BACK: The life-size model

EWE-GENE is back after doing a disappearing act for more than a week.

The bright yellow woolly wanderer, who miffed organisers of Cartmel’s Sheepy Village Trail when she went walkabout from outside the Cavendish Arms, has been found safe and unharmed. And they are none the wiser as to who waltzed off with the life-size fibreglass model.

“We are relieved that the stolen sheep has been returned, unaffected by her ordeal, and the unexpected publicity surrounding the kidnapping has got the whole village talking,” said Cavendish Arms owner Richard English. “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of so many people already pledging their support for the sheepy art trail.”

A new art initiative involving the whole community, the event will blaze a trail around Cartmel between June 2 and July 17 and raise funds for the Flookburgh-based charity Bay Search and Rescue.

ICONIC: Wray Castle is set for a new lease of life

A VICTORIAN castle once used by Beatrix Potter as a holiday home could be given a new lease of life.

The Lake District National Park Authority has received an application from a developer to transform the castle on the banks of Windermere into a 27-bedroom hotel and spa. It is believed up to 20 jobs could be created.

The plans include a bar and restaurant, staff quarters, an extension for leisure facilities and repairs to the castle’s boat house and gardener’s cottage for use as single suites. New car park spaces and landscaping are also planned at the 1840s Gothic Revival style home built by surgeon James Dawson.

One of the most iconic buildings on the lake, Wray Castle has been empty since 2002. English Heritage and The National Trust – owners of the building since 1927 – have been working with architects and Wray Castle Ltd, a Shropshire-based property developer, for 18 months on a design to ‘sensitively’ restore the building.

Architect Trevor Williams said: “The overall appearance of Wray Castle will remain largely unchanged, with the main body of the building receiving only repair work.

National Trust spokeswoman Jane Watson said: “We are really happy with the proposal.”

The application willgo before the national park’s development control committee next month.

WATCH OUT: Pamela Anderson could be house-hunting around Morecambe Bay

FORMER Baywatch star Pamela Anderson is looking for a new beachside home and Morecambe Bay is hot on her list, according to a national newspaper.

The blonde bombshell has fallen in love with Britain after appearing in a pantomime in London and has set her sights on a sea-side holiday home. Sources told the Sun she is looking at properties in Bournemouth, Brighton, Blackpool and Morecambe.

The Sun said her agent Toby St Just told them: “Pammy loves it in England and is looking at buying two houses, one in London and one by the sea. She has a real affection for the place and would love to have somewhere she can call home. “It’ll be a far cry from California, where all the people are tanned and beautiful.  And she may find the pebble beaches take a little getting used to.”

Arnside Coastguard Nigel Capstick said: “I don’t think we would have any problems with her sinking, I believe she’s quite buoyant. If she did decide to do a Baywatch style run along the bay then I am sure it would attract a lot of interest. We’d be happy to have her onboard with us at the coast gurads!”

Town councillor Rita Walker said: “In Morecambe health abounds and beauty surrounds – that’s our motto and I think she would add to the beauty!”

Morecambe’s estate agents said they have yet to hear from Miss Anderson in person but would be more than happy to oblige in her house hunt. “I would be over the moon for Pamela Anderson to look at properties in the Morecambe area,” commented James Fletcher of Jessops Estate Agent. Anything that attracts publicity to the area is good news.”

And if she does make the move she will be among good company – Slade star Noddy Holder lives just down the road.

Miss Anderson is best known for her role as lifeguard CJ in Baywatch and for modelling in Playboy magazine. She currently lives with her two children in South California.

PRIME FOCUS: Tim Farron MP takes the petition to Downing St

THE fight to save the University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus has been taken to 10 Downing Street.

A 5,500 signature petition calling on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to intervene in the university’s funding crisis was handed over by Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron on Tuesday. He said the aim was to put pressure on the Government and the university to come up with a way of keeping the campus open instead of mothballing it and moving hundreds of undergraduate students to Lancaster and Carlisle, a move which would save £2m a year.

The petition was delivered in the wake of a Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFC) announcement it was cutting £449m from university funding next year.

However, Mr Farron insisted the University of Cumbria was a special case. “What makes it different from other institutions in financial dificulties is that it was effectively created by the Government two and a half years ago, so ministers have a responsibility to help it become financially viable,” insisted Mr Farron.

He said the university had inherited £25m worth of debt when it was formed from three other institutions but was also running up an annual budget deficit of £7m. Mr Farron said the public response to the petition showed pressure was now building on the University of Cumbria to keep undergraduate studies in Ambleside. He revealed he had been ‘working behind the scenes with other public bodies’ to try and secure financial help for the university and was due to discuss the options with vice chancellor Professor Peter McCaffery as The Westmorland Gazette went to press yesterday.

Mr Farron said: “It is just wrong to remove all the students from Ambleside campus – it is a heart breaking prospect for the students and will deeply damage the local community and economy of Ambleside.  We have worked very hard to put together a strong rescue package, it’s vital that the university considers this seriously and accepts the help on offer.  I’m really grateful to everyone who has signed the petition and joined the campaign – whatever happens this week, I am determined that we keep on fighting to protect and strengthen Ambleside campus for the benefit of future students and for our whole community.”

Meanwhile, the university board was due to hold a crisis meeting today to debate the financial crisis and Profesor McCaffery’s plan to seek a £25m emergency grant from the HEFC. But even if this was forthcoming, Professor McCaffery has said the insitution would still have to shed 200 jobs.

IMPORTANT FIGURE: Wainwright

A BID for £250,000 is being made to keep rare documents used by famous fellwalker Alfred Wainwright in Cumbria.

A collection of memoirs, correspondance, notes, photographs, sketches, maps and papers used by Wainwright – affectionately known as AW by his legions of devotees – to write his pictoral guides is being offered for sale by his family.

The Cumbria Archives Service – part of Cumbria County Council – has been given the opportunity to buy the collection – which it currently has stored in its publically accessible archives – to keep it intact in the county Wainwright loved so much. “The collection contains the papers that supported the writing of the guidebooks and I think they are very important,” said Peter Eyre, assistant county archivist at the Cumbria Record Office in Kendal. “I think Wainwright was a very important figure in Cumbrian history. He had a huge impact in getting people to visit the Lake District in the post-war period. He is an important cultural and literature figure in Cumbrian history.”

The asking price of the collection has not been confirmed but figures ranging between £100,000 and £200,000 have been mentioned on walking websites. The Cumbria Archives Service will be submitting an application for funding of around £250,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund by March. The funding application process is likely to take at least a year. “We are looking at aquiring the collection but things are at a very early stage,” said Mr Eyre.

Should the bid be successful it is likely the items would be placed on permanent display in Kendal, but could be moved around the county on touring exhibitions. The campaign is being supported by the Wainwright Society – set up to ‘keep alive the things which AW promoted through the guidebooks’. “I think that it is essential that we keep them in the area and also keep it as one collection, because quite often you get things split up,” said John Burland of the Wainwright Society. “The society supports the campaign to keep it in Cumbria because anyone with any sense of Wainwright associates him with the Lake District.”

Gareth Cosslett, communications manager at Cumbria County Council, said: “The collection is important, not just because it is materials he used to create the guidebooks, but also because they are a record of the Lakeland Fells before it was opened up to mass tourism.”

The white-faced darter.

A RARE dragonfly that is on the brink of extinction in South Lakeland is set to be re-introduced to an area where it hasn’t been seen for decades.

Records show that the white-faced darter was present on the Witherslack Mosses in the early 1900s but it is thought to have become extinct as a result of afforestation and scrub development. The colourful species, which is protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, has seen a notable decline in England over the past 40 years and three colonies in Cumbria are known to have been lost since 1945. There is a single colony left on Scaleby Moss, near Carlisle, and two other populations near Hawkshead and Ambleside, although these are thought to only consist of a few individuals.

But now the white-faced darter could enjoy the open space of Witherslack Mosses once more after a study carried out by Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Natural England, Tullie House Museum and the British Dragonfly Society confirmed it feasable to re-introduce the species back to the area.

It will be the first time the white-faced darter has been re-introduced to a site – the trust was pipped to the post to be the first to re-introduce any dragonfly after Devon Wildlife Trust successfully released the Southern Damselfly at a nature reserve last year.

David Harpley, conservation manager at Cumbria Wildlife Trust, said: “The white-faced darter’s populations in South Lakeland are on the brink of extinction but hopefully this spring or summer it will be re-introduced if the pools are suitable.” Mr Harpley said that the first larvae, which will be taken from the site near Carlisle, will be introduced back into pools on Foulshaw Moss and more will be taken over the next few years to build a sustainable population. Numbers will be monitored by counting the larvae’s skins.

The project forms part of the Cumbria Biodiversity Action Plan, which outlines how national biodiversity targets will be met locally.

ON LOCATION:Former Eastenders actor Leslie Grantham filming Prelude at The Sun Inn, Kirkby Lonsdale

A QUIET Lunesdale pub was the scene of some dodgy dealing when it was used by a local film crew as one of the locations to shoot a low-budget crime thriller.

Former Eastenders actor Leslie Grantham chatted and joked with the cast and crew of Prelude while filming a cameo at The Sun Inn, in Kirkby Lonsdale. Mr Grantham, who played hard man ‘Dirty Den’ in the TV soap, plays a notorious crime boss in the darkly comic independent short film. “I thought the script was great and I was very enthusiastic about doing it because this crew really care and they are passionate about what they do,” he said. “It is great to be in this lovely market town and the staff at the pub have been fantastic.”

The actor said he was keen to encourage independent film making. “My premise is, if you don’t put something back into the business that supports you, you won’t get anything back,” he said.

Prelude tells the story of Harley – a thief trying to make his mark as a notorious criminal – who is enrolled by crime boss Dobson, played by Mr Grantham. Director Rick McLeod, who lives in Old Hutton, near Kendal, said he was “ecstatic” to have enrolled Mr Grantham. “Leslie has been brilliant,” he said. “It is very exciting and great to get such a high-class actor for a short film.”

The film maker plans to take Prelude to several film festivals this year and hopes to expand the script into a full-length feature with his company Celtic Storm Films. He would need £1m to develop the movie and hopes to secure funding from US online film competition MovieHatch.

cheque in: Caterer Lucy Nicholson, mountain rescue leader Nick Owen, caterer Jane Cumbers, incident controller Paul Clarke of the National Grid and David Earnshaw of Cumbria County Council

NATIONAL Grid said a big thank-you to the people of Ambleside for their support during the recent gas cut by donating £3,000 to the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue team.

The energy company used the mountain rescue’s Lake Road centre in Ambleside as its headquarters as they reconnected more than 1,200 homes. Paul Clarke, incident controller for National Grid, said: “We are grateful to the staff of the mountain rescue who volunteered their building during last week’s events without hesitation. Everybody in Ambleside has been a credit to their community. We had a fantastic reception from everybody we came into contact with and in recognition of that we would like to say thank you to the mountain rescue and to Ambleside with our donation.”

All homes and businesses in the town which were cut off when water entered the local gas mains network are now back on supply, with the exception of a number of properties which are currently unoccupied. The exact cause of the gas cut is unknown but National Grid has now identified the stretch of pipework on high ground above the town centre where 30,000 litres of water entered the mains system.

Mr Clarke added: “During the five days it took us to get supplies restored, our engineers were spurred on by the incredible response from local people. They were quick to understand that we couldn’t perform a ‘quick fix’ and that we needed to visit each individual property to make sure the gas was turned back on safely.”

He also thanked Lucy’s of Ambleside restaurant for catering for the engineers as they worked through-out the night.

Nick Owen, mountain rescue team leader, said: “It was great to be able to help the people of Ambleside as they help us so much when we are serving the hill walking and tourist communities. It was nice to receive the money and it will go nicely towards replac-ing medical kit, some staff training and our general running costs.”

David Earnshaw, Lakes representative on Cumbria County Council, thanked the National Grid on behalf of the town. “We’d like to say thank-you to the National Grid from us all for eveything that you have done for Ambleside over this past week and for the generous donation.  The mountain rescue is a great asset and we were glad you could use it for your operation,“ he said.

The stall was originally set up in 1986 in order to bring in a bit more income for the church – but a lot has changed since the days of just a folding table and a couple of dozen books and tea towels. The church now boasts a selection of more than 400 cards and 200 books along with high quality gifts, all displayed in new shelves and cabinets.

Money bequeathed from former Cartmel resident, the late Ann Rowbotham, funded the refurbishment in the corner of the church. Barbara Hewlett, who has been involved with the stall since it first opened, officially opened the new-look stall at a celebratory event on Sunday (January 31).

Canon Robert Bailey said he was ‘very pleased’ with the result. “It has just grown so we decided to have a better, more professional-looking store,” he said.

Money made from the stall, which is run by volunteers, goes towards covering the church’s overhead expenses.

Vince Cable, the party’s Treasury spokesman, has agreed to include the £200,000 cost of the measure as part of spending commitments to be announced ahead of the General Election. The promise was confirmed this week by the Lib Dem rural affairs spokesman Tim Farron, who is MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale.

It is estimated that each year the 56 mountain rescue teams in England and Wales pay between £150,000 and £200,000 in tax and duties and their national finance committee has been involved in a long-running battle with a succession of Treasury ministers to have this refunded Mr Farron said: “It’s great news. This is a tiny amount of money in the scheme of things but to mountain rescue volunteers providing such a vital service, especially in Cumbria, it is a vast amount. “It is so important that this money is refunded, we would be delighted if the Goivernment decided to steal this policy before the election.”

Stewart Hulse, Ambleside-based member of the finance committee of Mountain Rescue England and Wales, said: “I am delighted. The Liberal Democrats have nailed their colours to the mast, which no other political party has done.”