Society Events

November 2024. Donation of AW Letters

The Society received a very kind donation of previously unpublished letters written by Alfred Wainwright between 1968 and 1985. The letters’ focus is the Pennine Way but they also include some reflections by AW on matters of the day. They will be offered to the official Wainwright Archive at the County Record Office at Kendal in due course where they will be available for public view.

September 2024. Wainwright Memorial Lecture

Graham Uney gave the 2024 lecture talking about his hillwalking and mountaineering adventures. Graham completed the 214 before his eighteenth birthday and has since gone on to complete nearly six rounds. He also climbed Helvellyn over 600 times when he was a National Park Fell Top Assessor.

September 2024. 2024 Challenge Book ‘Wainwright’s Outlying Fells’ Published

The 2024 Challenge celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Alfred Wainwright’s “The Outlying Fells of Lakeland”, first published by the Westmorland Gazette in 1974 and revised by Chris Jesty in 2011.  AW dedicated the Outlying Fells, lovingly, to ‘the old-timers on the fells’.

August 2024. 2025 Calendar Available to Buy

The 2025 Calendar includes beautiful images of the Lake District and other areas associated with Alfred Wainwright contributed by Society members. All profits from calendar sales will be donated to Fix the Fells. Working with the Lake District Foundation, we aim to double our contribution to Fix the Fells through the “Big Christmas Give”. The Society also produces new packs of Winter/Christmas Greeting Cards for sale in aid of Fix the Fells.

July 2024. Cheque Presentation to the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association (LDSAMRA)

The Society had the pleasure of handing over a cheque for £12,750 to the LDSAMRA at the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team’s Gosforth base. Seen here receiving the cheque is Phil Gerrard, Chair of the LDSAMRA. Our sincere thanks to everyone who donated or contributed in some way

July 2024. Newt in Hard Tarn success at Lakeland Book of the Year Awards 2024

Derek Cockell’s book “A Newt in Hard Tarn” Runner-Up in the People and Business Category of the Lakeland Book of the Year Awards 2024.

2024 June. Society Supports Fix the Fells

Society announces that it will be raising funds for Fix the Fells in 2024. The body’s mission

is to protect our spectacular Lakeland fells from erosion by repairing and maintaining the upland paths. Erosion from people, coupled with severe weather events and climate change, is causing ugly scars and environmental damage in the fragile mountains. Fix the Fells tackles this erosion problem by repairing and maintaining upland paths, helping to keep the Lake District a special place for future generations.

2024 June. Ratty Exhibition and Walks

One of the little gems in Alfred Wainwright’s body of work is “Walks from Ratty”. Society member David Johnson was kindly invited by the Railway Museum at Ravenglass to update the book and, in association with this, the Society supported a small exhibition on walking in Eskdale and a programme of led walks, including the ten in Wainwright’s book. The exhibition at the Railway Museum ran from July to December and included information on Wainwright and Walks from Ratty.

2024 April. 2023 Photographic Competition Winners Announced

In the Wainwright Category, the winner was Ray Graham with his photo of Great Gable and Haystacks from Rannerdale Knotts. The runner-up was Ashley Brogan with “Got your back, Jack”.

In the British Countryside Category, Jude Ewing was the winner with his photo “Mount Joy Bluebells “, and the runner-up was Leslie Fitton with Pigeon Tower, Rivington.

2024 March. New Milestone Reached for Book Sales

Our book project, designed to keep Alfred Wainwright’s popular titles in print, reached the significant milestone of 5,000 books sold. The Society’s thanks to everyone who has supported the project and, in doing so, demonstrated AW’s enduring popularity.

2024 March. Society Objects to Elterwater Quarry Plans

The Society objected to a new planning application to re-purpose Elterwater quarry for heritage tourism and associated purposes. While recognising that the new application included measures to seek to mitigate traffic impacts, the Society did not consider these were sufficient to address more fundamental concerns about such a development in the National Park and a World Heritage Site.

2024 March. Society AGM

The 2024 AGM was held at Staveley Village Hall on Saturday 30th March with an optional walk to Potter Tarn in the morning.

2023 December. Wainwright’s Hip Flask?

A hip flask donated to the Society, engraved with the initials AW, was auctioned among Society members to raise funds for Mountain Rescue Cumbria.

2023 September. Wainwright Memorial Lecture

The lecture at Rheged, Penrith was given by Richard Warren and Rob Grange on behalf of Mountain Rescue Cumbria. A capacity audience raised £1,500 for a very good cause.

2023 September. 2023 Challenge Book “Westmorland: Tribute to a County” Published

The Challenge was based on three of Alfred Wainwright’s lesser-known books related to Westmorland, namely: Westmorland Heritage, Three Westmorland Rivers and Kendal in the Nineteenth Century. Living and working in Kendal, AW had a special affection for the former county of Westmorland.

2023 September. Society publishes “A Newt in Hard Tarn”

This new book written by former Society Secretary, Derek Cockell, is a personal appreciation of the life and work of Alfred Wainwright, in particular his unique writing style in over fifty published books together with his incomparable penmanship in creating the many beautiful pen and ink drawings that illustrate his work.

2023 July and August. Society Attends Ambleside and Keswick Shows

To increase the Society’s visibility, we attended the Ambleside Show on Thursday 27^th July and the Keswick Show on August Bank Holiday Monday, 28^th August. It was good to talk to people who had not heard of the Society and to put faces to the names of some members. It was also an opportunity to sell Society merchandise.

2023 July. Society’s 2024 Calendar Published

The Society published its ever-popular calendar to raise funds for Mountain Rescue Cumbria. The Society has supported Mountain Rescue and Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs in the past and it seemed right, after an especially busy period for the teams’ volunteers following the lifting of Covid related travel restrictions, that the Society should offer further support.

AW was himself briefly a member of the Kendal MRT around 1958 and was even actively involved in call-outs.

2023 May. Society Donation to Animal Rescue Cumbria

Thanks to the generous contributions made by Society members, sales of our 2023 Calendar and the very kind gift of AW drawings and prints by Joan and Richard Robinson of Penrith, we were able to make a total donation of £8,640 to our 2022 charity beneficiary, Animal Rescue Cumbria, a charity AW supported  wholeheartedly.

2023 March. Auctions of AW Drawings and Prints

 Joan and Richard Robinson of Penrith kindly gifted to the Society two original AW drawings and three AW signed prints. The two drawings, of Swindale and Low Crosby Church, were auctioned by Laidlaws Auctioneers, Carlisle and Society members were invited to submit bids for the three prints.

The auctions raised a total of £1,500 which was donated equally to two charities AW supported: Animal Rescue Cumbria and Mountain Rescue Cumbria.

2022 November. 20th Anniversary Celebration at the Parish Centre, Ambleside

Way back in 2002, when the Society was formed at Ambleside Youth Hostel, nobody could know the life expectancy of a membership organisation in honour of the late Alfred Wainwright. The Society would have to depend on continuing subscription income and volunteers to run it. That tough test has now been passed for 20 years. That the Society has survived and prospered over that time is, of course, testament to AW’s enduring popularity. Some 70 members celebrated the Society’s 20th Anniversary at the Parish Centre on the afternoon of Saturday 12 November with 25 taking part in a walk up to Dove Crag in the morning.

Our President, Jane King, and Chairman, Eric Robson, gave their reflections on the Society’s development over the past 20 years and thanked volunteers, past and present, for their achievements in growing and developing the Society into the professional organisation it is today. Derek Cockell, past Secretary, and John Bewick, former Development Officer, spoke in more detail about specific Society projects and initiatives. These are described in a special anniversary booklet, The Wainwright Society — The First Twenty Years.

2022 July. New Calendar published. After a 1-year break due to Covid, the Society published it’s new 2023 Calendar. Profit from our Calendars has been the main contributor to our fundraising for over 10 years. As usual all photographs were taken by Society members. The proceeds this year will be donated to Animal Rescue Cumbria to help them refurbish and update Kapellan, the animal shelter that Alfred and Betty Wainwright were instrumental in setting up. In previous years we have donated to Mountain Rescue Teams, Calvert Trust, Great Northern Air Ambulance and many others.

2022 April. The 4^th out-of-print title re-published. Just under 3 years from the first of our out-of-print books was re-published, we produced the 4^th title under our agreement, Walks on the Howgill Fells. These books have been extremely well received by members and non-members alike and are available on our website and also in a number of local bookstores.

2022 April. Ambleside Centre. We’re very pleased to join a community fundraising event held at the Parish Centre, Ambleside on Saturday 2nd April. We provided information about the Society, what we do, how to join and had copies of our re-published AW books for sale. We were able to say hello to current members who visited plus, we hope, new ones.

2022 January. Society Activities back in full swing! After two years of severe limitations, our 2022 Walks programme is back with eight walks planned during the year. Other regular Society activities and events, including the Challenge, Memorial Lecture, Calendar Production and our Photographic Competition will also re-commence. Lovely to be back!

2021 September Orrest Head. A new path to the summit of Orrest Head, suitable for all including wheelchair users, is now open! The Society was pleased to make a substantial donation to the project. Windermere and Bowness Town Council worked with the Lake District National Park Authority on the project to create this ‘miles without stiles’ path. The project also included improvements at the summit area to prevent occasional flooding and to provide new seating, and new signage/interpretation boards.

2020 Covid! Like most other organisations, Covid and lockdowns brought the majority of our planned activities to a halt. Whilst we managed to keep the Footsteps magazine going and introduce some of our Out-of-Print books, we had to cancel the Challenge, Calendar, Photo Competition, Society Walks, the Lecture and other events.

2020 Our Second Poetry Competition was launched and judging took place in August with news of the winning entry being announced in Autumn 2020 Footsteps. An Anthology covering all entries was produced and is available via the Society Shop. Profits from the sale of copies will be donated to our 2020 beneficiary, The Lake District Calvert Trust.

2019  Re-Publishing Out of Print books Project. Following an agreement with the Wainwright Estate, the Society embarked on a project to publish some out-of-print Wainwright books. The first will be A Pennine Journey, to be followed by The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. The Society has options on two other books: Walks in Limestone Country and Walks on the Howgill Fells. These titles have been difficult to buy in recent years. This project meets one of the principal Society objects: To keep alive the fellwalking traditions promoted by AW through his guidebooks and other publications.

2019 November Redesigned Website. A totally redesigned website was launched with much more visual matter and easier navigation. The new site will also be easier for mobile phone and tablet users. It includes a ‘Shop’ for our increasing range of merchandise and much more information about what the Society does. Quotes and images from AW’s work will be incorporated into the design.

The Ullswater Way Wainwright Installation June 2017. The 20-mile Ullswater Way was inaugurated in 2016 and the Society worked with the Friends of the Ullswater Way to place two pieces of artwork to mark Alfred Wainwright’s love of the area. Members attended the unveiling in June 2017. One was a slate plaque reading: ‘Patterdale Post Office was the first shop to sell copies of Wainwright’s guidebooks’ (the drawing here is of Patterdale Village; Second Lakeland Sketchbook 139). The second was a ‘Sitting Stone’, a large piece of slate rock with space for two or three people to sit and admire the view of Ullswater. The quotation on the stone, ‘that loveliest of lakes, Ullswater, curving gracefully into the distance …’ comes from A Coast to Coast Walk p. 44.

2016 May. Encounters with Wainwright was the brainchild of Society committee member and Footsteps Editor David Johnson. Over a period of three years David gathered together information from people via visits, telephone calls, email and snail-mail, resulting in a full colour book which included the contributors’ stories. All profits are being donated to Animal Rescue Cumbria, the charity that Alfred and Betty Wainwright supported wholeheartedly.

The Society’s second party was held in 2015 and celebrated nothing other than our friendship! Once again members and guests met at Wilf’s in Staveley and enjoyed a superb meal and entertainment from Allan Miller afterwards. The party ended with another rousing rendition of The AW song Alfie Boy to the tune of Danny Boy. Our special guests included Betty Wainwright’s daughter Jane King and her husband Stephen and Alan Hinkes.

The Wainwright Exhibition at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery 23 May – 8 November 2015. This major exhibition was staged by Keswick Museum and Art Gallery and contained a wide variety of material gathered from numerous sources including The Wainwright Society and its members. The exhibition was entitled A Love Letter to the Lakeland Fells. It featured artefacts, photographs, video and interpretation panels about different aspects of the life and works of Alfred Wainwright. The Society had a display area with details about our work and information including copies of Footsteps and our brochure.

Gift your Gear 2014. Connected to our fundraising in 2014 we linked up with Rohan at Ambleside to contribute to their ‘Gift your Gear’ project which encouraged people and organisations to pass on any serviceable walking gear so that it could benefit other users from underprivileged backgrounds. Having advertised our intention to collect from members at our memorial Lecture in 2014 and again our AGM in 2015 we were overwhelmed with the response which resulted in three vehicles full of good quality clothing, rucksacks, poles and footwear being donated to this charity. The original ‘new’ value of this was well over £3,000.

2014 Book Collection. The Society embarked on a project to acquire a copy of every one of AW’s published items in order to ensure that all of his work was always available for the future. We also included items to which he had contributed in some way (e.g. a foreword, introduction, or drawings which had not been reproduced in his other publications). Once complete, the books from the project would be lodged with the Cumbria Archive where they could be inspected and also used for research work.

Kendal Mountain Rescue Team HQ March 2013 Seventeen members visited the Kendal Mountain Rescue Team Headquarters. It had emerged that Alfred Wainwright had been a member of the Team during the 1950s. Society member, David Johnson, organised the trip and members watched a slide presentation illustrating the work undertaken by the Kendal team followed by a conducted tour of the base explaining their equipment, the search vehicles and the all-important control room. Wainwright had given the Team a hand-drawn sketch of the Kentmere fells to commemorate his association with the Kendal MRT and it hangs on the wall in the main room at the base.

Anniversary Party 2012. We had a big celebration year in 2012 as this was the 10^th anniversary of the formation of the Society. Our Society walk that day retraced the steps to the summit of Dove Crag and in the evening Society members got together for our first Party at Wilf’s café in Staveley. After a superb hot buffet meal the 70 members and guests were treated to live entertainment from Fiona Hanlon, enjoyed a Wainwright-based quiz and the evening was rounded off by a mass rendition of ‘Alfie Boy’, sung to the tune of Danny Boy.

New View Indicator on Orrest Head unveiled 28th July 2012. In a joint venture with Windermere Town Council, a new View Indicator was unveiled on Orrest Head by Kathleen Atkinson, Deputy Mayor of the Council and Jane King & Annie Sellar, Presidents of The Wainwright Society. They were joined by a group of over 30 Society members and representatives of the Town Council. The new View Indicator replaced an earlier viewfinder, which had been damaged by vandals, and was made from slate quarried from the Bursting Stone Quarry, Coniston. The design was based on Wainwright’s view from Orrest Head, drawn in his Outlying Fells of Lakeland. This had been his first sight of Lakeland in 1930 and inspired him to explore and write about the Lakeland fells.

During the ceremony, Peter Linney, then Secretary of the Society, spoke about the collaboration between the Town Council and the Society to bring the project to a successful conclusion. Jane King, daughter of Betty Wainwright, recounted how her mother had brought both her and Annie up to Orrest Head on regular occasions when they were children and they both grew to love the view and the fells of Lakeland.

Doug Scott & Sir Chris Bonington Lecture 2010 The Wainwright Society ‘Scott/Bonington Lecture’ took place at Rheged, near Penrith before a full house, all 262 tickets having been sold within 2 weeks of the event announcement. Doug and Chris recounted their exploits, particularly on Everest and The Ogre, with considerable personal sentiment. The evening was organised by the Society to help raise funds and support the voluntary rescue services – the local Mountain Rescue Teams and the Royal National Lifeboat Institute – who were in the thick of things alongside the full time Emergency Services during the terrible flooding in Cumbria in 2009. Over £4,000 was raised, via ticket sales, for the Rescue services.

Orrest Head June 2010. On 7th June 1930, two young men set off on their first holiday to the Lake District.  For one of them, Alfred Wainwright, it was to be a day that changed the whole course of his life.  ‘It was a moment of magic, a revelation so unexpected that I stood transfixed, unable to believe my eyes.’ Ex-Fellwanderer. This was the moment that led him to produce the seven Pictorial Guides, his love-letter to the fells. On Monday 7th June 2010, exactly 80 years later, a party of 34 members together a film crew re-created this important day. They had assembled at Windermere station, mostly dressed in period 1930’s costume, and travelled to Blackburn to be greeted at the Town Hall by the Mayor, causing much local interest. The return journey, mirroring AW’s route was by means of a 1950s Leyland Tiger.  Back at Windermere the group was met by over twenty other members of the Society, who joined the walk up Orrest Head. Guests, including schoolchildren from Windermere and Jane King, daughter of Betty Wainwright and John Nicoll, MD of Frances Lincoln, reminisced about their experiences and the history of AW and his books.

Memorial Service for Alfred & Betty Wainwright 2009 On Saturday 28th February 2009, St James’ Church at Buttermere was full to capacity with Wainwright Society Members, and friends and relatives of Alfred and Betty Wainwright who had assembled to pay tribute to their lives. Included in the gathering were Linda Collinge, AW’s great niece, Jane King and Annie Sellar, Betty’s two daughters and their families, with officials from the Society and Derry Brabbs, often referred to as AW’s ‘official’ photographer as he collaborated on seven books with AW between 1984 and 1992. At the service, three of AW & Betty’s favourite hymns were sung, ‘Guide me o thou Great Redeemer’, ‘All things bright and beautiful’, and ‘Abide with me’.

Autumn Dinner at Kendal. 2008 An Autumn Dinner was organised and held in September at the Castle Green Hotel, Kendal. Sixty members attended and were entertained by an after-dinner speech given by the guidebook writer, Bob Allen. Bob is pictured with Peter Linney who was then Secretary of the Society. Bob and Peter were authors of ‘Walking the Ridges of Lakeland: According to Wainwrights’ Pictorial Guides’.

Wainwright Centenary 2007 Friends, football fans and walkers gathered at Blackburn Cathedral on, Sunday 21st January 2007, to celebrate the life of Britain’s most famous fell walker, Alfred Wainwright. Wainwright was also one of the founders of Blackburn Rovers’ Supporters Club. The service featured some of his original drawings and writings about his beloved football club. Eric Braysford read his poem about the life and times of AW, ‘Every Step a Joy’. Previously, eighty-seven members of The Wainwright Society had gathered in the crypt of Blackburn Cathedral where Eric Robson chaired the fourth Annual General Meeting of the Wainwright Society.