Keswick Mountain Festival will work with Nurture Lakeland, which promotes sustainable tourism
The organisers of this year’s Keswick Mountain Festival have teamed up with a charity that supports sustainable tourism and conservation in the Lake District.
The festival will help raise funds for Nurture Lakeland which helps with projects such as Fix the Fells, which repairs upland footpaths in the area.
The Keswick Mountain Festival will also help the charity raise its profile in the run up to the event and during the festival itself. Visitors can make a donation when buying tickets for various events and there will be active fundraising at locations and times throughout the festival.
Nurture Lakeland will also have a strong presence during the event, especially in the Adventure Base which will be the main gathering place for the public during the festival.
The festival will run from 18 to 22 May in and around the Cumbrian town.
The charity’s fundraising and that of its business members has raised more than £1.7m in donations, helping to support more than 40 conservation projects across the county. Nurture Lakeland has been chosen as a finalist in the Tourism for Tomorrow Destination Stewardship Award 2011.
Festival director Kate Thomas said: “Over the last five years, Keswick Mountain Festival has brought thousands of extra visitors to the Lake District and while this is very important for the local economy, we are very aware of the extra pressure an influx of people can put on the natural environment.
“We are very committed to the principals of sustainable tourism, so linking up with Nurture Lakeland makes very good sense. We use the fells for almost all of the activities during the festival, so projects like Fix the Fells have a great resonance with us as both organisers of the event and residents of the Lake District.”
Sue Savege, director of Nurture Lakeland, added: “We are really delighted to be the official charity of the 2011 Keswick Mountain Festival and equally delighted that Bluestone, the event organisers have become the latest member of Nurture Lakeland.
“The vibrancy and range of fantastic events on offer at the festival draws so many people to come and enjoy the delights our beautiful landscape has to offer. By supporting the work of Nurture Lakeland we can work in partnership to create a sustainable Lakeland for people to enjoy for years to come.”
More details of the events are on the Keswick Mountain Festival website.
