EXPEDITION THE LAKE DISTRICT, March 31 1955
from the May 1955 EHS Magazine
On Thursday, March 31st, a party of thirty-six girls and five members of staff left Ely by coach, bound for the Lake District. After travelling most of the day, with short stops at Stamford, Doncaster, and Scotch Corner, we arrived at the Holiday Fellowship Youth Centre at Newlands, a few miles from Keswick. After a meal we went up to our dormitories. There were six girls in each room, and when we had settled in we climbed into our bunks and tried to gain some sleep before the first exciting day which lay ahead of us.
The next morning was bright and sunny, and we went outside to see our surroundings properly for the first time. Steep mountains rose up around us, and very nearby was a rocky bedded river which we had heard rushing along in the dark the previous evening. After a good breakfast we set off in the coach and spent an hour in Keswick, which we knew well by the end of our holiday. Then we continued in the coach to the edge of Derwentwater, the nearby lake.
We began to climb, and although it was hot and tiring at first it was very pleasant and we were rewarded with wonderful views of the blue lake and sunlit mountains around it. We paused for lunch on some slopes overlooking Watendlath Tarn and then went over into Borrowdale. As we enjoyed the scenery, so different from anything in the Fens, Miss Riley took the opportunity to point out features of geographical interest. One of these was an enormous boulder called the Bowder Stone, which we visited just before rejoining the coach. We crowded up some wooden steps to the top of the boulder, which although it looked very precarious was really quite firm. We had been given a good impression of the district by the time we returned to Newlands. There were several other parties of young people staying there, and during that evening and the following ones we were able to get to know some of them quite well.
The next day, which was cooler and duller, we went to Grasmere, where the poet Wordsworth used to live, and saw his grave in the churchyard and were taken round his home, Dove Cottage. In the afternoon we stopped near Coniston and walked to see a small expanse of water called Tarn Rows, and visited Aira Force, a waterfall near Ullswater. In the evening we were entertained by a film show.
On Sunday morning we went to church in Keswick, while in the afternoon we went for a trip on Derwentwater. Fortunately it was fine and sunny again, so we were able to see a great deal of the lake, its islands, and surrounding countryside. That evening we were able to attend an extremely interesting lantern lecture on the district given by a local man whose photographs, mainly in colour, were beautiful.
On Monday we went to Honister Pass, and after struggling up a steep road and visiting a slate works where the slate being cut was similar to that used on Ely Cathedral, most of the party continued up the steep sides of Fleetwith Pike by a rough path which seemed to be the bed of a small stream as well. Coming down to Buttermere we had some difficulty in finding a way to the valley floor, but we reached it eventually.
Unfortunately we had not had a very good view until half way down, when the mist which had hidden the valleys had suddenly cleared, but in spite of that it had been a thrilling morning. In the afternoon we crossed some marshy ground and many stony streams, and climbing up beside a small waterfall reached the foot of Scale Force, the longest single fall in Britain. When we reached Newlands again we were tired but in good spirits after one of the most adventurous days of the trip.
The following day was spent in walking from Coniston in an attempt, which was spoiled by rain, to reach the top of a mountain known as the Old Man, and in a visit to the small town of Ambleside.
All too soon the last day of our holiday arrived. We paid a final visit to Keswick to finish shopping and then our party split up. Some of the girls, under the leadership of Miss Riley and Miss Sutton, set off to climb Helvellyn, one of the highest mountains in the Lake District, while the rest went by coach to Carlisle, where we visited the castle, the cathedral, which seemed very small after Ely's, and other parts of the city. We ended our stay at Newlands with a Social on the last evening.
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| The party with the Burwell & District
driver. Back row: Phyllis Norman - Marilyn Girton - 3 - Averil Lawrence - Yvonne Driver - 6 - Margaret Hitch - Jill Kisby - Janet Mann - Sylvia Jephson .......... Margaret Avey - Christine Saberton Middle row: B&D Driver - Linda Nunn - Pat Boutell - Margaret Pearman - Sylvia Wymer - Dawn Chambers - Miss Riley - Angela Cornell - Joan Peacock - Julie Rich - Barbara ? - Marilyn Williams - Ann Burrows - Mary Leonard - Margaret Smith - Barbara Beamiss - Miss Higson - Miss Sutton - Miss Pearson Front row (crouching): Ann Painter - 2 - Mollie Pringle - Susan Riley - Frances Crane - Hazel Brown - Beryl Lowe - Barbara Latham - Dawn Murfitt - Pat Latham - Miss Brook IDs coordinated by Christine Fuller (Bell), mainly provided by Ann Dix (Burrows) |
It was with great regret that we left on Thursday on an uneventful return journey. We had enjoyed a most happy and exciting-time, for which we had reason to be extremely grateful to Miss Riley and the four other mistresses who were responsible for the success of the trip.
J. KISBY, V.A.
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