June 2001

LAKE STEAMER IS "STREET" STAR - Ullswater's oldest steamer, Lady of the Lake, is starring into two episodes of the ITV soap Coronation Street, on 14th and 22nd June. Filming on the boat took place in May and covers the current story line of Alma Halliwell (actress Amanda Barrie), who is dying from cancer. The trip on Ullswater is a nostalgic journey with her former husband, factory owner Mike Baldwin (actress Johnny Briggs) who spent their honeymoon in the Lake District.

July 2001

INN AND CAMPSITE FOR SALE AT £1.5 MILLION - The Brotherswater Inn and Sykeside Camping Park, at the foot of Kirkstone pass, near Ullswater, are for sale, with an asking price of more than £1.5 million.

AWARD FOR GLENRIDDING HOTEL - The Glenridding Hotel, on the shores of Ullswater, where all employees are involved in business planning workshops, has won the Lady Inglewood Training Award, run by the Cumbria Tourist Board. The hotel has experienced an 11 per cent. increase in sales since adopting the total involvement policy.

May 2002

"BOLLYWOOD" FILMING IN LAKELAND - One of India's most famous film stars arrived in Eden district to continue filming his new "Bollywood" blockbuster. Ullswater lake and Glenridding, provided a backdrop for scenes from Muijse Dosti Karoge (Will you be my friend), featuring Hrithik Roshan. He plays a young man who, having grown up in London, takes a two-week holiday in India which changes his life

BOY SWEPT TO HIS DEATH - A 10-year-old boy was swept to his death in a Lakeland stream during a school outing. Max Palmer, from Harbour Way, Fleetwood, was on an outdoor pursuits trip to Greenside Beck, near Glenridding when the accident happened. He was accompanied by his mother, Patricia, an educational support assistant at Fleetwood High School, which organised the trip. Trying to save her son, Mrs. Palmer was herself swept along the beck and was found unconscious. Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team leader Dave Freeborn said a lot of rain had fallen the day before and the beck was in spate. A full inquest will be held at a later date.

July 2002

STAR STUDDED CRICKET - Actors Robert Powell, John Alderton and Fraser Hines were in a Lords Taverners team which played a local Invitation XI at Patterdale as part of the Ullswater Festival. Other members were former England cricketers Brian Close, Graham Roope, Peter Lever and Fred Rumsey. Richard Kelso hit an unbeaten century for the home team. Spectators included American visitors who had never seen a cricket match before.

August 2002

ULLSWATER PROPERTY MAKES £1.3 MILLION - THREE Eden properties made a total of £1.7 million when they were sold by public auctions at Penrith. Wreay Mansions, Ullswater, comprising 13 flats and said to be in need of some renovation, made nearly £1.3 million. Deer Howe, Patterdale, a traditional Lake District house with barn and outbuildings, made £310,000. Nearly 35.5 acres of arable land at Maughanby, being sold for the Diocese of Carlisle, made £95,000.

September 2002

ANNA RULES ON STICKS - TV newsreader Anna Ford returned to her native Cumbria to judge crooks and walking sticks at the 100th Patterdale Dog Day, beside Ullswater. She last judged at the show 22 years ago, at the invitation of John Rogers, the local vicar who was a family friend.

October 2002

BIKER AIRLIFTED TO HOSPITAL - A mountain biker suffered serious head injuries when he fell from his machine while descending a fellside above Ullswater. The 33-year-old man from Sheffield was between Keppel and Greenside mines when the accident happened. Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was called out and the injured cyclist was airlifted to the Cumberland Infirmary at Carlisle by RAF rescue helicopter.

MINES SITE WORK COSTS £850,000 - An 18-month project to stabilise a tip at the former Greenside lead mines, above Ullswater, which was in danger of collapsing and polluting a beck leading down to the lake, has been completed. The work has cost £850,000, the funds coming from the Environment Agency, the Lake District National Park Authority and the North West Development Agency.

November 2002

HONOUR FOR INTERNATIONAL CHURCH WORK - The Rev Dr Fred Kaan, a hymn writer who lives at Glenridding, has won a rare award for his "outstanding contributions" to ecumenical relations and hymnody. In a ceremony at South Africa House, London, he was presented with Chancellor's Gold Award of Potchefstroom University. Dr. Kaan has served as minister-secretary of the International Congregational Council and departmental secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. He was twice adviser to the World Council of Churches, in Nairobi (1975) and Vancouver (1983). Since the mid-1980s Dr. Kaan has been working in partnership with Norwegian composer Knut Nystedt on the creation of choral music and cantatas.

December 2002

ON THE £38,000 WAGON - Cumbrian personality John Lowthian, joint master of the Ullswater Foxhounds, raised over £38,000 by giving up drinking for nine months. Mr. Lowthian, a chartered accountant, was sponsored by hundreds of people for sums ranging from £1 to more than £1,000. Of the total raised, £27,000 went to the Countryside Alliance, £1,000 to the Macmillan Nurses and £10,500 to an appeal for a new cancer centre at Dumfries.

January 2003

IN THE FAMILY MOULD - Fourteen-year-old Ruth Senior, from Norfolk, who has won a year's motor racing scholarship in T-Cars, is from a well-known motor sports family who once ran the Brotherswater Hotel, in the Lake District. Her grandfather survived a spectacular mountain road crash while taking part in the famous Monte Carlo rally.

February 2003

TEACHER DENIES MANSLAUGHTER - A Teacher, aged 42, from Thornton-Cleveleys had denied the manslaughter of a 10-year-old boy who drowned in a stream at Glenridding while on a school field trip [see May 2002 above]. The male geography teacher pleaded not guilty at Preston Crown Court to the unlawful killing of Max Palmer in May last year. However he admitted failing to take effective measures to prevent physical injury, hypothermia or drowning to three others at Glenridding Beck. The hearing was adjourned until January, 2004.

HUNTERS REJECT NEW ATTACK - Supporters of the Lake District's fell foxhounds have strongly refuted allegations of misconduct in a report by the League Against Cruel Sports which is claimed to be the result of "undercover investigations". They say the report, entitled "The Futility of Upland Hunting" is a rehash of old and discredited material and amounts to no more than "the usual tired propaganda". Ullswater Foxhounds' joint master John Lowthian said: "The people from the League Against Cruel Sports came here claiming to be making a film for US television and we allowed them access because we have nothing to hide."

March 2003

FAST WORKING THIEF - A Scotsman who stole £560 from the bar at The Inn on the Lake, Glenridding, where he had worked for less than an hour was ordered by magistrates to do 120 hours of community service. He asked for two other similar offences involving the thefts of £826 from a pub in Wembley and £510 from a pub at Acton, to be taken into consideration.

AIRLIFT FROM STRIDING EDGE - A man broke his leg in a 50ft fall in icy conditions on Striding Edge, on the route to the summit of Helvellyn. The 28-year-old, from Aldershot, was treated by members of Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team before being airlifted by RAF helicopter to hospital in Carlisle. At the same time the rescuers were called to the assistance of a 26-year-old female teacher who damaged her ankle while walking in the Helvellyn Old Man area.

HOTEL WORKER FOUND DEAD - Two men were arrested after a 27-year-old man was found dead in the staff quarters of the Patterdale Hotel, beside Ullswater. A post mortem was carried out and toxicology results are awaited. The two men were arrested in connection with the supply of drugs.

May 2003

FATAL FALL ON HELVELLYN - A Walker died when he fell more than 300ft on Helvellyn. Hugh Fox, aged 53, from Middlesbrough was just below the summit, with a colleague, when the accident happened. Patterdale mountain rescue was called out, but he died at the scene. An inquest will be held later.

GLENRIDDING - The owner of a vintage tractor at Glenridding say he has been "driven mad" by a stream of parking fine notices - from borough councils in London! John Allison, 33, a maintenance electrician, has discovered that the offences in fact involved a German car with a registration number identical to that of his tractor FCK 272. Parking tickets first arrived from the council at Barnet and more recently from Islington which claimed there had been 25 parking infringements. However, Islington have now accepted that Mr. Allison's elderly Fordson Major tractor was not involved and he hopes he will be left in peace now.

August 2003

BOATHOUSE YOURS FOR £135,000 - A Victorian boathouse on the shore of Ullswater has been put up for sale at £135,000 [about $200,000] and is attracting overseas interest. The two-storey property at Glencoyne Wood, two miles from Glenridding has a private water supply, battery powered electricity supply and a toilet, but the Lake District National Park Authority has banned people from staying overnight in the property.

December 2003

GLENRIDDING - Thieves broke into an Ullswater Steamers' building on the pier at Glenridding and stole three computers, mobile phones, walkie-talkies, a digital camera, a VHF radio and clothing. Breaking a window and knocking off the alarm gained entrance to the building.