From Tosside Community Centre we turned up the lane by the public house and talked about the old dance hall behind it. We continued walking north-west along Bailey Lane through Skirden Hall Plantation and the sawmill (producing pallet repair strips and fence posts) to Heath Farm on the edge of Gisburn Forest. Heath Farm, now modernised, has had different previous names. Richard Schofield explained the lie of the land with respect to Stocks Reservoir and the need to change the land use from farm land to forest to avoid chemical run-off into the reservoir. We then turned east across several fields to reach Longtons Lane and had very clear views across to Peny-ghent, Fountains Fell and Ryeloaf Hill to the north-west. One could clearly see also the wind turbines in the gap above Addingham in the Ilkley direction.
We returned to Tosside along Longtons Lane between banks of wild flowers and visited the church before having tea at the Community Centre. Richard had brought large scale maps of Tosside Parish and explained the odd shape of the Parish and the county dividing line north/south through the village. Discussion turned to the Millennium booklet with description of all the farmsteads and the great interest shown in the Millennium exhibition held in 2000. This was a very pleasant evening walk with a leader having lived most of his 40 years in the area and most knowledgeable and enthusiastic about life in the region.