Switching on the lights

Well this has been shown on the television but I thought I would share my snaps with you.  I had immense difficulty even getter near the front of the Moot Hall last Friday.  When I did try and take a photo it was obscured by a lad on a man's shoulders in a camouflage jacket.  I persevered and when I came home I found a really pretty unusual shot.  If you look closely you can see HRH on the right, Julia Bradbury in the middle and the Mayor of Keswick, Andrew Lysser on the left. But you can see that the camera has taken this shot twice on the same exposure and slurred it. This was not my doing the camera produced this effect! However, it does show Prince Charles twice for the money......

The only other shot where you could just make them out was this next one. It really was nearly impossible with the jostling crowd to take anything.

It is unusual because it makes Prince Charles look as if he is wearing specs but he was not I assure you.

So we had a fun time and then we went to the stall run by the Thai Restaurant 'Star of Siam' and bought some Spring Rolls and Hot Chicken soup to take home. Our thanks must go to the Keswick team who arranged this at such short notice, I think it was the BIDS lot....

The message HRH wanted to get across was that the floods have gone and the Lakes are available to tourists again. Of course this does not apply to all areas of Cumbria as it is still difficult to get to certain parts of the county without long road detours, but the central Lakes and especially Keswick are now hoping that the tourists will come back and stay.

Pete is out guiding again tomorrow by special request and he is going to post up the Christmas Walks soon now that things are back to normal. So come back in a few days if you are interested in the walks we are offering over Christmas.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team Flood Account

A spokesman for Keswick MRT gives an account of the flood efforts in this week's Keswick Reminder Newspaper. I will summarise it so you can appreciate how important it was that they helped with the flood victims.

They were contacted at 9.30 am Thurs 19th to give assistance where and when required.
Team and Deputy leaders went to the Silver Command Centre in the Council Chambers.
As the morning progressed tasks were relayed back to base at Lakeside car park. These included evacuations from Ravensfield Old People's Home, and houses at Crosthwaite Gardens, Glebe Close, High Hill, Limepots, Ashtree Avenue, St Kentigern's Close and Crosthwaite Road.
Many of these were made with the teams inflatable boat and they worked closely with the Fire Rescue Service and their boat. Once safely out of the water residents were taken to evacuation centres.
During the morning National Parks staff arrived with 3 more 4x4 vehicles and these were utilised too.
It soon dawned that more help was needed and usually they would ask Cockermouth MRT for help but that was out of the question so a call was made to Gold Command at Carlton Hall, Penrith and teams were mobilised from Kirkby Stephen, Teesdale and Swaledale + and RAF Sea King Helicopter was asked to search fields near Crosthwaite Church.
These teams initially worked in Keswick but were re-tasked to Cockermouth once Keswick became quieter.
News arrived of the bridge collapse in Workington and the missing police officer. Team personnel were sent to Workington in response to assist with the search.
Keswick team finally closed its base late on Saturday afternoon after receiving various non-urgent requests from Silver Command.
Further assistance was sent to Cockermouth on Monday between 11am and 5pm to be on call at Cockermouth Mountain Rescue base.
All in all, 40 hours of continuous cover, and at the height of the storm 60 personnel, were operating from Keswick base.

To summarise they feel the agencies worked well together and want to thank and applaud the Fire and Rescue Service, The National Park Authority, Teesdale, Swaledale and Kirkby Stephen Rescue Teams, the RAF, the 'Silver Command' and last, but by no means least, Bryson's Ltd for all the pies and cakes!

So there you have it, a clear demonstration of sheer courage and determination which should set all of your minds at rest if you venture onto the hills.  These heroes deserve our heart felt thanks and I want to say thank you from me too if you kept away from the hills whilst the team was needed elsewhere. The Cockermouth Team also deserve our thanks.

Not only did our MRT's perform miracles but no one was injured or killed on the fells around here.

Well done Keswick

Just when we are down but not out, the Keswick Tourism Association emails me this afternoon to say that the Food Fayre will be going ahead on Friday, yes this Friday from 1pm till 7pm and wait for it. Julia Bradbury no less is going to switch on the lights at 5.30pm.  So you must all come down to the Market Square apart from poor kira who is in Germany of course, but we will think of you...

Bella will have to come too because she has been a teeny bit sulky lately, something to do with being stuck in the house and when a Border Terrier is sulky, she lets you know it. Mind you she has not had a decent walk since her birthday on the 11th and if she could talk she would be saying "let's go fellwalkies".