AS the tourist season gets into full swing, the Lake District is throwing open its arms to the thousands of visitors who flood into the area with the usual friendly welcome.

Last weekend saw the traditional medieval market in Kendal and Cartmel Races attract huge numbers. Smaller events, like those at Dalton, Ulverston and Hutton Roof, were equally enjoyed by many. This coming weekend Holker Hall will be blooming with its Garden Festival.

It needs to be remembered what tremendous effort is made by the often unsung heroes who organise such events. It can take all year to put together a show that lasts a day or two.

Just how important this sort of activity is becoming to the local economy was underlined in typical forceful manner by Cumbria Tourist Board chairman Eric Robson at its annual meeting.

HE pointed out that tourism was fast becoming the only trade capable of sustaining the unique link between man and the landscape that makes the Lake District so special.

Agriculture, which was originally responsible for this connection, continues to struggle. Mr Robson sees no prospect of Europe coming to the rescue of the farmers, and certainly its record does not inspire hope.

The way that attempts to reform the Common Agricultural Policy have been baulked by various vested interests means that switching grants to environmentally-friendly farming methods, so well practised in this part of the world, still seem a long way off.

In the meantime, regrettable though it may seem to those who yearn for "real jobs" in the days before "theme-Park Britain", tourism becomes ever more important in providing the economic support vital to the communities, if they are not to wither and die.

Various members of the royal family are due to drop in to add their support to the tourism message early next month. Prince Andrew seems to have drawn the Lake District straw, luckily for him.

And just a week later the North West Development Agency will launch its marketing vision, designed to put the Lake District on the international map alongside Yellowstone park in the United States.

Various themes are to be pursued. Gardens are seen as an attraction. Locally-produced food and drink may well be another.

But Mr Robson made a further point that a united voice was needed if such a marketing initiative was to bear fruit. Mixed messages confuse consumers. The key brand is the Lake District.

Perhaps Mr Robson could underline this by changing the name of his own organisation.

Meanwhile, everyone should be grateful to all those who contribute to the thriving local attractions, from Appleby Horse Fair to Holker Hall.

A cruel delay

IT SEEMS doubly cruel that former National Health Service manager Trevor Colloby finds himself on the other side of the fence, waiting for a life-saving procedure for a year already and now facing another year's wait before it takes place.

When this newspaper joined the campaign to cut the waiting times for heart surgery, there was always a danger that other less high-profile conditions would lose out in the battle for cash and resources.

Although the health service can never meet all demands for treatments made possible by the speedy advances of science, it surely cannot be right that the likes of Mr Colloby should be living under a virtual death-sentence for two years.

If the local specialist centre at Liverpool cannot accommodate him, there must be somewhere that can be found. And soon.

May 30, 2003 11:30