Wainwright Society chairman Eric Robson, left, hands out cheques to, from left: Caroline Nichol and John Estensen ofAnimal Rescue Cumbria; Nick Holmes and John Leadbetter of Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs. Photo: Andrew Stainthorpe
Four-legged charities were the beneficiaries of cash handouts from aficionados of the late author Alfred Wainwright.
Proceeds from the sale of the Wainwright Society’s calendar and members’ annual challenge were presented to the Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs Association and Animal Rescue Cumbria.
The £12,500 total was split equally between the charity that oversees the work of the animals and handlers that work with mountain rescue teams across the district, and the animal refuge supported by Wainwright’s wife Betty.
Sales of the 2016 calendar raised £10,800, and donations from the members’ annual challenge, involving summiting the hills described in the famed Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, enabled each organisation to receive £6,250.
Wainwright Society secretary Derek Cockell said: “Animal Rescue Cumbria was the charity supported by Alfred Wainwright and his wife, Betty and the royalties from sales of his books enabled the charity to purchase land to build an animal shelter, called Kapellan, for stray and abandoned cats and dogs at Grayrigg, Kendal.”
The cheque was received by John Estensen, former manager of the animal shelter, who said the money would be used for a project to upgrade the office and shop facilities at Kapellan, which would allow more effective administration of the refuge.
Speaking on behalf of Lake District Mountain Rescue Search Dogs, John Leadbetter said it took three years to train a search dog and the money donated by the society was being used to buy training radios to enable more effective communication between the dog handler and the ‘dogsbody’ when training the animals on the fells.
The Wainwright Society will produce a 2017 Calendar, which will go on sale later this year. The profits from sales of the 2017 Calendar will be donated to the Lake District Calvert Trust, the society’s main beneficiary for 2016.
