RECENTLY voted among the country's top ten seaside resorts, the Georgian port of Whitehaven is a great destination for families seeking entertainment whatever the weather, with a healthy dose of heritage thrown in.

Two of the historic harbour town's favourite attractions are offering family tickets worth more than £50 as prizes in Ready For Fun 2001, the new competition launched last week by The Westmorland Gazette and Westmorland Packaging, of Kendal.

The inspiration behind the competition was the colourful plastic bags produced by Westmorland Packaging and printed with the logos of visitor hotspots in Cumbria, used by many shops around the county.

Throughout the coming weeks those featured attractions - and other companies, too - will be offering great prizes in Ready For Fun with the aim of promoting themselves and the county to residents, day-trippers and holiday-makers - and spreading a little cheer after the dark days of foot-and-mouth.

This week's prize adds up to an intriguing day out in Whitehaven, as The Beacon and The Rum Story are each offering two family tickets.

The Beacon tells the story of Whitehaven through the lives of ordinary people.

Visitors can find out how it felt to work down a mine and live in a tiny miners' cottage; and compare that with how the wealthy Lowther family lived.

The town's maritime history can be explored, from the lives of ordinary sailors to smuggling and the sugar, rum and slave trades.

With its views across the Solway to the Scottish hills, The Beacon was the ideal location for the world's first Met Office Gallery, and you can find out more about rain, cloud formations and isobars with computers and satellite links.

Meanwhile, The Rum Story is the only exhibition in the world to tell the dark spirit's story.

Set in the original 18th century shop, courtyards, cellars and bonded warehouses of the Jeffersons, a family business, the attraction takes visitors on a journey to a Caribbean rainforest, and brings to life the slave trade, American prohibition, rum in the Royal Navy, and the making of rum starting with the raw ingredient of sugar cane.

You can experience the sights, smells and sounds of conditions for slaves as they crossed the water, and visit realistic African villages.

To enter the competition, answer the question below and send it on a postcard (remembering to include your name, address and telephone number) to: Ready For Fun Competition (Week 2), 22 Stricklandgate, Kendal, LA9 4NE, to arrive by first post next Wednesday.

Usual Gazette competition rules apply.

Congratulations to last week's winner, Mrs C.

Clarke, of Burton-in-Kendal, who wins a family ticket to Rookin House Equestrian and Activity Centre, near Penrith.

QUESTION: The story of which spirit is told in Whitehaven?