As it chalks up a half-century of traversing the great outdoors next year, the Geraldine Tramping Club is compiling a jubilee publication.

It is inviting content from people associated with the club through the years, committee member Charlotte Woods says.

“We’d love contributions of articles and memories - anecdotes, poems, photos - and the philosophy of ‘Why did you join?’ ‘What do you get out of the club?’,” she says.

For people unable to provide material in those formats, “I’d welcome hearing from them. One of our members could visit to note down some anecdotes.”

The publication’s launch, centrepiece of the wider anniversary celebration in June next year, will encapsulate the to-date legacy of a flaxroots community endeavour.

“Fifty years ago, some people had the idea of forming a tramping club, as there were already several groups working to encourage young people to get into the hills.”

She says, “Since starting, there have been about three tramps a month, of varying difficulty, mostly within an hour’s drive, some very local, with occasional overnighters … It’s about getting to know new people, seeing people grow in confidence in the outdoors, in all kinds of weather and terrain; being in a group.”

The club began in a growth phase for tramping.

The New Zealand Forest Service’s (NZFS) mandate included public recreation, native forest conservation, and commercial forestry management.

From 1919 until 1987, the NZFS constructed thousands of kilometres of tracks and hundreds of huts for public and forestry use.

Learn how you can contribute to the Geraldine Tramping Club’s 50th Jubilee publication by contacting Charlotte via email at geraldinetrampingclub@gmail.com