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When I was setting up our Twitter account last year, I thought it would be good to post an update whenever the weather forecast on an upcoming event changed. It’d give some extra publicity to events in the week when they occurred, and the irregular intervals between messages would make them more interesting.

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. What I didn’t realise is just how often the forecasts changed – meaning the feed is swamped with messages that the temperature is one degree higher or lower, or the outlook has changed from sunny with showers to showery with sunny spells.

So it’s all changed! The system now checks the programme every morning, and tweets about any events happening on the following day or in 7 days time. It also checks for the date when advance payments are due and reports them too – so you have a reminder to send Dave your cheques!

Another twittering problem has been with slideshows. It’s supposed to tweet whenever a show is added or when new pictures are added to an existing show. The problem is, now that all the pictures are hosted on Flickr, their search facility is not 100% reliable. Sometimes they give the wrong number of pictures for a particular show – leading to spurious “new picture” notifications.

So, with regret, I’ve changed the system to only report when a whole new show is added. If pictures are added subsequently, I’ll report it with a manually added tweet.

Now that we have a more useful Twitter feed, how can you use it in a way that suits you? Originally, when I was designing this part of the site, I was going to have my own “What’s New?” change notification feature. The reason I chose to route those notifications through Twitter instead is to make use of all the ways a Twitter stream can be read, without needing any extra work. So here are a few ways to keep up-to-date:

Join Twitter yourself (it’s free) and follow our feed. You can do so either through the Twitter website, or via a range of client programs.

If you’d rather get an email sent to you instead, you can sign up with a service like TweetByMail to mail our tweets to you when they happen.

If you use a news reader to keep track of blogs, there’s an RSS version of our Twitter feed that you can subscribe to.

Finally, and most simply, you can keep an eye on the Twitter box on the home page of this site, or click the link at the bottom of each page.

Newly posted to the members’ area of the site, a detailed set of instructions on how to share your photos with the rest of the group via our Slideshows. Now you’ve got no excuse for hiding your photographic talents from the rest of us. I look forward to seeing a lot more pictures of group events!

It’s the time and place that inspired one of the nation’s favourite poems, which may be why a spring visit to lakeland is such a fixture in the group programme. Be that as it may, this year’s jocund company of expectant walkers gathered at Elterwater youth hostel for two days of mountain walking.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, full of promise for the day ahead. We decamped to the Old Dungeon Ghyll car park near the head of the valley, and were soon striding out towards Stool End farm and the beginning of the walk proper. Ahead of us loomed The Band – a rugged promontory bearing a steep path to the col between Crinkle Crags and Bowfell.

Before long, our own rugged band were labouring their way to the top, making frequent pauses to look over their shoulders at the fine view of Langdale in the hazy sunshine (and not to take a breather, honest!). Progress was steady, interrupted only by the customary elevenses break, and we soon reached the three small tarns which mark the top of The Band.

It was too windy to spend much time resting – once the group were gathered we turned right to climb towards the summit of Bowfell. After a lunch break in a sheltering outcrop of rocks, we reached the top and were able to take in the view. Bowfell is a wonderful vantage point – in the dead centre of the Lake District it commands great views in all directions. Sadly it was too hazy to see any great distance, but still ample reward for our efforts to get there.

Taking our leave from the summit, we picked our way across the rocky landscape towards our next objective. In places, patches of snow lay as a reminder of the winter. Seasoned by our experience on Cader Idris, we were able to cross them without incident – dropping down to Ore Gap before climbing once more to the top of Esk Pike.

Finally we reached Esk Hause, a crossroads high in the hills where paths meet from Borrowdale, Wasdale, Eskdale and Langdale. Ahead of us stood Scafell, Scafell Pike and Great Gable, but they would have to wait for another day – it was time to head for home. Bearing right, we took the path down to Angle Tarn. Mickleden valley was bathed in evening sunshine as we descended alongside Rossett Gill and folloed the Cumbria Way back to the car park – the completion of a splendid (if demanding) day’s walking.

Sunday was distinctly less promising in terms of weather, but still good enough to entice us back into the hills. This time the walk started at the hostel gate, following Langdale Beck towards Chapel Stile. The church bells rang out as we approached the village. I don’t think they were warning the inhabitants of our arrival, but in any case we were soon through and into the country beyond.

A brisk climb brought us to Dow Bank, in the middle of a line of high ground separating Elterwater from Grasmere. Turning eastwards we followed this “gently undulating” ridge to the beginning of Loughrigg Terrace.

The second climb of the day took us to the top of Loughrigg Fell. We passed a large party of Chinese students coming down, who were apparently on some kind of exchange trip. They seemed to be enjoying the experience, though some of them weren’t exactly dressed for it. On reaching the trig point we sat down to rest, and to enjoy both the view and a well-earned lunch.

Rested and refreshed, we began our descent back into the valley. Picking our way around the lumps and bumps which grace the top of Loughrigg, we were soon dropping towards Skelwith Bridge. A break for further refreshment in that village’s well-stocked tea shop was followed by a final mile along the shore of Elter Water back to the cars.

Another excellent group weekend, my thanks go to the drivers and everybody else who made it so enjoyable.

If you’ve visited this site at any time in the last ten years or so, you’ll probably wondering what’s happened to it. The familiar green and yellow design has gone, to be replaced by a dramatic new look.

Despite winning the President’s Award this year, the old design was looking tired and dated. Since Christmas, I’ve been working on a new layout that would refresh the site’s appearance and pull together the group’s various online activities more effectively. These efforts are finally ready for a public airing. Here are just a few features of the new design:

• Colour Scheme:  The new scheme uses a range of natural greens, yellows and browns. As well as being appropriate to our outdoor activities, these colours complement the new banner image and other pictures on the site.
• Google Search: As part of the new ethos of using freely available services instead of doing it ourselves, the site search has been outsourced to the leader in the field: Google. The prominent position of the search box might mean people use it more too.
• New Front Page: The home page has been totally rewritten, in order to better welcome people into the site. A Twitter widget (see below) and some news feeds give an at-a-glance guide to what’s happening in the group and in the wider world of hostelling.
• Twitter: We’ve been posting to Twitter for nearly a year now, but the new design makes it a lot more visible. Tweets are automatically generated whenever new content is added to the site, and can also be written manually by committee members. The widget on the front page makes it easy for everyone to see what’s been happening lately.
• Advertising: Nobody likes ads, but they do help to cover the costs of running the group. Placing ads above, below and (sometimes) beside the content of each page should attract a few clicks, and a few pennies!
• Footer: A new area at the foot of each page gives easy access to the Group’s other web outposts. As well as Twitter, we’re also on Facebook, Google Calendar and Flickr. You can also get to the group’s new Amazon store,  where every purchase earns us a small commission.

This is only phase one of the redesign. The next step will be to review each page on the site, correcting any outdated information and trying to make them easier to use. The “Frequently Asked Questions” section will be an early candidate for a revamp.

I’d be interested to hear any feedback – positive or negative – or ideas you may have for further improving the site. Please talk to me in person, by email, or in the comments section below.

At this weekend’s Affiliated Groups’ Conference, Leicester won first prize (jointly, with Dunstable group) in the President’s Awards Best Website category.

The Presidents Awards is an annual competition between YHA groups, where they are judged on such aspects of their operation as publicity, programmes, newsletters and fundraising. The idea is that, by learning from the winners, all groups can improve.

Leicester group won the best website category for five years running, since its introduction in 1999. Though this year sees a return to winning form, the site will not be allowed to rest its laurels. A redesign of the site has been in preparation since the new year (ironically, partly in an effort to win this award!) and should go online in the next week or so.

A certificate and cheque (for the group, not for me!) were awarded by Caroline White, the Chief Executive of YHA. A full list of winners of all categories can be found on the yhagroup.org.uk site.

A few people have reported difficulty in seeing the group’s slideshows since I changed the system last year. Even those who could see them had to put up with tiny images, and Flickr’s habit of serving them up in random order.

So I’ve changed it again! The “back end” is unchanged – the photos are still stored on Flickr and can be contributed by any member – but the page that shows the slides is totally different. Now all the slides are shown at once (in order!), and you just have to click one to start a big, impressive show. Take a look at the shots of our recent snowy ascent of Cader Idris to see what I mean.

On a related note, I’m still waiting for more photographers to come forward and contribute to the site. If it just falls on one or two people, they inevitably tire of the burden and the group suffers. Get in touch if you want to know how to help.

Twelve worthy pilgrims of St Cuthbert gathered one September evening at Melrose Youth Hostel. Their avowed intent was to follow the 62 mile St Cuthbert from Melrose, where the seventh century saint began his monastic career, to his final resting place on Lindisfarne. Would we be on our knees by the end of the trip? Only time would tell.
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The Slideshows section of this website, used to show pictures of past group events, has been given a radical new look.

The initial “choose a show” pages list the available shows in a more attractive manner, including a small version of one of the pictures. Once you’ve chosen a show, the pictures are presented in a manner more like, well, a slide show. Just sit back and enjoy, and click on any picture to find out more about it.

All this is made possible by moving the picture storage off-site, to one of the web’s biggest photo sharing sites: Flickr. This has the benefit of taking the strain off leicesteryha.org.uk’s disk space, as well as presenting new ways of showing the images.

But neither of those is the main reason for making the change. The main reason is you.

If you’re in the habit of taking and using a camera on group events, the new system is intended to make it as easy as possible to share your best images on the website. Here’s what you need to do:

• Sign up for an account on Flickr. It’s free, and lets you share up to 200 photographs.
• Once you’ve got an account, join the Leicester YHA Flickr Group.

Now you’re all ready to start contributing photographs to the group web site. Here’s how to do it:

• If you have some photos that you think would make a good slide show, contact the webmaster to get a unique “tag” that identifies that event. If you want to add some images to an existing show, the tag is the last bit of the show’s web address (e.g. the tag for the “London” slideshow is “london06″).
• Upload your pictures to Flickr, making sure you tag them with the chosen word. Feel free to add other tags, geo locate your image and do other Flickrish things to it too if the fancy takes you.
• Send your pictures to the Leicester YHA Flickr group.

That’s it! Various clever (and not-so-clever) bits of scripting will automatically incorporate your works of art into our website!

I hope the group’s photographers will take up this opportunity. Like many aspects of the group, success depends on the work being shared between many hands rather than falling on one person. Let’s show the world some of our great events!

First there was Facebook, then Google Calendar , what could next in this parade of Web 2.0 goodness? Twitter, that’s what.

Sure, we might not quite be in the same league as Stephen Fry just yet, but he won’t tell you what’s going on in your favourite walking group will he?

So, to get an update whenever news is posted to the website or a programme event is added or updated, just follow leicesteryha in your Twitter account.

If you’re using Google Calendar to keep track of your diary, you can now import a copy the YHA Group Programme into it. Just click on this link to add it to your calendar:

Leicester YHA Group Programme Google Calendar

Of course, other electronic calendar applications exist. If you’re using one that can import event information from a standard iCal file, just point it at this address:

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk/cgi-bin/leoical.pl

Now you’ve no excuse for missing another YHA event…