A project to help protect the beautiful Three Peaks of the Yorkshire Dales has received a huge boost from a major national clothing retailer.

Chesterfield-based Yeomans Outdoor Leisure has produced a range of men’s and women’s jackets for the Three Peaks Project, which was launched last year by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) to raise cash through donations and sponsorship to help pay for the upkeep of the footpath network in the area.

The clothing, which carries the Three Peaks logo, is available in its stores in Harrogate, Skipton, Northallerton, Wigan and Lincoln and 10 per cent of the cost of each garment sold will go directly to the Project, according to Yeomans Marketing Manager Mike Lacey.

“We are delighted to be involved in the Three Peaks Project,” he said.

“It is very important that this special area is looked after not only by the thousands of people who visit it every year but also by the businesses that benefit from it.

“As a retailer of outdoor clothing and equipment, Yeomans is very aware of its responsibility to help protect the landscape and its wildlife – and the Three Peaks Project seemed an ideal way of doing this.”

Mr Lacey said the jackets were already selling like hotcakes – particularly in its Lincoln store – and would soon be rolled out to more of its 86 UK outlets. It is also available on its website at www.yeomansoutdoors.co.uk

Malcolm Petyt, the YDNPA’s Member Champion for Recreation Management, said: “We are very grateful to Yeomans for its fantastic contribution to the Project and we hope this will spur on other businesses to become involved and do their bit to protect this beautiful area of the Yorkshire Dales.”

Background

In 1986 the Institute for Terrestrial Ecology carried out a study of the condition of the path network in the Three Peaks area and concluded that the region had the sad distinction of possessing the most severely eroded network in the UK.

The following year, the first Three Peaks Project was established by the YDNPA with a staff of 13. Its remit included trialling new path-engineering and re-vegetating techniques to provide sustainable routes and to allow damaged surrounding land to recover. The mid-90s and early 2000s saw a number of externally-funded projects completed, each with one or two extra staff appointed.

However, since 2004, the management and maintenance of the Three Peaks network has reverted back to the YDNPA’s Rangers – a team of just two officers covering the whole of the wider Ribblesdale area.

The latest project aims to create a sustainable source of both practical and financial support that will help protect and enhance the area and the rights of way network into the future. Since its launch, many of the charities that regularly use the Three Peaks for sponsored events have volunteered to donate money towards the upkeep of the area.

And the YDNPA has produced merchandise to celebrate walking one, two or all of the peaks and has launched the Friends of the Three Peaks, a group being set up to help support the Authority’s work in the area.

Anyone can join by making a suggested minimum annual donation of £10. By next year the Authority hopes to have an events programme members can take part in, with activities like Area Ranger-guided walks and chances to do practical things like path maintenance. And they will also be kept up to date with developments in the project through a newsletter.