The project which looks after Lake District paths has won an award for its work.
Fix the Fells, which operates in the Lake District National Park, has won the Park Protector category in the awards run by Campaign for National Parks.
The awards recognise and reward the efforts that go into protecting and improving national parks in England and Wales.
For over 20 years, a team of rangers and volunteers from the National Trust and Lake District National Park Authority have repaired mountain paths, reversing the trend of erosion damage and restoring habitats.
They carry out work on many of the much-loved routes across the UNESCO World Heritage Site, including Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and the Coast-to-Coast path.
At the awards ceremony, held at the Houses of Parliament, Fix the Fells ranger Annie Duckworth said: “It’s an absolute honour and privilege to receive this award. This is for the whole Fix the Fells team, the 25 ranger colleagues who build the paths, 130 volunteers maintaining the paths – the eyes and ears of the project – our five partner organisations and funders. We don’t receive Government funding for the project, it’s down to that support and dedication that we’re able to do what we do.”
Dr Rose O’Neill, chief executive of Campaign for National Parks, said: “We were blown away by the quality of nominations in this year’s Park Protector Awards but there was one project that kept appearing – Fix the Fells.
“Fix the Fells plays a central role in this, looking after hundreds of miles of path and perhaps even more notable is the make-up of the team – with over 130 volunteers dedicating time and effort to this never-ending task.”
The Fix the Fells partnership, which includes the National Trust, Lake District National Park Authority, Friends of the Lake District, Natural England and Lake District Foundation, has been repairing paths in the Lake District for over 20 years, and needs over £500,000 each year to fix and maintain 400 miles of paths across the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The project is part-funded until June 2023 by the European Regional Development Fund.
