Manchester Pedestrian Club


Saturday Walking Around Greater Manchester
- Courtesy and Companionship

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MPC Walks 1903

The following MPC walks are planned for 1903. If the plans change MPC members will be informed and every effort will be taken to amend this list, but no guarantee is given that this list is accurate.

Given are the walk number and date, the name of the walk, its leader, and length. This is followed by starting time and location, and route details.

Walk Date Name Leader Length
Start Route Details
Prior to Official MPC Formation
Saturday 23 May 1903 Manchester - Southport 'Heel & Toe' Race, 100 walkers 41 m
Apparently, 107 started the race, including two women, and 100 finished it.

The winner was J.O. Ormrod, who averaged 5.25 mph over the whole distance.

See Kershaw's account, pages 2-3, for more details, including some interesting anecdotes.

Tuesday 16th June 1903 Manchester Pedestrian Club Founded.
Meeting to organise other walks
July 1903
1 Saturday 11 July 1903 The First Walk of the Manchester Pedestrian Club
Hayfield to Castleton 		21 m
Hayfield - Williams Clough - Snake Path - Win Hill - Bamford - Castleton
This was the first walk of the MPC. It has been repeated at least twice:

  • On the 50th anniversary, on ====
  • On the 120th anniversary, on 24th June 2023.

On the latter attempt, we did not go up Win Hill, because we did not know the exact route of the first walk. Instead, we walked around the perimeter of Ladybower Reservoir, behind Win Hill, which had been built between 1936 and 1943.

See Kershaw's account of 1903-1970, page 5.

2 26 July The Second Walk of the MPC
Hazelhead - Bamford 		m
Hazelhead - Langsett - Derwent Dale - Ashopton - Bamford
August 1903
3 2 Aug Glossop - Derwinston m
4 8 Aug Handforth to Plumley 18 miles ??
3.0 pm. Handforth Station. Handforth station - Prestbury - Broken Cross - Siddington - Old Widdington (or Windy Harbour) - Blackden - Goostrey - Plumley (or Little Peover)

This is the route as Edwards tells it, as cited on page 5 of Kershaw's account of 1903-1970. The alternatives in brackets are what the Handbook tells us. Edwards believes there to have been a "clerical error" of 10 miles in measuring the distance.

? Aug Hope - Matlock ? m
(This was reported in the Evening News as occurring on 8th August, but these do not agree with the programme that was published.)
22 Aug Disley - Alderley 11.5 m
Ladies invited
29 Aug m
September 1903
5 Sep Edale - Bakewell m
19 Sep Alderley Edge - Congleton m
'Short Distance Championship Race'
Won in 1 hr 43 mins by E.C. Brotherton
According to Kershaw's account of 1903-1970 (page 6), it was on this walk that Edwards "came to the conclusion that walking for the sake of speed and speed along was no game for a lover of the countryside" and began to persuade others likewise. He was opted onto the Committee and in 1904 the MPC walks were more for pleasure and companionship than for speed, an ethos that remains to this day.
26 Sep m
October 1903
? Oct Diggle - Crowden m
10 Oct Macclesfield - Buxton m
24 Oct m
31 Oct m
November 1903
2 Nov First Annual Dinner m
Waterloo Hotel
7 Nov m
14 Nov m
21 Nov m
28 Nov m
December 1903
5 Dec m
14 Dec First Annual General Meeting
Moseley Hotel

Full list of MPC walks is available on separate page.

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Created: 19 March 2025, from existing file and Kershaw's book. Last updated:

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