The chairman of the Friends of Calvert – which supports the Lake District Calvert Trust – has stepped down.
Bill Bell, who is also a trustee of the charity, is leaving the area to be nearer to his family.
Bill said: “It has been an absolute privilege to work with the Lake District Calvert Trust and I’ll miss it greatly.
After a successful career in sales and business management, Bill moved to the Lake District and was introduced to the Calvert Trust in 2009.
He joined the Friends of Calvert committee in 2010 and became a trustee of the Lake District Calvert Trust in 2013. The following year, he became chairman of Friends of Calvert.
Bill added: “I’ve met so many great people along the way. One of my proudest moments was the Go Herdwick project which won Tourism Event of the Year at the Cumbria Tourism Awards.”
The Go Herdwick project worked with 98 local sponsors and 78 local artists to create a trail of 108 ewes and lambs, scattered across 150 square miles of Cumbrian towns and countryside. After being viewed by over 45,000 people, they were sold at a gala auction and raised a phenomenal £250,000.
Giles Mounsey-Heysham, chairman of the trustees at the Lake District Calvert Trust, said: “Bill has contributed so much to the Lake District Calvert Trust. We are immensely grateful for his energy, tenacity, experience and sage advice.
“Bill has been one our most active trustees, sitting on various committees and chairing our Friends of Calvert charity.
“It was Bill who championed and then led the amazing Go Herdwick project which was probably the largest charity fund raising event in Cumbria. He was able to bring his experience in the corporate sector to bear and the Trust gained hugely from this. We will all miss him enormously.”
