Education for all – The Green Lane Association in the Media
One key objective we have at The Green Lane Association is to ensure that in order to protect and preserve the UK’s network of vehicular rights of way that we educate as many people as possible about the law and responsible usage of the lanes however they choose to travel.
It is vitally important that every user group understands how RoWs work and the importance of treating them with respect, and we do this in a huge variety of ways to ensure the message gets out to as many people as possible:
- Affiliate clubs – AS of the beginning of 2021 we had 54 affiliate clubs who joined us to access the benefits of the Association. We don’t know how many people these 54 clubs cover, but some have over 5000 members! Each one actively promotes the values of the Association, huge thanks to you all! For more information visit https://glass-uk.org/other-info/clubs-who-support-us.html
- Rep teams – Our on the ground teams regularly communicate with land owners, authorities, the police, non-vehicular users, and members and non-members alike to ensure that we understand things from their perspective, and them ours.
- The media – In 2020, despite covid, we had 34 appearances in the national (or even international) media ranging from our regular column in The Mud Life Magazine, to appearances on BBC and BBC Cymru news and radio broadcasts, as well as articles in all sorts of publications. In addition to this we had mentions/links on a large number of websites who promote us to those insuring or buying cars/motorcycles, or who are interested in learning more about rights of way from a more general perspective.
- Multi-user groups – Groups like Friends of Ramsden Road and Friends of the Wayfarer have been set up to allow ALL users of our nation’s lanes to come together in the interest of our common goal: to enjoy and respect the countryside.
- Shows/events – Although we only managed one show in 2020 due to covid, in an average year we attend various shows around the UK, this allows us to speak to anyone interested in what we do face to face.
- Social media – We currently have almost 40 local area Facebook social groups in addition to our official Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts. By the end of the January 2021 we will be extending our official accounts with six regional pages to make it even easier to find out what you need to know and keep up with what we’re doing around the country, and also for those who have no idea what green laning is to learn about what we really do!
- Commercial members – As well as clubs, those whose business is relevant to our hobby often join us to provide our members with discounts, and invariably they learn a lot along the way! We also provide them with material to promote our code of conduct, values, and objectives to their customers. We have 34 commercial members, check them out here: https://glass-uk.org/other-info/public-discounts.html
- We’re not stopping there either! We have several new initiatives that include even more groups, people, and users, so watch this space!