Working with CROWS in Cornholme

Calderdale's Community Rights of Way Service (CROWS) is a voluntary organisation, now with charitable status,  set up just over a decade ago to help look after and improve public rights of way in the Upper Valley.

They are a group of 34 volunteers to date, a good mix of women and men from across the area with a wide range of backgrounds, bringing many skills. This number fluctuates, but there's a steady, committed core group. What makes them a great team is that they all love the idea of making sure that Rights of Way remain accessible and a pleasure to use. They couldn’t survive without other organisations in the area that provide information about problems, funding, publicity, and support on social media.

CROWS work alongside Calderdale Council's Highways and Countryside teams, local walkers and ramblers groups, groups representing mountain bike users and horse riders and community organisations.

Emma Carter, Public Health Practitioner at Calderdale Council, got in touch with CROWS following discussions with the community in Cornholme, which highlighted repairs were needed to a much loved footpath near to Obadiah Woods. The group identified what they could do to help. Funding was granted to build two stretches of boardwalk and some shallow steps to help deal with the wet ground in the rainy months.

Following this, Emma was alerted to another popular footpath off Pudsey Road in the centre of Cornholme in need of some repairs. A determined resident had been campaigning for years to get it defined as an official Public Right of Way (PRoW). Active Calderdale helped support him in his efforts, and as soon as the Right of Way was approved, CROWS received more funding to work together to improve it: widening, banking it up, installing revetments to strengthen the path, putting up marker posts etc.

CROWS were delighted to work on this new PRoW in Cornholme. It is not every day that a new RoW is accepted onto the Council’s definitive footpath list. Working on this path to improve accessibility for all to the part of the hillside was exceptionally rewarding, as over the days and weeks we were working on this path we could see the number of people using this route increased significantly. From being only a path 'for the brave' it became a well-used path for dog walkers, casual ramblers and families.            

Mick Chatham, CROWS volunteer for the Todmorden area.

The funded works have created more accessible footpaths to the lovely hillside surrounding Cornholme. They link together and there has been lots of positive feedback from people - dog walkers, other regular walkers and experienced local hikers, but also families and people who couldn't previously use the footpaths confidently. CROWS' work has opened up walking possibilities and opportunities for exploring to people who otherwise wouldn't be accessing these steep hillsides and the ancient woodland and tracks on them.

Resident Feedback

Nina Hazeltine 

I love walking that route thank you for making it more accessible. 

David Lewis 

Thank you for all your hard work. That path is becoming so much easier to navigate. 

Bill Kitchener 

Wonderful! Many thanks to Crows. These paths are important amenities for the local community. They make a significant difference to the general quality of life for locals and visitors, and help us keep fit. 

Anna Butler 

It's a fabulous walk now.. just been along the whole route and on to the tops past shore in the sunshine with my dog.. thank you so much for all the work Crows x 

Danielle Forbes 

Thank you for all your hard work, it’s a lovely walk and much easier now with the work you’ve done .

Elaine Anne Halliwell·  

How amazing are these bridges? Pudsey Rd area into Cornholme woods. Little walk this morning, checking out the new work completed by C.R.O.W.S. community rights of way services... well done, very impressive. Some of the areas in these woods can get saturated in winter, so this is just fantastic.  

For more information, visit: CROWS – Community Rights Of Way Service