 1968? (most hand-written with some typed material stuck in). Book part-filled.  

• Minutes December 1973 - 1985
• Minutes of AGMs and Committee Meetings 1985 - 1991 (Black Rign-finder)

• Folder with committee minutes and other material 1992 - 1997. It contain an interesting page in which postage 1992-3 has been recorded (including to Manchester Central Library, suggesting that it was then that items were deposited there).
  

• Two folders with committee material 1997-2001. One folder contains the following sections:
  • 1 Annual General Meetings
  • 2 Committee Meetings
  • 3 British Mountaineering Council
  • 4 Handbook
  • 5 Correspondence
  • 6 Membership Matters [particularly interesting, dealing with applications for membership]
  • 7 Hon Sec's Notes (Circulars)
  • 8 [blank]
  • 9 Resume of Hon Sec's Duties
  • 10 Expenses

• Convenor's Work 1999 (Blue Ring-binder)
• MPC General file 1999-2000. A large folder with minutes and other business for the year 1999-2000. Some points of interest - especially perhaps for social historians concerning the 'realities' of walking clubs! (Red Lever-arch binder)

  During the year a row erupted, which occupied two or more committee meetings and resulted in several officers resigning their positions and several members resigning membership. There were several issues that all involve each other, including: the number of A+ walks, which had been introduced a few years before, but were of such length, strenuousness and early start that some members could not join them, the needs of slower walkers, the need to attract younger members, and the ethos of the Club being "walking, fellowship and love of the countryside." There are full accounts of heated committee meetings, which were shortened before being circulated to members.

  During the October committee meeting, there was some discussion about the makeup of members of the MPC, with some concern that the number of members was not rising and a need to recruit younger members who would strengthen the main A walks of the Club. One member suggested producing a recruiting leaflet - but it seems nothing was ever done, and the number of members kept reducing so that in 2024 a motion was prepared for the winding up of the Manchester Pedestrian Club. One member stepped up in 2024 to try to find a way to "revive" the MPC.

  Various notes and drafts on the publication of the 2000 booklet.

  BMC Child Protection Policy.

  A fascinating view of the Club in 1964, in the following article in an unknown newspaper:

  

• MPC General File From Jan 2001 - has some 2000 t 2002 (Green Lever-arch file)

• AGM Minutes 2003 - 2012 (Yellow ring binder)

Created 13 April 2025. Last updated: 18 April 2025 photos of some books in archive. 11 May 2025 Folders of committee material; new section Walks Statistics. 31 May 2025 1970s, 1990s circulars; some early maps; An Ideal Holiday; MPC 1903-59 pdf; smaller pix. 29 August 2025 business 1999-2000 with points of interest. 4 September 2025 various additions. 12 October 2025 Pix of books in lib from ST. 23 October 2025 recorded files of mins etc. put into box. 3 June 2026 Trophies added.