A LAKE District boat is to join a thousand-strong fleet sailing in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee procession on the Thames this summer.

One of Windermere’s well-worn wooden tourist vessels has been selected by Royal organisers to take part in the event – the largest flotilla in modern times.

More than two million people are expected to watch from the embankments of the Thames as the seven-mile procession steers through London waters.

Cumbria’s own aptly-named participant, The Queen of the Lake, owned by Windermere Lake Cruises, is currently being repainted and refurbished for the spectacular, on Sunday, June 3.

The flotilla will be led by Her Majesty the Queen and other members of the Royal family aboard a barge called The Spirit of Chartwell.

It will sail under 14 bridges, alongside groups of narrow boats, historic vessels including World War Two ships from the Dunkirk beaches and replica Tudor ships.

Managing director of Windermere Lake Cruises Nigel Wilkinson said: “We are delighted Cumbria will be represented at such a high-profile, patriotic event which will inevitably strike a cord with the whole country as we celebrate her Majesty the Queen and her 60-year reign together.

“We hope to be able to involve the wider Cumbria community in this project and to give some younger Cumbrians a day out that they will remember for the rest of their lives.”

Boat building manager Alex Williamson and operations manager Russell Bowden will lead the team south for the patriotic event.

Windermere skipper Ron Walker will captain the boat on the day itself.

The 15-metre tourist boat, built in 1949, will be hoisted out of the water at Ambleside and driven almost 300 miles by lorry before it is launched on the Thames.

It is a reversal of the ship’s initial northern voyage, 60 years ago, when she was transported to Windermere from the Thames-side town of Molsey, where she was built.

It is not the first time the Queen of the Lake has been given a Royal mark of approval. In March 2010 it carried the Prince of Wales when he visited the Lake District.

ONE of the most important collections of watercolour paintings in the world is heading our way.

More than 40 works from the exquisite holdings of Sir Hickman Beckett Bacon (1855-1945), an avid collector of English watercolours between 1895 and the First World War, will be on show at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, from January 12 until April 14.

Now owned by Sir Nicholas Bacon, the precious paintings will be loaned to the Kendal gallery for its next exhibition - Turner and his Contemporaries: The Hickman Bacon Watercolour Collection.

Abbot Hall chief executive Gordon Watson was thrilled at the prospect of the eminent display, which should have the eyes of the nation’s arts world focused on the important regional gallery.

In fact, a fitting time to stage such a grand show as Abbot Hall celebrates a half century since its opened its celebrated doors.

Gordon added: “Fifty years ago on September 28, 1962, Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret officially opened the gallery and since then Abbot Hall has established itself as one of the most significant and ambitious galleries in the north of England.”

Rarely aired in public, the collection will be shown alongside highlights from Abbot Hall’s own permanent collection of watercolours.

Sir Nicholas said that he was delighted to be able to lend the paintings to Abbot Hall.

He continued: “My great uncle Sir Hickman Bacon (Hicky) had unusual tastes for his time and thus the collection is very strong in the type of late, ethereal Turner watercolours that only became widely popular with the advent of abstract painting in the 1940s and 50s. Equally, John Sell Cotman, an artist who had only just emerged from total obscurity, was of particular interest.

“Hicky’s collection represents English watercolour painting at its greatest; like so many collectors he was not interested by the fashion of the day, but he was committed to collecting those objects which fulfilled his heartfelt love of beauty.”

Born in 1855 into a family of landed gentry, Sir Hickman was educated at Eton. He joined the army, later returning to his old-fashioned family mansion. He suffered from ill health early in his life, and remained a bachelor until he died in 1945. He also collected fabrics, wall hangings, ceramics and Japanese prints – a collection he gave to the Japanese Government.

Abbot Hall collections manager Nick Rogers said that an exhibition of watercolours from the ‘remarkable’ Hickman Bacon collection was a cause for celebration wherever it was held. He added: “That it is taking place in Kendal, Cumbria, is particularly appropriate, as this is an area that played a significant role in the development of watercolour as the medium of choice for the itinerant artist in the late 18th and early 19th Century.”

THE British Judo squad for the Olympics spent three days in Kendal on an intensive winter training camp this week.

Kendal Dojo hosted the camp, which saw 160 people arrive in the town as part of the team, and they were rigorously put through their paces through a variety of training methods.

The club hosted the squad four years ago, prior to the Beijing Olympics, and with many of the squad familiar with the facilities, it was deemed to be the right choice to hold the winter camp in Kendal again.

During their time in Kendal, the squad were sent on runs up Scout Scar, with rock-lifting thrown in, log races in the Serpentine Woods, randori (sparring) sessions and technical judo skills.

Head coach at Kendal Dojo Mike Liptrot said: “This is the 25th year of the winter training camp and ahead of every Olympic cycle they come to Kendal.

“In October many of the squad trained here with performance director Daniel Lascau and he asked me if he could bring the British team here to train.”

And the camp, which ran for three days, saw all of the top British judo stars des-cend on the town, including Euan Burton, Peter Cousins and Sophie Cox, before they travel to Mittersill in Austria for another camp.

Liptrot added: “We set the ethos and volume of training high and there has been everything here the squad need to train. GB will come back another couple of times before the Olympics.

“It shows the younger members of the club that they are doing similar kinds of training to the top athletes and they will have their own tournaments or ‘little Olympics’ which they are trying to achieve success in too.

“Each event we hold gets bigger and bigger and 14 of the 30 currently in the main squad here will compete in London.”

British judo coach Billy Cusack, who spent two years training in Kendal under Tony McConnell, said the British Judo Association has set an achievement goal of one medal at London 2012. But he also insists that many of his team have the belief to achieve greater than that.

He added: “The work being done here will launch the Olympic year and will stand us in good stead ahead of a training camp in Austria next week.

“Not many countries will cancel this New Year but we have and we are training in great facilities at this camp.”

“There is a brilliant attitude and mentality at the Dojo and that is the right environment for us to be training in.”

A NEW Tesco Express store opening in Ambleside has received 50 applications for 13 new jobs.

Tesco recruited staff from the local area to work in the new store in Market Place and interviewed 40 of the 50 people that applied.

Store manager, Clare Hisom, said: “I was thrilled by the huge response we received to our recruitment drive.”

A HAWKSHEAD Brewery beer was voted overall champion at the Brewers’ Society Northern Beer Competition held in Manchester.

Hawkshead Brewery’s Windermere Pale won the gold medal in the bitter pale ales category and a second gold for being judged overall champion of the competition.

Some 250 beers from 80 breweries were entered into the competition run by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).

The North region is the largest of the seven SIBA regions of Britain.

The beers are judged in one of eight categories, the bitter category being the biggest.

Category winners then go forward to a national competition of winners of all seven regions.

Windermere Pale at 3.5% abv is hoppy and refreshing, pale gold in colour with a long bitter finish with hints of grapefruit.

The fruity hop flavours come from a medley of traditional and modern hops.

Managing director of Hawkshead Brewery Alex Brodie said: “Windermere Pale is a very popular beer, it has a lot of fans.

“It has become the best selling beer in The Beer Hall at the Brewery.

“It is one of those beers that is winning converts to real ale.”