Cumbria Magazine Blog

Funny girl Shappi Khorsandi

The pleasure of books, words and ideas will be shared next month as Keswick becomes the centre of the literary world for ten days when the Theatre by the Lake hosts the Words by the Water Festival of Words and Ideas.

The 2-11 March lit-fest promises to be one of the best yet with a star studded line-up covering everything from literature, philosophy, history, politics, sport, food, theatre and TV, as well as music – plus ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling talking about the events that rocked global capitalism.

Roger Bolton, Hunter Davies and Eric Robson will be discussing why Carlisle Boys’ Grammar School and Cumbria as a whole have inspired so many literary stars.

There will be comedy from Josie Long and Shappi Khorsandi as well as topical discussion themes including Money Matters, Charles Dickens and Exploration, and poetry and essay competitions.

Tickets can be bought on 017687 74411 or online at www.theatrebythelake.co.uk.

In March’s Cumbria magazine we follow the return of the Swallow, the famous film boat still being recognised by Ransome fans in its old haunts.

We go spotting the Spring flowers that link the present to our prehistoric past, and have some timely advice for controlling your dogs in the countryside from an expert.

We rejoice in the glories of Glaramara, celebrate the opening of more track by the South Tynedale railway, and hear what Whitehaven Brass Band is doing.

And we wonder just what is the Lakes’ best view – David McVey names his favourite and even throws in a reserve champion.

White Line founder Ismay who was born in Maryport

Maryport will this year draw on one of its most notable maritime links to mark the hundredth anniversary of Titanic’s first, and last, voyage. Thomas Henry Ismay, born in the town in the year Victoria became queen, founded the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, more widely known as the White Star Line, in 1867. Maryport Maritime Museum, in conjunction with the Wave Centre, is to host an exhibition (29 March-13 May) to commemorate the Ismay connection and the anniversary of the ill-fated voyage on 10 April 1912.

On the anniversary of the sinking (15 April), the exhibition will broadcast Morse and voice communications for thirty-minute slots throughout the day, communicating with other Titanic ‘hotspots’ throughout the world. A collection of props from the 1997 blockbuster film by James Cameron will also be on display.

Visitors on admission will be given a boarding pass with the name of a passenger or crew-member printed on it; on leaving the exhibition, they can check on a wall of names to learn the fate of that person.

In February’s issue of Cumbria magazine we look at the remarkable transformation of Hodbarrow, a once bleak, industrial landscape that is now a richly diverse nature reserve. And Ann Lingard sees for herself Cumbria’s first anaerobic digestion to convert crops and farm waste into methane gas, then electricity.

Walking was as much cerebral as it was physical for William Wordsworth, and its rhythms lent itself to the metre of his verse; John Morrison takes us around the landscape that inspired the poet. And we look at the Ulverston boy who rose to become Lord Justice of Appeal and had an Ullswater fell named after him – Norman Birkett.

Harrap Tarn and Mirehouse and St Bega’s are our featured walks, and there’s a full guide to organised walks in the Lakes, plus your usual What’s On guide, Favourite View and Special Place. And there’s a chance to win tickets to a Verdi opera and to the Bowes Museum.

Haaf-netters on the Solway

We’ve energy to burn in January’s Cumbria magazine …Tony Greenbank catches up with Geoff Somers, for once not conquering the Arctic or Antarctic, and learns that his distinguished polar path began beside Ullswater.

Bill Birkett takes us hiking over Harter Fell, the Eskdale one, and our walks head for Latrigg and Rannerdale Knotts.

A rookie trailrunner tells how the countryside opened up for her once she moved to Cumbria and Steve Goodier takes us over one of the most important foot passes in the Lakes, Esk Hause.

Cycling expert Brian Robb knows the best spots in Cumbria to get on your bike.

Terry Fletcher finds out why Kendal now has the tallest artificial climb in the country – even though there is so much of the real thing on the doorstep.

Ann Lingard joins the haaf-netters for an exhilarating day. waist-deep in the Solway Firth.

We mest the Eskdale mum who is queen of the cottage letting industry and Cumbria’s businesswoman of the year.

There’s too much to pack into one day seeing the charm and antiquity of Appleby.

And John Morrison can’t wait to get his camera out to capture some real winter weather.

We have your lively letters, walks guides, book reviews, your Favourite View and Special Place – and so much more.

THE centenary of the Britain’s first successful seaplane is to be marked exactly a hundred years to the day it was launched on Windermere by a flypast on Friday, November 25 of a 1949 Hawker Sea Fury of the Royal Navy’s Historic Flight.

Flight enthusiasts will gather at Storr Halls Hotel to see the flypast (2.15pm, weather permitting) over the same stretch of water where Waterbird made her historic flight in  1911.

Waterbird and an early passenger await take-off on Windermere

Kendal landowner Edward Wakefield, a man of ‘initiative and technology’, was behind the launch, and as a primary developer of the seaplane went on to develop a series of aircrafts for the Government – being championed by the then First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill.

Wakefield also had to overcame strong opposition from Beatrix Potter and Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, founder of the National Trust, who campaigned against the Lakeland trials of the flying machines.

Several of his descendants will be present at the centenary event which will help to raise funds towards the £160,000 cost of completing a working replica of Waterbird.

Gerry Cooper, of Nottinghamshire-based Cooper Aerial Surveys Engineering Ltd, has started building the replica using the original plan of aircraft engineer Sir Alliott Verdon-Roe, founder of Manchester aviation firm Avro.

It is hoped the replica will be ready to fly on Windermere next year. Funds are also being raised to help create an Edward Wakefield Memorial Edwardian Seaplane Centre at Windermere, which would house the replica Waterbird.

Waterbird was one of a fleet of three offering pleasure trips on the lake and completed sixty flights in three months before it was destroyed when a storm ripped through the hangar.

An early image of Waterbird outside its hangar shows a passenger sitting above the pilot, and close to the bi-plane’s seven cylinder rotary engine.

Hawkshead Relish’s Maria and Mark Whitehead have a date at the Palace this month (Nov 30) for a rare double MBE for services to the Cumbrian food industry.

And in December’s Cumbria magazine we hear how things have changed in ten years since their business was virtually wiped out by the Foot and Mouth outbreak.

MBE double honour ...Maria and Mark Whitehead

The 1940s classic weepie Brief Encounter still brings in fans to its film locations in the Lake District and north Lancashire; we look at its fatal attraction.

Tony Greenbank meets the Belles of Cartmel Priory and explains why women make better bell ringers.

We marvel at Lakeland’s alpine pass, Mickledore, and explore the environs of Staveley and Long Meg in the Eden valley.

Andrew Gallon joins the foot soldiers of a north Cumbrian archaeology group searching for the past and we examine Cumbrian traditions from the cradle to the grave.

Offshore, Ann Lingard reveals Cumbria’s coral reefs and we visit the home of sticky toffee pudding in Cartmel.

And Steve Goodier spins a seasonal, chilling tale of Purgatory on the Peaks.

There’s a chance too for readers to win a sterling silver pendant worth £860.

Largely unnoticed in a churchyard where both John Ruskin and Donald Campbell are buried lay the remains of a Coniston man who ended his working days as a roadman.

Jimmy in uniform

Jimmy Hewitson, son of a coach-of-four driver, was one of millions of ordinary men and women who enlisted on the outbreak of the Great War, and who returned a hero to his home village of Coniston.

His conspicuous bravery, initiative and daring on the battlefield earned him the nation’s highest award for valour, the Victoria Cross, presented to him personally in France in 1918 by King George V.

In this month of Remembrance we tell Jimmy’s extraordinary life story in the latest issue of Cumbria magazine, and we also remember the ten Borrrowdale brothers-in-arms – mostly shepherds and quarrymen – who lost their lives in that war.

At work on the roads

And again in Borrowdale we also have the story behind one of the most unusual names – Zanazzi – on one of the country’s most easy-to-miss war memorials.

Exactly two years after the floods Beryl Ballance, whose Cockermouth business was washed away, gives an inside account of that fateful day and its aftermath.

Vivienne Crow also looks at how the National Park is putting right the damage done, and strengthening bridges and paths to withstand further deluges.

John Morrison explains why he prefers changeable weather to glorious sunshine and blue skies when seeking those special pictures.

We look at a holiday with a difference – retracing those old trade routes by packhorse; hear of the the mass trespass that opened up access to Latrigg; learn of the dangers and delicacies on a day out to Flookburgh; and meet a man who’s had a significant impact on Ambleside’s cultural and social life – Derek Hook.

There also chance for readers to win a Christmas hamper and Derwent watercolour gift sets.

In October’s Cumbria magazine – out now – we discover the flipside of charity walks as national three peakers, and others, are littering our highest mountain and Wasdale valley.

Bill Birkett shows us the Grand Old Man, and expertly guides us up the classic route from Coniston.

Canoe couple Claire and Paul Weller

We look at the self-styled professor of adventure, Millican Dalton, and his life as a Borrowdale backwoodsman. And we meet some thoroughly modern Millicans who’ve set up a canoe business to give people a different perspective of the Lakes.

Matthew Appleby gains access to Scaleby Castle, a private home, where English Heritage is saving the ancient ruin.

Ann Lingard joins the men and women who daily service the offshore windfarm at Robin Rigg.

We get the bigger picture from artist Alison Critchlow who roams Cumbria’s wilder parts in search of inspiration for her vivid landscapes. We see how one landowner with community volunteers and national park expertise has rebuild a crumbling packhorse bridge.

Eileen Jones goes on the hound trail where one of Lakeland’s oldest sports is in dire need of new blood to survive.

There are creature comforts at last for Maggie Dickinson who keeps a promise to return to Borrowdale for a bit of luxury after a rough camping experience fifty years ago,

And we’ve a competition for you to win £540 worth of Hi-Tec boots. Can’t be bad.

‘Once you’ve had a piece of gold in the palm of your hand that you’ve found in a river, you will not again be satisfied until you’ve got some mates to join it’.

Retired headmaster Alf Henderson (above, right, with Ian Hewitson) from Windermere was told that by a prospecting mentor, and now he’s regularly panning for the precious metal in the becks of the Lake District.

Tony Greenbank joins him in the search and tells of the experience in September’s Cumbria magazine.

Peter Hardy meets the Cumbrian farmer acknowledged around the world for his award-winning agricultural photographs.

We talk to MS sufferer Duncan Booth who braved the waves with a 10-lake endurance swim to send out a positive message about the condition.

We have the story behind the discovery of priceless letters from Beatrix Potter which show her generosity and friendship, and are reminded of the legacy of traditional coppicer Bill Hogarth.

And with the World Sheepdog Trials being staged at Lowther this month (15-18 September) – the first time ever in England – we talk to one of the entrants, Joe Relph (right) from Borrowdale, on the prospects of a ‘home’ win.

Walks over Beda Fell and an eight-miler at Kirkby-in-Furness with views across the Duddon estuary to Black Combe are featured; we also encounter the ‘Queen of Westmorland’ – Temple Sowerby – and take a closer look at Cumbria’s spectacular waterfalls.

If it’s a real buzz you’re after, Andrew Gallon discovers a hive of activity among the beekeepers of Furness in generating interest about their hobby.