Latest news with #Ullswater
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Lake District charity walking challenge for former York Sheriff's Lady
A former Sheriff's Lady is set to walk 26 miles to raise funds for the Alzheimer's Society. Danielle Mason will walk the distance around Ullswater, in the Lake District, this Saturday (May 31). Her father Mark will join her for the feat, known as 'Trek26,' and the pair hope to raise £1,000 for the charity. The grandmother of Danielle, who was diagnosed with dementia five years ago, is serving as inspiration for the challenge. Danielle, who was part of York's civic party in 2021, said: "It has been heartbreaking to see my nana slowly deteriorate. Danielle (centre) outside Mansion House in York with the city's swordbearer and sergeant-at-mace (Image: Supplied) "Medication has slowed down the process but now she struggles to keep conversation and remember what she has been doing. "It has had a huge impact on her husband, who is her main carer. "I want to raise money to help others in the future to get better support, and to help raise the profile of this important charity helping to support research into new treatments." Donations to Danielle's cause can be made at
BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Patterdale mountain rescuers warn of looming breaking point
Mountain rescue teams say they could reach breaking point due to a rapid increase in the number of call-outs. Volunteers share their experiences with a hope of making people take safety more seriously. Social media shows the "nice bits" of walking in the Lake District, Matt Neilson says."You don't see the trauma and the bodies that we have to carry off when it goes wrong," he a warm late-spring day and builder Mr Neilson is on the site of his latest property development, a barn conversion just outside of Greystoke in Cumbria. He's his own boss so can decide when he is available to respond to rescues with the other volunteers in the Patterdale team, where he is a deputy a moment's notice, he could be on his way to a call-out, leaving behind his workers, wife or teenage sons to carry on whatever he was doing."You end up prioritising mountain rescue when you know that there are people on the fell that are stuck and other members of the team who need help," he says. The number of calls Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team receives is growing steadily each 2023 there were 61 call-outs, in 2024 that had soared to 110, with the team's patch including the hills around Ullswater, Helvellyn and the notorious Striding Edge that has claimed a number of lives."This year I would expect, if the numbers continue at the rate that they are, we'll probably be pushing 140, 150," team leader Matt Cox says."At some point, as a small team, we're going to start to struggle with that."Does he think the team might be reaching breaking point?"Certainly for the teams in the Lake District, I wouldn't say we were quite at breaking point yet, but we're definitely heading in that direction," he says candidly. Another of the team's volunteers is Dr Dan Jones, a GP specialising in the rehabilitation of older people at Penrith Hospital. He works with nurses and physiotherapists to help those who have undergone treatment in hospital get well enough to go home."I honestly think I have saved more lives in mountain rescue than on a frail and elderly ward," the father-of-three says. "Because when people get cold and wet and stuck, they really need you. And to think you are helping them like that is a good thing."A fell runner in his spare time, he enjoys his work with Patterdale Mountain Rescue."It's the unpredictability of the call-outs that's sometimes more difficult for me," he says. "Balancing a full time job, a family and mountain rescue is tricky. "It's a big commitment and it's more than I probably realised when I joined."Dr Jones says most people who call them out do not realise they are all volunteers."We often get comments saying 'oh this must be a nice job' or 'what do you do when you're not on rescues?', and I think they think we're sitting at a base waiting for calls to come in," he says. Amy Heys is a manager at the Environment Agency in Penrith and decided to join the Patterdale team during the pandemic so she could "give something back".She says her managers are very supportive of her role and if there isn't an incident that needs her urgent attention at work, she can use her flexi-time to leave to help with people think the rescuers are emergency workers like the police or firefighters, she says, but doesn't get frustrated with people who call them out because they usually are in need of help."I've been involved in outdoor activities my whole life and I've got myself in bad situations, so I'm very happy to go out to help anybody who's in a bad situation," Ms Heys says. But she says there are a few questions people can ask themselves before they go out on to the fells that could stop them needing to call for help."Do you know what the weather's going to be like? Have you got the right skills, have you got the right equipment? You know it's sensible to ask yourself that. "I think people bite off more than they can chew." Mr Cox says there is also an unrealistic expectation of what people think the teams can do for them."They call us out and people just expect that a helicopter will appear or someone will appear in 20 minutes," he says. "If you're on the high fells it can take us two hours to get to you, and in those two hours, if you've called us out just because you're not feeling great or its raining and you've got cold, you could have got down yourself."Mountain rescue is a free-for-all service that is there 24/7 and we are happy to go out and we are happy to offer advice, but we are just asking people to be a little bit prepared and if stuff does start to look like it's going wrong, sit down, take a breath - can you deal with this situation yourself? "If you can't that's absolutely fine, give us a call, we'll come out straight away." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
13-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Donald Campbell's Bluebird to return to Ullswater world record site
Donald Campbell's Bluebird is to return to the site where he broke his first world speed record 70 years pilot reached 202.32 mph (325.6 km/h) setting his first world water speed record aboard the hydroplane at Ullswater, Cumbria, in 23 July, the craft will be on display at the lake's Glenridding Pier to mark the anniversary of Mr Campbell's achievement. Tracy Hodgson, director of the Ruskin Museum, which normally houses Bluebird, said it was an opportunity to see a "very special piece of British high-speed motoring history". Mr Campbell beat the previous speed record of 178.49 mph (287.25 km/h) set by Stanley went on to achieve a further seven records before he died in 1967, aged 46, on Coniston Water, while trying to break his previous speed of 276mph (444km/h). The event to mark the 70th anniversary of Mr Campbell's first successful attempt, is held in partnership with Ullswater Steamers, which has provided cruises on the lake for over 160 Martin, operations manager at the firm, said Bluebird's return would be a special day for the community."We feel a deep connection to this incredible piece of history and are honoured to play a part in commemorating his achievement," he was recovered from the bottom of Coniston Water in 2001 and rebuilt by a team of engineers on a long-running ownership row, it was handed over to the Ruskin Museum in March 2024. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
