AT THE meeting of Lakes Parish Council (LPC), Rydal’s unsightly village sign, which was battered and bent by a would-be souvenir hunter, was to be replaced on safety grounds, thanks to Rydal councillors Will Clark and Gilly Hodkinson. 

They would each donate £250 from the community funding allocation towards the total cost of £800-900. 

The LPC had asked the new Ambleside Park Run organisers to give them a breakdown of its costings before taking a final decision on granting them £1,000 which was originally requested to help towards start-up costs. 

The parish council had appointed its first parish steward, who would work two days a week from December 1, with a contract to be reviewed after 12 months.

The steward, Gordon Emery, had already worked as a volunteer for LPC for more than four years on jobs such as clearing litter and repairing drystone walls, gates and benches, and joins the parish handyman in keeping Lakes parish well maintained. 
Cyclists who ride at speed through Rothay Park were endangering young children and older people by failing to dismount.

The entrance gates had been left wide open recently and councillors fear that cyclists speeding downhill past the primary school and into the park would have no chance of stopping to avoid a child or anyone exiting the toilets.

Existing signs were in small print and not prominently sited, so Lakes PC had asked SLDC to paint No Cycling signs on the ground. 
The LPC would oppose BT’s proposed closure of payphones throughout Lakes parish but feel particularly strongly about retaining the well-used payphones outside The Swan and in Red Lion Square in Grasmere, and at Skelwith Bridge, Troutbeck Institute, Rydal and other places where mobile coverage was poor or non-existent.

Payphones had already been removed from Elterwater, Langdale and Little Langdale where there was no mobile signal.

SLDC, who also opposed payphone removal, would include LPC’s objections in its public consultation report. 
The LPC had been informed that its representative will no longer be needed as an Armitt Museum and library trustee under Armitt restructuring plans. However, as long-term Armitt supporters, council consider its local representation should continue and had invited an Armitt representative to address them.

The LPC recommended refusal of the Co-op’s proposed plan for an ATM set in its refurbished shop window, on the grounds of safety. People queuing to use it could cause congestion to others trying to get by on the narrow three-foot wide pavement, forcing pedestrians, buggies and dogs on leads into the road.

The LPC also recommended refusal of a two-storey extension, refurbishment and garage demolition at Carr Crag Cottage, Skelwith Bridge on grounds of over-development. 

JANET Dearden is giving a talk entitled Khartoum about her experiences of living and working in the Sudan in a patriarchal Sharia society, to Ambleside and District U3A at the Marchesi Centre, Windermere, on Monday, October 14 (2.15pm). 

AMBLESIDE Natural History Society is joining the University of Cumbria for a free presentation evening, tonight (Thursday, 7.30pm) at the Percival Lecture Theatre, on the new Back on our Map (BOOM) project, led by the University of Cumbria. The BOOM team with partners, will be working to restore species to the distinctive lowland fells and coast of south Cumbria, working with communities and in partnership with landowners. The project looks towards practical species re-introductions, reinforcements, and habitat improvement, focusing on 12 species of plants, mammals, birds and invertebrates. 

A ROYAL National Lifeboat Institution collection, during RNLI’s Ambleside Flag Day, raised £466. 

BRATHAY Church’s harvest festival takes place on Sunday, October 13 (3.30pm), followed by a harvest supper.

ON TUESDAY, October 15 (7.45pm) at the parish centre, Ambleside-Kirkstone Rotary is holding a meeting, open to all, when Pride of Britain award winner and Justgiving Fundraiser of the Year, Simon McDermott, will recount how his father, Alzheimer sufferer Teddy Mac, became world famous when his heart-warming carpool karaoke video went viral on social media.  
Retired entertainer Teddy, the #songaminute Man, is word perfect when he sings his repertoire of popular songs travelling in the car with his son, even though some days he doesn’t even recognise his own family. The video Simon made of his dad singing in the car raised £150,000 for Alzheimer charities and Rotarians will also present Simon with a cheque for £2,500, in aid of Alzheimer’s Research UK, raised by the club’s recent duck race. 

ST MARY’S Church is holding its first community graveyard working party this Saturday, October 12 (10am-1pm) and needs volunteers to join them, even just for an hour or two to help tidy up the churchyard. Volunteers are asked to take gardening equipment such as rakes, secateurs, loppers and brushes and to meet in the church car park (10am).