It’s nearly a year since Cumbria was battered by storms, Desmond, Eva and Frank. In the aftermath, local rural charity, Friends of the Lake District raised over £60,000 from its members and supporters in donations to its ‘Landscape Flood Appeal’.
In recent months, Friends of the Lake District has been working with Lake District National Park, Cumbria County Council and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to spend the money where it was most urgently needed.
The focus has been on work to repair damaged footpaths and footbridges throughout Cumbria.
Donations to the charity’s appeal mean it has been able to provide funding and support for seven projects, including a replacement bridge over the River Rothay at the Badger Bar at Rydal, a replacement bridge at Hoggs Earth, near Watendlath, a replacement bridge at Birks Mill, Sedbergh, and repairs to damaged footpath at White Moss Common, between Rydal and Grasmere.
Repaired thanks to generosity
Alison Lax, Policy officer at Friends of the Lake District said: “We are very grateful to everyone who donated to our Landscape Flood Appeal, and these bridges and paths have been repaired thanks to their generosity.
“There is a significant amount of work to footpaths in Cumbria still to do, but by bringing together the money we were able to raise, and working with the highly skilled and dedicated staff at both national parks and the county council, we have started to make good the damage, and are ensuring much loved, and much used, footpaths and bridges are more resilient for the future.”
Steve Gaskell, of Lake District National Park Authority, said: “The support of Friends of the Lake District members means a lot to us, to the locally affected businesses, and the thousands of visitors to the Lake District. The cash injection early on helped enormously in getting these important routes open again quickly. These projects are just the tip of the iceberg and we hope we can work with the Friends of the Lake District and others as we continue to repair the extensive damage to the path network caused by the storms.”
