PENDLE people and visitors alike are being invited to be part of the new Friends group set up to protect a youth hostel on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales.

An open meeting to form the Friends of Earby Youth Hostel will take place at Earby Parish Rooms next Wednesday (12th September) at 7pm.

People felt extremely passionate when it looked as though we might lose our youth hostel

Vaughan Jones - Pendle Tourism Manager

The meeting will discuss just what activities a Friends group can do, how often and where they should meet, and hopefully elect a Chair.

Earby Youth Hostel was saved from closure earlier this year after being bought by Pendle Council. It was one of a number of YHA buildings across the dales threatened with closure and is now being leased back to the Youth Hostel Association to ensure that visitors to Pendle continue to have the option of affordable accommodation.

Coun Frank Wren, responsible for tourism in Pendle, said: "To have this unique partnership with the Youth Hostel Association to provide affordable overnight accommodation is another exciting step for Pendle.

"For local people, users from anywhere and fans of the outdoor life - walkers, cyclists, Pennine Way users - to participate in both marketing this special facility and for taking care of it, is yet another dimension in us telling the world what a great place Pendle is to come and visit."

Vaughan Jones, Pendle Tourism Manager, said: "People felt extremely passionate when it looked as though we might lose our youth hostel in Pendle.

"Now's the chance for them to participate in a special partnership, a way of sustaining this historic building for a long time to come."