Cumbria Floods

Fab story about rural resilience in Cumbria – Im sure there are many others….

By Monday morning, the waters had receded and we could access the cafe. The high-water mark was about 2mm off the top step. We were that close to disaster.

The scenes on Monday morning were barely believable. Main Street was a hive of activity. The local council, Allerdale, sent vans round constantly to remove debris. Many shop owners were working hard in their premises removing damaged stock and fittings. After the floods of 2009, Main Street was a sorry sight for six months, a place of skips, darkness and despair. You could tell that this time it was going to be different.

We were due to host the Taste Cumbria Food Festival the following weekend. At first, I thought there would be no chance. But as Monday progressed, there was a real sense of determination. At a meeting of the chamber of trade on the Monday night, amid scenes of high emotion, it was decided overwhelmingly to go ahead with the festival. In the end it was a great success, with 10,000 people visiting over the two days, standing in marquees where only a few days before there had been water.

Allerdale council has been brilliant in supporting the town and Sellafield has been hugely generous in supporting the fightback. We have been overwhelmed by volunteers wanting to help. People have come to visit from St Helens, Sunderland, Scotland and many other places. It has been truly amazing to witness their generosity.

Last time Cumbria was afflicted with floods rural guru and general good egg Adrian Banford pioneered some really innovative uses of LEADER funding to support farmers. I hope his talents are being fully utilized this time as well. In addition this relief offered by the Princes Countryside Fund will I am sure be well recieved.  The website tells us:

The Prince’s Countryside Fund announced today that it is releasing £40,000 from its Emergency Fund to support rural communities, farmers and businesses affected by the wide scale destruction as a result of the unprecedented and devastating flooding affecting large parts of Northern England and Scotland.

The Prince’s Countryside Fund will work alongside The Prince’s Business Emergency Resilience Group (BERG), an initiative of Business in the Community to support the communities affected and assist in their recovery longer-term. A major fundraising appeal has been announced to assist the flood damaged communities to get back on their feet.

In total £30,000 will be donated to fund the Farming Help Charities to help farmers and rural communities in the area and to provide immediate financial assistance. The Cumbria Community Foundation will receive £10,000 who will be working with voluntary organisations to provide initial hardship grants of £500 to local people affected by the floods.