Start the year on the right foot with a gentle walk in the Yorkshire Wolds

People wishing to blow away the cobwebs on New Year’s Day are invited to join in with a gentle three-mile walk to celebrate the birthday of Wold Ranger Croom Mabel.

Mary Murray (aka Croom Mabel) was born in Little Driffield on 1st January 1900. She lived her life on the green lanes and footpaths of the Wolds and when she died at the age of 90, she became the very last of the Yorkshire Wold Rangers.

The Wold Rangers were a nomadic group of men and women who travelled from farm to farm seeking shelter and sustenance in exchange for work.

In 2021, a 44-mile circular walking trail was launched in their memory – the Wold Rangers Way – as well as five shorter walks or trods, with the shortest walk named after Croom Mabel.

Croom Mabel was a familiar sight at Wolds farms and villages collecting discarded clothes from farmers’ wives and piling them high in her pram as she made her way to the rag merchant in Driffield.

Not all the donated clothes made it to the rag merchant, and it was not uncommon for her to be seen proudly parading the green lanes adorned in her latest acquisition.

On one occasion, a local landowner’s wife at Elmswell came across Mabel outside her tent, preparing her evening meal on a pot over a campfire, dressed in a gold lame evening dress.

The trustees of the Wold Rangers Way thought it would be nice to celebrate Mabel’s birthday on New Year’s Day this year with a gentle three-mile walk on the ‘Croom Mabel Trod’.

Trustee Mark Blakeston said: “Put on your gold lame and join us once again for our annual three-mile walk to celebrate the birthday of Croom Mabel – the last of the Wold Rangers.

“To mark her birthday, we’d love to see walkers wearing a splash of gold – more points for gold lame evening dresses! We might even find a nice prize, but it’s really just for fun.

“The circular walk is approximately three miles long over a mixture of made-up footpaths and tracks and apart from a bit of mud on Millennium Green, it’s easily accessible.

“There is no need to book, just join us at the Wold Rangers bench on Market Place, Driffield, at 9:30am on January 1st to celebrate her birthday with a walk on the Croom Mabel Trod.”

For more information about Croom Mabel, please visit the website – https://woldrangersway.org/croommabel.php or see the reprint of the Yorkshire Wold Rangers book which is available to buy, priced £15, from The Litle Book Emporium on Market Place, the Driffield Town Council offices or to order from the Wold Rangers Way website.