[T]he newly restored mural of Ambleside Rushbearing will take pride of place at a community flower festival in the town.
More than 20 local charities and organisations will celebrate their activities with displays of flowers and artefacts at Ambleside’s St. Mary’s Church over Spring Bank Holiday weekend. (From Saturday 26th to Monday 28th May.) The event has been organised to celebrate the richness of life in the town.
The church will be open from 10am to 5pm each day, admission is free and refreshments will be available. There will be musical interludes, including recitals on the celebrated Hope Jones organ.
On the Saturday evening (May 26) there’s a concert by Kendal Big Band. This is a 17 piece ensemble playing swing, dance and vocal arrangements, hosted by the Rotary Club of Ambleside.
Tickets are £10 and available from Rotary members and at the door. Refreshments will be available and concert goers will have the chance to view the floral displays.
The 11am service at St. Mary’s on Sunday May 27 will be a special community event to celebrate life in Ambleside. The preacher will be Canon Beth Smith, who was raised in Ambleside and was an accountant in the village for many years before entering the ministry.
The mural on church wall shows the Rushbearing tradition which is carried out every summer. It was painted on the church wall by Gordon Ransome, an art student at the Royal College of Art, which was evacuated to Ambleside during the war. It was painted as a thank you to the people of Ambleside in 1944 and local children were used as models.
