A sell-out audience attended the premiere of a documentary about a man who used the Lake District fells to recover from alcoholism and cope with his mental health challenges.
Fixed by the Fells tells the story of Harrison Ward, also known as Fell Foodie, who is turning his passion of hiking into the mountains and cooking tasty meals on basic camping equipment into his vocation.
Harrison, who lives in Ambleside and is a columnist for Cumbria Crack, struggled with mental health issues from a young age, turning to drinking and smoking to cope and becoming severely overweight in his 20s.
The documentary details how he began to turn his life around after vowing to get sober six years ago and how the Lakeland fells played a key part in the process.
Today, Harrison has made a career out of his activities. He is sponsored by a number of brands – including Volvo – and regularly gives motivational talks to businesses, as well as appearing at food and outdoor festivals.
Harrison and Preston-based videographer Garth Dew, of GD Video, have been working on the documentary for the last four years, COVID-19 delayed the production and the airing of the documentary, but they finally managed to host the premiere at the Alpkit store, in Keswick, earlier this month.
All proceeds from the event went towards the Alpkit Foundation, which helps protect and preserve the outdoors, as well as giving more people the chance to enjoy them.
Harrison said he was impressed and touched by how the documentary was received.
“I share my story a lot, but I still often feel a little bit of apprehension about how people are going to receive it,” said Harrison.
“It was quite moving to see how people engaged with Fixed by the Fells and to get so many encouraging and complimentary comments afterwards.
“Talking about mental health and getting it out in the open is vital to helping people deal with any issues they may be facing. I’m grateful to Garth for approaching me to put this documentary together. I hope it will help raise awareness of the problems many people face and perhaps bring a little bit of solace and comfort to those who are going through their own battles.”
The documentary will have an online premiere on September 5.
