Two of Penrith’s main sporting clubs were left without fixtures on Saturday – but for different reasons.
At Frenchfield Park, Penrith AFC had to call off their home game with Whickham because of structural damage.
A fence was blown down in the storm overnight and because of safety concerns the match was postponed.
Chairman Billy Williams said: “It was serious damage to the fencing round the ground.
“We’ve just had the damage fixed from Storm Arwen when another 100 metres of fencing went overnight.”
The rugby union team, who play in North One West, were expecting struggling Bowdon for a League fixture.
But they called to say that their bus had broken down at Lymm while en route.
Penrith’s team manager Mike Sanderson said: “They could have come late as we were playing under lights anyway.
“But they wouldn’t send for a replacement bus to carry on because they had players working that night.
“I understand the League is investigating so I’m not sure what happens next. It will depend on the outcome of the investigation.
“They have catch-up games to fit in, and we have one as well at Douglas so difficult to see a spare weekend.”
Penrith, who lost at next-to-bottom Bowdon earlier in the season, had also lost narrowly at Broughton Park last week and were looking forward to getting back to winning ways.
And spare a thought for Windscale, members of the Wearside League who should have played at Annfield Plain.
They were on their coach and en route when they got word at 9.46am to say the match had been called-off because of the weather.
A Windscale official said: “It was very disappointing given the weather forecast the night before, and especially as the Annfield Plain representative said he’d only got out of bed half an hour beforehand.”
