Barry McCann explains the history of a northern tradition that dates back centuries and illustrates it with some of photos from this year’s celebrations. Mayor of Preston in Guild Hall Procession There is a saying in Lancashire that goes “Once every Preston Guild” which is probably unfamiliar to anyone outside the county....

“Found it!  Oh no, maybe not …” “It’s over here …” “That’s not it. Look. The mountain’s in the wrong place.” “If I lean over the river I think I’ve got it …” Rydal Bridge – photo by Zoe Dawes This was the conversation ricocheting around the Cumbrian fells as...

For the 3rd of the Challenge Zoë activities for Cumbria magazine The Kendal Courier, I was invited to tackle a climbing wall.  Although I live near some of the best mountaineering sites in the country, I’d only tried climbing once before and am a bit nervous of heights. So, with a touch...

It’s doubtful if any of us in the UK will experience anything like the sporting extravaganza that was the London 2012  Olympics.  As well as all the events going on in and around the capital, many people got a brief glimpse of a precious moment in time when the Olympic...

“It’s gotta be the most beautiful place in England.  It’s our second visit but this is our first time out on Windermere.” Beaming Bob from New York was sitting next to his wife on the lovely ‘Tern’, as we sailed along the lake, sharing his impressions of their trip.  They...

It looks magical on a sunny day – the porcelain glitters in the sunlight.  Every available surface of the exquisite, colourfully kitsch Little Chapel, a tiny replica of Lourdes, is covered in a myriad of tiny pieces of china, pebbles and glass; the effect is gloriously OTT. I am on...

When you think of London you think Big Ben, the Queen, Hyde Park, maybe the Imperial War Museum or Docklands – not an underground movement of urban art slowly crawling its way across the city like a politically colourful Japanese Knotweed. It’s time to see London differently, so set up...