30 April 2009 : May pole in place just in time !

A REFURBISHED maypole – which is classed as a listed building – has been added to the attractions at the Nether Wasdale May festival on Saturday.

The afternoon event will celebrate the area’s heritage with a number of activities as well as showing off the maypole which is being relocated to its original 1897 position on the village green.

The event was organised as part of a Heritage Lottery funded project called Our Green Space. The project highlights the importance of heritage in communities today and has paid for the restoration of the village maypole.

When the maypole was taken down and inspected last year it was found to be in a very bad state of repair and deemed unsafe. It was also decided that it should be moved to its original place.

David Killick, Nether Wasdale group secretary, said: “The maypole is classed as a listed building because of its historical importance. It was originally put up to celebrate Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1897.

“The pole was moved about 12 yards in 1960 but because it’s a ‘listed building’ this has caused problems when we wanted to refurbish it. We had to fill in an 11-page document about the number of windows which were going to be refurbished and access points to the building!”

Repair work was done to the pole, by Shepley Engineers, including restoring the cast iron and capping off the top of the pole to prevent corrosion inside.

Last week the maypole was put back up in the village ready for Saturday’s festival.

The event will start at 1pm and will run all afternoon.

Activities include a fancy dress competition, sports activities, parade with Whitehaven brass band, maypole dancing and home made teas in the Old School.

30 April 2009 : Statue unveiled

A statue commemorating he comedy genius of Laurel and Hardy has been unveiled in the Cumbrian town where Arthur Stanley Jefferson – better known as Stan Laurel – was born.

Fundraisers spent 10 years raising £60,000 for the sculpture which was placed outside the Coronation Hall theatre in Ulverston on Saturday.
Comedian Ken Dodd, 81, who unveiled the statue, wrote a tribute to mark the occasion.

In a partnership spanning 31 years, Laurel and Hardy made 106 films spanning the silent era until the 1950s.

Hundreds of people attended the official unveiling of the statue, including members of The Sons of the Desert Laurel and Hardy fan club who helped raise funds for the sculptures.

Ken Dodd said he was 'tickled' to be chosen to unveil the town centre memorial.

"Laurel and Hardy made the world laugh. They were the kings of comedy," he said.

The statue was designed and created by Graham Ibbeson who is also known for his work on the statue of Eric Morecambe – which thousands of people have their photo taken with every year.

Stan Laurel was born in June 1890 in Argyll Street, Ulverston, and returned to the town with Ollie in 1947 when the duo waved to a crowd of fans from the balcony of the Coronation Hall.

Mr Ibbeson said: "I sculpted Stan and Ollie over a winter period a few years ago, it was cold and miserable in the workshop, however, when I took the cover off the boys every morning it uplifted my soul.

"Stan and Ollie were looking down on me with grins on their faces, and I was looking back at the greatest clowns that have walked this Earth with affection and joyous memories."

The statue is the centrepiece of a major project to improve the centre of Ulverston.

30 April 2009 : Habour rescue

An elderly man had to be rescued from a Cumbrian harbour this morning after going into the water to save his blind dog.

The man is believed to have climbed into the water at Sugar Tongue, Whitehaven, swimming out to save the animal, which had fallen in.

He was then rescued himself by a passer-by at about 10.15am and taken to hospital.

Gordon Atkinson, a Sellafield diver, said: “We were doing routine work when we saw someone running along Sugar Tongue with an inflatable ring.

“We believe after the dog fell in, his owner began panicking and climbed down the ladder on the wall into the water. He saved the dog and was then helped out by the passer-by.”

30 April 2009 : Earthquake hits Cumbria

THE earthquake that shook South Lakes and north Lancashire at 11.22 this morning is the biggest in Cumbria for 30 years.

Environmental scientist Dr Hugh Tuffen, of Lancaster University, said the magnitude 3.7 earthquake which caused buildings to shake throughout the area was not as bad as the one experienced in Carlisle on Boxing Day 1979.

Then chimneys toppled into the streets or fell through roofs and people ran out of their homes in panic.

In contrast, this morning's earthquake below Ulverston caused no visible damage to buildings, although several people rang The Westmorland Gazette to say they heard 'explosions'.

Dr Tuffen said: "The earthquake this morning is the biggest in the North West since Boxing Day 1979 but it was not quite large enough to cause any significant damage.

"We have between 200 and 300 earthquakes a year in the UK and the last tremors felt in this area were from a magnitude five event which occurred in Lincolnshire.

"The last earthquake to actually occur in Cumbria was a magnitude three event recorded in Ambleside in 1988."

25 March 2009: Nuclaer  debate continues

OUTRAGED homeowners have vowed to abandon their village should a nuclear power station be built nearby.

An action group has now been set up to fight plans to build the plant at Layriggs Farm in Kirksanton.

A private vote carried out by campaigners found that 90 per cent of villagers said they would leave Kirksanton if the nuclear power station was built. Construction would leave 75 residents living less than half-a-mile from the plant.

Furious homeowners crammed into the village hall yesterday to voice their fears at what marks the beginning of a two-year consultation process.

Fears over the impact on house prices and damage to tourism were also aired.

Action group spokesman, Michael Wills, 45, said: “We have been totally ignored. We are very upset. A huge proportion of the village has made it quite clear they will move from the area if it goes ahead. We will just have to cut our losses.

“Just the talk of a nuclear facility nearby is going to have a detrimental effect on house prices and the tourism trade.

“We aren’t against nuclear power as a concept, just not in our parish boundary.

“The boundary of the proposed site would literally come 200 yards from people’s gardens.”

Condensation dripped off the walls of the small room at Kirksanton Village Hall as 100 angry residents demanded answers.

A panel, which included nuclear development manager for RWE npower, Stuart Dagnall, which is fronting the plans, Copeland Borough Council leader Elaine Woodburn, Cumbria county councillor Sue Brown and energy opportunities director for West Lakes Renaissance, Rosie Mathisen, tried to answer residents’ questions.

John Sandford, from Silecroft, said: “It would lower our quality of life. A lot of people are being bamboozled that Millom will get the jobs. How many people in Millom will actually get jobs? We would lose the beautiful views. We moved here for the tranquility of the place.

“It is so quiet and peaceful. That is all going to go.”

It is hoped that the plant will create 600 jobs and could supply power to five million homes.

Six other sites have been named across the country as possible land for development, including one at Sellafield and another at Braystones near Egremont.

During the meeting Councillor Woodburn defended the plans.

“If we don’t secure this plant it will be the death knell for West Cumbria”, she said.

Mr Dagnall also defended the company’s method of consultation, after residents made accusations of “done deals” and sly negotiations during the meeting.

He said: “This is the beginning of a long consultation process, not the end.”

Resident Carl Carter said: “I am very excited by this. I have worked in the nuclear industry for 25 years and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure the future for our children and their children.”

The topic will also feature as part of a Japanese television documentary on the pros and cons of nuclear power.

A film crew attended the meeting to capture the debate on film.

The documentary will be aired in July.

25 March 2009 : Irish sea could produce 5% of power

More than 5% of the UK’s electricity needs could be met by harnessing the tidal power of the Irish Sea in the North West, engineers have claimed.

Researchers have been studying ways to generate renewable energy by using the “natural motion “ of the tides around the North West of England and North Wales.

The results showed that four barrages stretching across estuaries at Morecambe Bay, the Solway Firth and the Mersey and Dee rivers could be capable of meeting approximately half of the region’s electricity needs.

The study was carried out by the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory and the University of Liverpool.

Professor Richard Burrows, from the university’s Maritime Environmental and Water Systems Research Group, said: “With concerns mounting over the UK’s future energy provision it will soon become paramount that all sources of renewable energy are fully developed.

”Unlike the wind, tides are absolutely predictable. The geographical location of the UK, and the seas that surround it, provide a great platform for marine renewable sources.”

The barrages, which would run from one bank of an estuary to the other, would guide water through sluices and power turbines for up to 11 hours a day.

Prof Burrows added: “In terms of the four North West barrages, the energy extracted could equate to 5% of the UK’s electricity generation needs.”

The study, funded by the North West Development Agency, used advanced two-dimensional computational modelling to gather its findings.

Those in favour of building barrages also say they would provide substantial sea defence, as well as flood alleviation, by draining the estuary following heavy rainstorms.

25 March 2009 : Historic lakes hotel for sale

AN HISTORIC hotel in the heart of the Lake District has been put on the market with a guide price of £1.3 million.

The Sawrey Hotel, in Far Sawrey, which dates back to 1700, has 19 en-suite bedrooms, a 45 cover dining room, and a 50 cover bar with many original features still intact such as exposed beams and an open log fire.

Mark Bailey, an associate at selling agents Knight Frank, Leeds, said: “This is a rare opportunity to acquire a Lake District Inn, situated in a prime location with excellent road position, close to Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top.

“This profitable business has been in the same ownership for 41 years and there is now potential to capitalise on its position by expanding the food and beverage element of the business, as yet not fully exploited.”

25 March 2009 : Balloon drama in Langdale !

Visitors enjoying the sunshine outside a South Lakeland hotel were in for a surprise when a huge balloon started drifting their way.

A hot air balloon preparing to take off in a field near to the New Dungeon Gyll Hotel, Great Langdale, Ambleside got into difficulty when it started to drift towards the hotel, at one point resting on the roof of a parked car before snagging on a barbed wire fence.

25 March 2009 : Whitehaven News re publish account of Wastwaters famous lady in the lake

AIRLINE pilot Peter Hogg believed he had committed the perfect crime. Eight years after dropping the weighted body of his strangled wife from an inflatable rowing boat into the watery grave of England’s deepest lake, he was sure he had got away with it.

Had it not been for the disappearance of Veronique Marre on a walking tour in the western lakes, he might well have done, and Wastwater – 72 metres deep – might have held its grizzly secret forever.

The personable Air Europe holiday pilot flying Boeing 757s was not to know that police, aided by amateur divers, were carrying out intensive searches for the 21-year-old student from France.

Eight years earlier – in October 1976 – Hogg had driven 300 miles from Guildford, Surrey, to lonely Wasdale and, as darkness fell, rowed his dead wife into Wastwater. She was wrapped in plastic inside a sack tied to a block of concrete.

Police frogmen brought the body ashore from the icy water after being alerted by local amateur divers. One of them, Colin McCourt, from Moresby Parks, revealed to The Whitehaven News this week that the sack had been seen in the lake years before but the divers in the Egremont and Solway clubs had been completely oblivious of its content. Now and again the divers used it for lifting exercises.

Twenty-five years ago to the month since police brought the body ashore, the drama continues to fascinate locals, criminologists and anyone interested in mystery stories, however macabre. It was also one of the most fascinating news stories I have been involved with.

It all started with an early evening phone call from a friendly police officer. “There’s been a body found in Wastwater and you’d better get out there,” said the caller.

First thoughts were that it was the body of Veronique, who had vanished without trace. But despite many years in the water the body was so well-preserved that within six days of discovery it was positively identified as Margaret Hogg. Police travelled from Whitehaven to Surrey and knocked on the door of a 56-year-old stunned husband, a former boarder at Keswick School.

The couple met while she was working as an airline stewardess. Her husband, 19 years older, was the prime suspect. He was immediately arrested, and charged with murder, which he denied, at the Old Bailey.

Had he rowed further out into Wastwater, his wife’s body would almost certainly have fallen to the very bottom of the lake, below normal diving depths at the time. Instead the grim package settled on a shallow part of the lake bed – not on a ledge as commonly thought – and due to the lack of oxygen it failed to decompose: it was preserved like wax because Wastwater is so cold.

Hogg’s trial at the Old Bailey brought out revelations of Margaret’s infidelity and a stormy relationship. He had strangled her after another row in their home.

But it was the events in the local police investigation that led directly to his own discovery. The local media were summoned to Whitehaven police station to witness a gold wedding ring.

Hidden engraved around its inside face were the wedding details of Margaret and Peter Hogg. This was the fatal mistake: Hogg, notwithstanding all his meticulous pre-meditated preparations, forgot to remove it from the body.

The inscription read: “Margaret 15-11-63 Peter.”

A friend in Surrey recognised the well- publicised description and Whitehaven police were hot on the trail.

Another vital clue which confirmed her identity was her dentures.

Then followed the knock on the door of the couple’s £90,000 home.

Detective Des Byrne was one of the officers there. He and Whitehaven CID colleague David Harrison were already in Guildford making initial inquiries before a second team followed on to make the arrest.

Des recalls: “We found out that the sack or the wrapping had links with carpet-making in Surrey and we were also able to locate the dead woman’s dentist. It was a lucky break because her dental records were just about to be destroyed. With this and publicity over the wedding ring, we quickly found out where the couple lived.”

While other West Cumbrian officers went to the house to be greeted by a bemused Peter Hogg, Acting Detective Sergeant Byrne kept watch round the side of the property. “You could say it was a shock to him. He had been out of the country and knew nothing about what was going on

“In an interview, Hogg told us what had happened. He said his wife was having an affair, an argument developed and he killed her. He thought about how to dispose of her body, decided to wrap it up and put it in the boot of his car, drove his son to school in Taunton and then up to Wasdale.”

Detective Byrne searched the house. “We found quite a lot of evidence connected to the crime. There were still bloodstains under the carpet in the bedroom. We also found rope matching what was used to tie the sack.

“What we also learned was that Hogg had gone to see a solicitor to get a divorce claiming she had run off with somebody else.”

At Hogg’s Old Bailey trial, the jury heard in his defence that, for years, he had been provoked by the unfaithful and bad behaviour of his wife who had flaunted her three-year affair with banker Graham Ryan.

Hogg’s QC said: “The law recognises that within every human being lies the fires of emotion and you can provoke a human being so far.”

Margaret Hogg was strangled in October 1976, only a week after she had been to Dorset with her lover. When asked if he had murdered his wife, Hogg said: “Murder is not the right word. Certainly she died. I think I strangled her. We had an argument, she did her usual act, she was always throwing things at me. She was scratching my face, kicking me in the crotch and I belted her. She flew at me, hitting and kicking, then I grabbed her round the neck and squeezed hard. I realised one of her eyes was glazed and I let go. She fell back on the floor and I realised she was dead.”

But the accused was described to the jury as cool and calculating, for within minutes of the strangulation he had changed his clothes and trussed up his wife before working out how best to dispose of her.

Describing his long drive north and rowing an inflatable boat out on to pitch-black Wastwater, he said: “It was the longest day of my life. You don’t realise how difficult it was. I nearly went in with her.

“I was in a perfectly logical frame of mind once I put my mind to dealing with the current emergency.”

One month later Hogg reported his wife’s apparent disappearance to Surrey police.

The jury found Hogg not guilty of murder but convicted him of manslaughter. He was jailed for three years and another year was added for obstructing a coroner and for perjury in divorce proceedings.

Margaret’s ashes had been scattered on Wastwater (her family’s wishes) after her body was cremated at Distington. When deputy coroner John Taylor opened an inquest in Whitehaven he heard from a Home Office pathologist that death was from strangulation and also from a Hertfordshire dentist that the dentures belonged to Margaret Hogg.

Former Marchon worker Colin McCourt, a member of the Solway diving club, said: “I remember thinking what a scene it must have been. Wastwater is a particularly desolate spot in winter with the dark screes on far side of the lake. So imagine somebody rowing out there, probably as darkness was falling and just as the sun was going down so there was still enough light to see where he was going and what he was doing.

“Also imagine someone rowing out and trying to tip a dead body in a sack with a heavy kerbstone tied to it and trying to roll it off the inflatable.

“People still say you would never have found the body if it hadn’t dropped on to a ledge, but we had previously moved it on to the ledge before the police removed it. The actual resting place was 36 metres on the bottom of the lake and we were led to believe it had been in the lake for a number of years.”

Both the Egremont and Solway frogmen were using Wastwater for diving and lifting exercises. “Our understanding was that this package had been seen for many years, you couldn’t tell what it was, it wasn’t like a body. We never opened many packages underwater because it was not unusual to find dead dogs or cats. We located this particular package at 36 metres which meant we had under 20 minutes diving time.

“This day was particularly cold when we went down, I remember the package was tied to a concrete block, we lifted it up to a higher level, decided to leave it and go back.

“It was Neil Pritt who went to tell the police who were searching for Veronique at the time. We knew it couldn’t be her because the sack had been seen long before she went missing.”

Colin’s diving record read: “It was nice calm day, we actually went looking for the package in a lifting exercise, we lifted it but never opened it. Perhaps next time. I added later ‘No next time, female body found.’

“We were down there for 14 minutes, that was the first time I myself had seen the package, we decided we would go back and move it, probably one of the reasons as a bit of fun get one back on the Egremont divers. We had a good relationship and some friendly banter.”

And the missing French student Veronique Marre? In April 1984, she was found lying dead at the foot of Broken Rib Cragg where she had fallen 1,100 ft above awe-inspiring Wastwater a month or so after the divers recovered the body of Wastwater’s Lady in the Lake.

23 Feb 2009 : Maid of Butermere by the lake !

PEOPLE in Cumbria got well and truly stuck into rehearsals recently for Theatre by the Lake's world première of The Maid of Buttermere, sponsored by Jennings Brewery. While the professional cast haven't as yet arrived in Keswick, the community cast of 37 budding amateur actors were all too keen to get their teeth into the production.

The Maid of Buttermere will be a collaboration between the theatre and members of the immediate Cumbrian community. The cast of 11 professional actors will work closely with the community cast of local amateur performers who will represent the Cumbrian communities of Keswick and Buttermere in the story.
The current community cast spans the generations with members aged from 10 to 70 years old and the dedicated team have made a real commitment to the project giving up their spare time for rehearsals and a busy performance schedule.
Norman Brayton, a member of the amateur cast said: "To be given the chance to work with a professional group in a lovely theatre is a unique opportunity and a real privilege. I thought the first session was thoroughly entertaining and I'm really looking forward to the experience."
Set in Keswick and Buttermere in the early 19th century, The Maid of Buttermere is the true story of Mary Robinson, the daughter of the innkeeper of the Fish Inn at Buttermere, whose beauty attracts scores of admirers, including the bigamist and fortune hunter, John Hatfield, who woos and wins her. The play, an epic tale of love, passion and deception, tells of the couple's fateful meeting, consuming passion and tragic separation.
This dramatisation by Lisa Evans, based on the novel by Melvyn Bragg, marks a special 10th birthday year for Theatre by the Lake and a whole year of celebrations.
The Maid of Buttermere runs from Saturday, March 21 to Saturday, April 18 and is sponsored by Jennings Brewery.
Tickets start from £8 to £21 and are available by calling Theatre by the Lake's box office on 017687 74411 or visiting www.theatrebythelake.com.

23 Feb 2009 : Life saving skills used

A BARROW man put his Army life-saving skills to the test when he gave emergency first aid to a heart attack victim.
Derek Phillips, 56, came to the rescue of Martin Smith last Tuesday.
Mr Smith was attending a college conference at the Lakeside Hotel in Newby Bridge when he suffered a heart attack.
Mr Phillips, of Winchester Street, Barrow, rushed to the aid of the man while staff at the hotel alerted emergency services.
At one point Mr Smith stopped breathing, but Mr Phillips managed to perform live-saving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on him.
Mr Phillips, who has worked at the hotel for 10 years, used first aid skills learnt during his 25 years serving in the British Army.
He said: “I heard people shouting ‘phone an ambulance’ and saw that a man had collapsed. He was showing all the signs of a heart attack.
“I felt around and he wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. I knew I had to revive him. I can’t really remember exactly what happened, it is a bit of a blur. There were other people helping at the time, too. I instructed one man on what to do and used CPR to get him breathing again.
“A couple of people are calling me a hero, but it was a team effort really. I put it down to teamwork. I just did what anyone else would do.”
After an ambulance arrived at the hotel, Mr Smith was rushed to Furness General Hospital in a critical condition.
Paramedics at the scene said that Mr Phillips had probably saved the man’s life.
Mr Smith is now in a stable condition. The hotel received a letter of thanks from Runshaw College, Preston, where Mr Smith is an employee, last week.
The letter thanked all members of staff who dealt with the emergency situation, but praised Mr Phillips in particular for his heroic, life-saving feat.
Mr Phillips said: “It was nice of them to write a letter to us. I haven’t heard off Mr Smith’s family yet but I don’t think they really knew what happened at the moment.”
Tom Sharp, a manager at Lakeside Hotel, said: “Derek has worked for us for 10 years and we’re all really proud of him.
“Obviously with the location we’re in it can take a while for an ambulance to arrive, but he really did save the life of that man. He kept him going before the paramedics arrived.
“He is modest about it but we think he did brilliant.”

23 Feb 2009 : Wainwright statue shold go on fell

THE owner of a popular Lakes tourism business believes that a proposed statue of Alfred Wainwright should be built in the Lake District mountains - rather than a high street in South Lakeland.

The Westmorland Gazette exclusively revealed plans earlier this month to build a bronze statue in Kendal as a tribute to the legendary fell walker, writer and artist.

But Mark Weir, of Honister Slate Mine, said the statue should go on the top of a Lake District peak and become the area’s answer to the Angel of the North - or as he called it, ‘The Alfred Of The North.’ “I appreciate Wainwright lived and worked in Kendal but his heart and soul was in the middle of the Lake District mountains,” he said.

“If you are going to build a statue to him, don’t make him a pigeon roost in a town centre. Build it in the place he loved, where people can appreciate what he stood for and have to put in effort to go and see. Considering his passion for the fells, to put him in a town would be a travesty.”

Mr Weir said that he was planning to commission a sculptor to make a giant slate Wainwright monument to be placed on the fells.

He compared its size to the Corcovado statue in Brazil: “It’s the new thing isn’t it?” he said. “The thing is, it opens a debate for people to discuss and agree. Every town centre has a statue but with Wainwright, there’s real justification for it to be allowed to go on top of a mountain and become a world first.”

The proposal has sparked a lot of interest, with letters flooding into The Westmorland Gazette.

Most of the writers have opposed the plans, saying Wainwright was a very private man and would not want a statue.

However, Eric Robson, chairman of The Wainwright Society, believed that Wainwright would have been proud to have had a statue in his honour, but he would certainly not have wanted it on the fells.

12 Feb 2009 : More information released about digital switch over and its effects on local population

Many of you, I know, have already been through the switchover process when the Bigrigg, Gosforth and Eskdale Green transmitters switched over in October/November 2007.     You may well feel that you would not want yet more information about the switchover, but, as I am sure you know, switchover will once again impact on Copeland.   I thought it might be helpful if I outlined what the effect will be for Copeland viewers:

Analogue only viewers receiving their signals directly from Caldbeck or via the relays at Bleach Green or St Bees will need to switch over as there will be no analogue signals from any of these three transmitters after 22^nd July 

Analogue viewers in the Millom area receiving their signals from the Millom Park , Lancaster or Winter Hill transmitters will need to switch over when the Granada switchover takes place in November/December 2009, as there will be no analogue signals from any of these transmitters after 2^nd December. 

ALL digital terrestrial (Freeview) viewers will need to retune their set top boxes or digital televisions at switchover in order to pick up digital channels on revised frequencies.   This will affect Bigrigg, Gosforth and Eskdale Green viewers who switched to digital in 2007. 

Gosforth viewers will be able to receive Channel 5 in digital for the first time as the existing digital Channel 5 is moving to a public service multiplex on Caldbeck and so will be included in the public service channel line-up from Gosforth for the first time. 

I hope that most viewers are well used to retuning their set top boxes or digital televisions and that this will not present too many problems. 

10 feb 2009 : Date set at the Bridge Inn

Friday 13 March 2009 at The Bridge Inn 

10 feb 2009 : Wainwright to be honored

CUMBRIA'S most famous writer on the fells is to be marked with a statue in Kendal.

A bronze effigy of Alfred Wainwright, author of the famed Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, is to be commissioned at an estimated cost of £80,000 to be placed in Kendal, the former Westmorland town where the grumpy fellwalker was borough treasurer.

Sculptor Graham Ibbeson, best known for the statue of Eric Morecambe that adorns the Lancashire town from which he took his name, will create the figure.

The project is supported by his family and the Wainwright Society, guardians of the fellwalker's memory, though there is doubt as to whether the reclusive detailer of the fells and instigator of the Coast to Coast Walk, would approve. Wainwright, who died aged 84 in 1991, was born in Blackburn.

His love of the Lake District was spawned by an early trip to Windermere and he spent almost all his spare time walking the 214 fells described in his books, writing up the routes and producing the intricate hand-drawn illustrations which lend his work a unique quality.

Notoriously anti-social – he admitted to pretending to be urinating away from the mountain paths if he met a fellow hillwalker he did not want to converse with – he nevertheless produced works imbued with a dry humour and meticulously researched detail.

His ashes are scattered at Innominate Tarn on Haystacks, the fell he said was his favourite Lakeland mountain. There is a memorial tablet to the writer in St James's Church in Buttermere, below the fell.

Kendal's present-day tourist information centre was Wainwright's office when he was borough treasurer between 1947 and 1967.

10 feb 2009 : Back the bus route

CAMPAIGNERS have helped to put a bus route between two busy towns back on the timetable.

The 511 route between Ulverston and Broughton-in-Furness was cancelled last year, leading to protests and a petition from residents and town councillors in both towns.

It will return on February 23,but funding will cease at the end of October.

County councillor Geoff Cook said: "I really hope that the service will now be better used to bring more money in and the route can prove to be self-sustainable."

10 feb 2008 : Early opening for some NT properties

NATIONAL Trust properties are making a romantic start to the 2009 season by opening their doors early on Valentines Day.

Hill Top and the Hawkshead Beatrix Potter Gallery both open on February 14.

“The Trust has extended its open season longer than ever before, so now you can visit properties from February through to early November,” said Property Manager at Hill Top, John Moffat.

“We’re delighted that Hill Top and the Beatrix Potter Gallery are the first in the North West region to open, particularly on Valentine’s Day, and we're looking forward to a busy season.”

The gallery currently has a new exhibition on, entitled Because I Never Grew Up, celebrating 100 years since the publication of The Tale of Ginger and Pickles, featuring original watercolours from the story. There is also a new Conservation in Action display where visitors can learn more about the behind the scenes conservation work carried out by the Trust at the Gallery.

Visitors to Beatrix Potter’s former home at Hill Top are able to see the author’s personal collection of china, paintings and furniture.

10 Feb 2008 : Two walkers die in the Lakes

Two Lake District walkers have died in the last two days after heading out in icy conditions.

The body of a 60-year-old man was discovered today by Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue team.

The unnamed man, who is believed to be from Windermere, had gone walking alone in Great Langdale and failed to return home. His green Volvo car was discovered parked at the foot of the fells.

The body was discovered 50m below Climber’s Traverse on Bowfell and has been lifted to the West Cumberland Infirmary by RAF helicopter. The man’s family have been informed and police are working to formally identify him.

In a separate tragedy, a man in his 60s died from his injuries yesterday after falling more than 100m from Pavey Ark in the Langdale Pikes.

The man, believed to be from the Stockport area, was airlifted to the West Cumberland Hospital at 4.30pm and later died from his injuries.

A mountain rescue spokesman said the walker was part of a number of people who had grouped together after getting into difficulties in freezing conditions.

He added: “While trying to find a way off they got onto steep ground. At this point one of them slipped and fell, sustaining fatal injuries.”
The rest of the group were evacuated to safety.

A police spokeswoman said conditions on the fells were “icy and cold”.

20 JAN 2009 : WASDALE HEAD SHPEHERDS MEET SHOW SECRETARY PASSES AWAY

We are Very Sad to announce the unexpected death of David Smith, Our show secretary for many years.

David passed away on Friday 16^th January, he had been in good health and had attended the funeral of another of Wasdale Head Show’s Stalwarts, Jack Lancaster the day before.

David will be sadly missed by everyone, including his fellow Wasdale Head Show Committee Members and our deepest sympathies go out to all his friends and family

David’s Funeral will take place at Saint Mary’s Church at Gosforth on Monday 26^th January at 10.45, followed by a Cremation service at Distington Crematorium.

No Flowers Please, Donations for Cancer Research