Graham Uney. Photo: Graham Uney

Mountain expert Graham Uney will be the guest speaker at this year’s annual memorial lecture of the Wainwright Society.

The event will raise money for the Fix the Fells organisation, which repairs and maintains mountain paths in the Lake District.

Uney has completed ascents of all 214 Wainwrights – the hills and mountains detailed in Alfred Wainwright’s series of Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells – six times, and completed his first round just before his 18th birthday. He has himself written a guide to Walking the Wainwrights, guiding baggers through 64 routes to enable people to complete the full round.

In his former role as one of the national park’s winter felltop assessors he summited Helvellyn, England’s third-highest mountain, more than 600 times.

The talk will focus on his book and his outdoor adventures in the Lake District. A Wainwright Society spokesperson said: “It’s sure to be a great evening and by attending you’ll be supporting Fix the Fells, which does excellent work repairing and maintaining the Lake District’s upland paths.

“The book is Graham’s way of encouraging people to get out into the Lake District hills. Graham specialises in providing outdoor leadership qualifications and personal skills courses for walkers, climbers and mountaineers.”

The event will take place at Rheged, near Penrith, at 7pm on Saturday 28 September. The Wainwright Society, which is devoted to the study and promotion of the late Alfred Wainwright’s works, uses its annual memorial lecture to raise money for organisations local to the Lake District. Last year the society donated £12,750 to mountain rescue in Cumbria. This year, the society is supporting the Lake District Foundation to raise funds for Fix the Fells, a partnership project whose mission is to protect the Lakeland fells from erosion by repairing and maintaining upland paths.

The spokesperson said: “The Lake District is perhaps Britain’s best loved landscape. It is a Unesco world heritage site – a place worth protecting.

“But erosion from people, coupled with severe weather events and climate change, is causing ugly scars and environmental damage in the fragile mountains. Fix the Fells tackles this erosion problem by repairing and maintaining 344 upland paths, covering 410 miles (661 km), helping to keep the Lake District a special place for future generations.

“In 2022, Fix The Fells was the winner of the Park Protector Award from the Campaign for National Parks.

“Fix the Fells relies on voluntary contributions to carry out all of its valuable and essential work. All profits from the evening will be donated to the Fix the Fells partnership. The Society is working with the Lake District Foundation with the aim of doubling its contribution through Big Give – The Christmas Challenge.”

Tickets, priced at £8 for society members and £12 for non-members, are available via the Rheged Centre website, in person from the box office or by phoning 01768 868000.