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MBA History

Bothying in the recreational sense is a modern tradition dating from the post World War II period. The growing economy increased average wages, shortened working hours, and mountaineering and hill walking became popular forms of recreation for all sections of society.

It also came about because of depopulation in rural areas. Hill farming declined from the 1920s and soon the Forestry Commission had spread its mantle over the hills of Wales, the Pennines, Cheviots and great swathes of Southern Scotland, swallowing abandoned farmsteads. In the late 1940s the ubiquitous 'jeep' allowed people and machinery to be easily transported to remote locations and estates were able to rationalise and centralise their staff. This, coupled with the desire of returning servicemen to achieve better living conditions than they could expect in the hills, meant that within a short span many more remote farmsteads were abandoned. Exploring walkers and cyclists used these deserted farms for overnight accommodation, sometimes secretly but increasingly with the owner’s knowledge; 'bothying' became the term for this activity. By the 1960s the numbers of walkers had greatly increased and the condition of many bothies was deteriorating. A few were maintained by climbing clubs but the rest received only random attention.

A remark in Backhill of Bush bothy book suggested the setting up of a club to save the bothies from ruin and this led to the forming of the MBA in 1965. During the summer of that year Bernard Heath and a group of his friends turned the ruins of Tunskeen farmhouse, in Galloway, into a basic shelter. At the end of the year a meeting in Dalmellington of like-minded individuals endorsed Bernard’s lead and aspirations and the Association was born. During the late 1960s and early 70s the MBA extended its work from Galloway to the Cairngorms, Grampians, Knoydart, and elsewhere. The growth of the organisation meant changes. This resulted in responsibility for the maintenance of each individual bothy being vested in one nominated person, the Maintenance Organiser or MO, and the jobs on the committee being properly defined. In 1974 the quarterly Newsletter came into being and in 1975 the MBA, with a stock of 32 bothies, became a registered charity. In the 1980s membership doubled to over 2000.

Back in 1972 Bernard and Betty Heath summed up the spirit of the MBA. They wrote "Members’ only reward will be the knowledge that their efforts have helped save a bothy from ruin". However time proved them wrong when, on 5th October 1991, they were presented with British Empire Medals for service to outdoor recreation.

The continuing increase and the complexity of projects being undertaken led to another organisational review and in the early 1990s, by which time the Association was maintaining 87 bothies, a new area-based framework was introduced to cope better with bothy maintenance and to allow a streamlining of the administration. At the same time the old constitution was replaced with a more robust and up-to-date one, approved in September 1994. MBA members are strong minded individuals not naturally given to following rules. However, the introduction, in 1992, of regulations to govern the activities of Scottish charities forced the association to reconsider its financial procedures. The changes we introduced in 1994 included new robust procedures to control both the approval and the payment of expenditure, new auditors were appointed, the Annual Report was published and distributed to members for the first time, and a Complaints and Disciplinary procedure instituted.

Meantime, our maintenance activities continued to expand. From Wales to the north of Scotland new bothies were established and many existing bothies were refurbished. We also started the ongoing process of bringing our maintenance activities in line with the growing body of Health and Safety legislation.

In 1997, after a year of consultation and debate we held a conference 'MBA 2000' which reaffirmed our traditional policies but recognised the need to react to changing circumstances by a process of evolution rather than revolution. In 1998 we changed our status to that of a company limited by guarantee. Our charity status and maintenance organisation were unaffected, but the volunteer directors (trustees) were protected from unlimited legal and financial liabilities.

In 2005, the MBA celebrated 40 years of hard work, with just over 100 bothies in our care. Since then we have recorded some gains and some losses, and the total continues around the hundred. There are a number of new projects in the pipeline, the membership figures and finances are in a healthy state, and we are looking forward to many more years of preserving and restoring open shelters for the use and enjoyment of all who love wild and lonely places.