KENDAL is set to get another annual festival with plans gathering pace to celebrate the Auld Grey Town’s links with the wool trade.

There are hopes that a weekend of events in October will expand into a week-long programme in future years.

Kendal Wool Gathering will mix demonstrations, activities and displays all connected to the cloth on which the town’s wealth was built.

The project is the brainchild of wool spinner and textile heritage enthusiast Adrian Swenson, media consultant Mike Glover and renowned Cumbrian shepherdess Alison O’Neill.

Mr Swenson said: “Our aim is to establish an annual event which celebrates Kendal’s wool heritage, attracts tourists and increases commercial opportunities.

“We want this to be a fun event, but one that also reminds visitors and residents alike of the part that wool played in making Kendal what it is today.”

Mrs O’Neill added: “It’s been my vision to start a yearly event in Kendal and spread it to the whole of Cumbria to push awareness of wool and get people to buy wool products again.”

The gathering runs from October 11-13 - the weekend before National Wool Week - and has the backing of the Campaign for Wool, which was launched by HRH the Prince of Wales in 2010.

K Village, Cumbria Tourism, Kendal Town Council, South Lakeland District Council, the Rough Fell Sheep Association and the British Wool Marketing Board are all involved, along with Lakeland Arts Trust, Kendal College and Museum, Kendal Quaker Tapestry and craft groups.

Williams’ Wools in Kirkland will be decorated with colourful fabrics in a process called yarn-bombing.

Adrienne Williams opened the Kirkland store in 2009 amid a surge in the popularity of knitting in Cumbria.

“There’s a lot of new people starting to knit and a lot who are coming back to it,” she said.

“It’s all to do with farming, the properties that wool has, making people aware and getting them to use British wool specifically which will, in the end, help farmers who are losing money on fleeces.”

The weekend launches on the Friday with an open afternoon at Mrs O’Neill’s farm at Shacklabank, near Sedbergh, where visitors can enjoy a walk and discover how traditional farming methods have benefitted the environment.

Saturday and Sunday’s events will be at K Village, where three native breeds of sheep - Kendal Rough Fell, Swaledale and Herdwick - will be on show alongside spinning and weaving displays.

A wool trail taking visitors to sites where the wool trade flourished, a ‘knitting blitz’, and town centre activities are also planned.

Anyone interested in taking part in Kendal Wool Gathering can contact Mr Swenson on 07739-409538 or at adrianswenson@aol.com