2020 has been a year like no other. Here we look back at Cumbria 2020, the highs, lows and the impact of the global pandemic on the county.
June was the month when schools began to reopen and the hospitality, retail and tourism sectors were preparing to start trading again.
As the number of coronavirus fatalities in the county rose to 158, police were warning holidaymakers to stay away.
As temperatures soared to 28 degrees, dozens of penalty notices were issued and hundreds of people told to go home- including a party of 20 on Catbells, 30 people camping at Blea Tarn and reports of ‘females pushing wheelbarrows full of alcohol’ at a South Lakeland tarn. “This is the Lake District, not Glastonbury,” warned Cumbria Police.
More details were released about a £450m energy project which could see a converted tanker or huge barge with a subsea pipeline delivering gas direct from West Cumbria to the National Grid. The floating storage and regasification unit off the coast of Barrow would create hundreds of jobs.
And near Sellafield, a scheme for a new clean energy park on the vacant Moorside site was also revealed. The Cumbria Clean Energy Park would be a “low-carbon energy hub”, according to a report to the council’s strategic nuclear and energy board.
It was a great month for sport with the Bluebirds being promoted back into the Football League! A floral version of the Barrow AFC badge was installed in Coronation Gardens by the borough council to celebrate the landmark achievement by Barrow’s football club.
Tributes were paid to Frank Jameson who was described as a 'stalwart' of Kendal Rugby Club and a 'tremendous asset' to the recruitment team, acquiring players from all over the globe.
Environmentalists were calling for plans to create a deep coal mine in Whitehaven, West Cumbria, to be halted.
West Cumbria Mining planned to extract coking coal off the coast of St Bees, with a processing plant on the former Marchon site at Kells.
A £3.5m scheme to repair the West Coast main line between Oxenholme and Carlisle was set to be completed. On the roads, Whittaker Street in Barrow was shut for three weeks while undergoing emergency maintenance works.
Kendal ambulance paramedic Laura Seel was one of many North West ambulance crew who sang ‘Times Like These’ in a charity video to raise cash for the NHS.
Pupils at Dane Ghyll School in Barrow were celebrating after winning £500 at the Better Energy School Awards 2020. Their project ‘I’ve BIN RECYCLING, Have You?’ was the regional winner in the Totally Active category.
A horrifying attack on a sheep on Elterwater Common which left its face partially ripped off led to renewed calls for dog owners to keep them on leads. Jonathan Benson discovered his sheep had been attacked so badly its ear had been completely torn off.
Plans were approved for a new Co-op supermarket in Barrow in the function room of the Lisdoonie Hotel in Abbey Road, creating fifteen jobs.
Ulverston residents called for action after the county council said there were no plans to pedestrianise the town centre.
Former auxiliary nurse Doris Cornell. who spent much of her life in Kendal, reached her hundredth birthday. Her family had planned a huge celebration, which had to be cancelled.
Barrovian brothers Sam and Tom Stephenson cycled up and down Kirkstone Pass near Ambleside for charity until they reached the equivalent height of Mount Everest (8,848 metres). Tom, 20, completed the ‘Everesting’ challenge in nine hours, two minutes and 25 seconds making him the fastest person in the UK to complete it.
And finally, a couple cheered up their neighbours by dressing skeletons in quirky outfits in their Ulverston garden. Vicky and Nige Cooper lifted spirits throughout the coronavirus pandemic by displaying their bony friends in different unusual clobber each week.
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