| Biography | The Youth Hostels Association (England & Wales) is a charitable organisation, registered with the Charity Commission, providing youth hostel accommodation in England and Wales. It is a member of the Hostelling International federation.
The whole concept of youth hostels was started in Germany in 1909 by Richard Schirrmann and it took 20 years for the ideas to reach fruition in the United Kingdom. In 1929/30 several groups almost simultaneously formed to investigate establishing youth hostels in the UK. Foremost among these was the Merseyside Centre of the British Youth Hostels Association. On 10 April 1930 representatives of these bodies met and agreed to form the British Youth Hostels Association. Shortly afterwards it became the Youth Hostels Association (England & Wales) with separate associations for Scotland (Scottish Youth Hostels Association) and Northern Ireland (Hostelling International Northern Ireland). Ever since its inception it has been known as YHA using the abbreviation YHA(E&W) when necessary to distinguish it from other associations. |