Ambleside Parish Centre, Sat 11 Nov, 2023 11am–9pm.

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Pick your programme from:

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11am–12pm: SESSION 1

 

WALK 1: Mark Richards – Roman Ambleside - SESSION FULL

Countrystride host and Fellranger author Mark leads a short walk down to Ambleside Roman Fort. A riverside stroll leads to the remarkable fort site at the head of Windermere. Mark will explain the fort's context and visible features, which will have had a large 'town' attached servicing the needs of the garrison – in effect the first expression of Ambleside. A 90-minute Roman heritage ramble. Approx. two mile's worth of walking.

 

TALK 1: Amy Bateman – Behind the scenes at Forty Farms

Author and photographer Amy takes us behind the scenes of her award-winning Lakeland Book of the Year Forty Farms that takes readers behind the scenes of 40 Cumbrian farms. With anecdotes from the project, insights into how farmers are managing in an increasingly difficult economic climate and the highs and lows of Lakeland farm life, Amy will also talk about how she captured some of her iconic farming shots.

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TALK 2: Angus Winchester – Lake District field names

The names of fields can help us understand how the rural landscape has evolved over the centuries. In this illustrated talk, Angus, Professor Emeritus at Lancaster University, considers how names were originally coined to record a field's use, what it looked like or who owned it. Recorded on vintage maps and sometimes preserved in the memory of older residents, field-names are a goldmine of information for local historians and a critical part of rural heritage.

 

LUNCH (we don't provide)

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1:30–2:30pm: SESSION 2

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TALK 1: Mark Hatton – Gravestones of Cumbria, from the Victorious Romans to the Romantic Victorians

Gravestones tell us a huge amount about the lives, livelihoods, hopes, fears and faith of past generations. This illustrated talk by CS regular Mark looks at local gravestones and unlocks their history, artistry, meaning and mystery – including why the vicar at Crosthwaite Parish Church chose to be memorialised with a scene of two women holding up a skull in one hand and hauling their skirts up with the other. 

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TALK 2: Geoff Darrall – Thirlmere before the dam

In 1894 water flowed into Manchester from Thirlmere for the first time. It secured water for the fast-growing cotton town and was one of the country’s greatest feats of engineering. But the flooding of the valley displaced dozens of families and destroyed a rural way of life, and a backwater valley, forever. In this illustrated talk, Geoff, vicar of of St John’s in the Vale and Wythburn for 33 years, rewinds time to the days before the dam, describing the hamlets of Wythburn and City and profiling a way of life now lost below the waters.

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2:30–3:30pm: SESSION 3

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WALK 1: Penny Bradshaw – A literary tour of Ambleside - SESSION FULL

In the years that followed William Wordsworth’s arrival in nearby Grasmere in 1799, a host of writers were drawn to the Lake District. Celebrated poets and novelists, from John Keats to Charlotte Bronte, visited Ambleside and other writers, such as Thomas De Quincey and Matthew Arnold, had homes here. By the 1850s Ambleside was at the centre of a Victorian vogue for ‘literary tourism’, with visitors exploring the region through the writing it inspired. This short walking tour is led by Penny, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Cumbria. It will explore some of these literary connections and will include readings from a selection of texts. Approx one mile's worth of walking.

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TALK 1: Bill Shannon – A history of Cumbria in ten maps

Academic and author Bill introduces ten maps that have shaped the county of Cumbria, from the first mention of Cumbria in c.1050 through the lavish - and much copied - maps of Christopher Saxton to the heyday of the Ordnance Survey. Moving his focus throughout the county, Bill will cover tourist maps, dispute maps, geological maps and more in this whistle-stop tour of Cumbrian cartography.

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TALK 2: Gary Johnson – Minnie's Scrapbook

Following the chance discovery of a battered scrapbook in a Carlisle auction house, retired TV director Gary embarked on a remarkable journey to unearth the identity of its owner. Intrigued by what he found in the book – a treasure trove of prints, postcards, photographs and 40 beautiful watercolours that told of an undiscovered Cumbrian artistic talent – Gary's research took him from Carlisle down through the Lake District to Barrow-in-Furness, then on into Scotland, Wales and even further afield to Canada, Sweden and East Africa. Gary recounts the detective work that built a worldwide community and that was able, in time, to put a face to the scrapbook's enigmatic owner.

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WALK 2: Mark Richards – Roman Ambleside 

Countrystride host and Fellranger author Mark leads a short walk down to Ambleside Roman Fort. A riverside stroll leads to the remarkable fort site at the head of Windermere. Mark will explain the fort's context and visible features, which will have had a large 'town' attached servicing the needs of the garrison – in effect the first expression of Ambleside. A 90-minute Roman heritage ramble. Approx. two mile's worth of walking.

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3:30-4pm – BREAK

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4–5pm – SESSION 4: LEE SCHOFIELD – Wild Fell, The next chapter.

Two years ago, Lee Schofield completed the manuscript of Wild Fell: Fighting for Nature on a Lake District Hill Farm. The instant and award-winning classic charted his account of a decade working for the RSPB at Haweswater and the personal and professional challenges involved in working at the coal-face of nature conservation in the Lakeland uplands. In our wide-ranging keynote session, Countrystride producer Dave Felton will talk with Lee about progress at Haweswater since our podcast in March 2022. On a conversation covering landscape, people, politics, eagles... and watervoles, we'll ask how lessons learned at Haweswater might inform land management elsewhere in Cumbria. Questions from the floor are welcome.

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WALK 1: Penny Bradshaw – A literary tour of Ambleside - SESSION FULL

In the years that followed William Wordsworth’s arrival in nearby Grasmere in 1799, a host of writers were drawn to the Lake District. Celebrated poets and novelists, from John Keats to Charlotte Bronte, visited Ambleside and other writers, such as Thomas De Quincey and Matthew Arnold, had homes here. By the 1850s Ambleside was at the centre of a Victorian vogue for ‘literary tourism’, with visitors exploring the region through the writing it inspired. This atmospheric dusk walking tour (bring your torch!) is led by Penny, Associate Professor of English Literature at the University of Cumbria. It will explore some of these literary connections and will include readings from a selection of texts. Approx one mile's worth of walking.

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5–7pm – SESSION 5: SUPPER & QUIZ (we do provide)

The bar will open and supper will be served. Then settle down for the ultimate Lake District pub quiz, hosted by Mark Richards, with prizes. Raffle, with proceeds going to Ambleside Action for a Future. 

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7–9pm – MUSIC: Black Sail 

The superb four-piece Black Sail will play us out with their lively mix of traditional tunes from Ireland and Britain, including a selection from Cumbria. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100038522622372

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