48 Thirty Years Of Bentham Footpath Group By Kate Rowe On Saturday 5th March, 29 members celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the Footpath Group with a walk on one of the local Millennium trails. The group was started by Len Moody in 1986, and initially he led all the walks with the Keeping Bentham On The Map idea of finding out where the local Bentham paths went. Eventually the group By Shirley Brown ventured further to Ingleton and Burton-in-Lonsdale! Nowadays our walks Bentham News is always pleased and proud to feature Bentham people when they cover a very wide area. Len knocked on Bernard Ellershaw's door, as Bernard achieve excellence in their chosen field, subject or profession. This month we are print- ing two photos by our local professional photographer, Jon Brook of Bentham Imaging. was responsible for looking after the paths for the Council, and Bernard The competition for British Life Photography Awards attracts thousands of entries, and became a founder member. It was pleasing to see that Bernard and two other this year two of Jon’s photos won awards. One of these was for the wonderful photo of founder members, Dorothy Stubbs and Sue Pilkington, local farmer Roger Duncan that we are using on our front page. Its title is ‘The Escapee’ and the photo was taken near Jon’s house. Jon noticed the approaching storm and asked did Saturday's walk. Both of Len's daughters, Jenny and one of Roger’s children to hold a flash off camera for him and got a couple of shots be- Bridget walk with us when they can, and it was lovely fore it started to rain. The other photo, ‘Armageddon Approaches’ is on page 3. that Jenny had come up from London for the walk. We did wonder how many of the present group would be walking in another 30 years! 2 47 Striding out at Eighty Bentham Beagles By Jane Proctor By Sue Arnott A familiar figure around Bentham, ruck- The Beagle Belles have triumphed in Europe again and put Bentham firmly on sack on her back and walking up to Ben- the international running map! All six fin- tham, is Dorothy Stubbs who has recently ished the Barcelona Marathon with very celebrated her 80th birthday. respectable times and did the Club proud. Dorothy was born in Tatham Fells at Not only did they each run the 26 mile mar- Seaview and although she moved away athon but we were up at 5.30am for break- after she married to live at Hest Bank she fast so as to be at the venue for an 8:30am retired back to Bentham and was a found- start. Despite there being over 20,000 run- ners taking part, there was no missing the er member of Bentham Footpath Group. bright orange shirts of the Bentham Beagles. Dorothy is an active member of several organisations in the town, including the Friends of Bentham Library and the Meth- odist Church. Dorothy puts her “get up and go” down to getting out every day. For many years Dorothy has organised the Footpath Group’s Good Friday ramble A spring marathon is fast be- and, in addition to being a keen supporter coming an annual event for the of BFG walks, also walks on Monday girls. Feel inspired? (Or just ex- mornings with the Walks for Women hausted!) Group. An example to us all! Fellow club runners Alan Photograph by Dorothy Stubbs. Chesters ran the Seville Mara- thon last month and Janet Mona- ghan will be running the Lon- don Marathon on 24 April. In both photos there's Zoe MacDon- ald, Diane Armstrong, Jill Noble, Lynda Morris, Kate Morris and myself - left we'd just finished the breakfast run the morning before the big race and above we're all euphoric (and shattered!) after we'd finished the marathon. 46 3 Armageddon Approaches By Shirley Brown Jon took this photo above when out walking the dog. He saw a storm gathering over Lancaster and grabbed his camera when he saw the setting sun suddenly burst under the clouds. This photo was ‘highly com- mended’ in the British Weather category, and as such joined the 10 best photos in each category to be exhibited at the prestig- ious Mall Galleries in London. Jon entered six photographs in the com- petition, all made the long list and two of these were shortlisted and printed in the portfolio book. Fellow Benthamer and en- thusiastic photographer, Malcolm Preece, also entered four photographs all of which made the long list. Since there were thou- sands of entries this is a considerable achievement for an amateur photographer. 4 45 Photograph opposite page shows Bentham Virgin Train Spotted Area Refugee Support Group Extravagan- aims to enthuse and inspire 4,000 young peo- Green Futures For Young ple, aged 11-24, to connect with their local za night on Saturday 12 March. See On Bentham Line environment around the Yorkshire Dales. Thank You from Elza Sayer on People’s People Following the success of using The Ben- By Sarah Pettifer, Marketing and Communica- There will be range of initiatives to provide Page 18. exciting hands-on opportunities for young tham Line to test out the newly refurbished tions Officer at YDMT people to get involved and make positive Flying Scotsman (as featured in last Tel: 015242-51002, email: [email protected] Road Traffic Accident environmental changes. Some of this work month’s BN), a Virgin Pendolino train has A partnership based in the Yorkshire Dales is Photograph of crashed car outside the Auc- will target youngsters who are not tradition- been spotted in the vicinity. An eagle-eyed receiving £819,827 from the Big Lottery Fund ally connected with the outdoors. tion Mart in January, below. See reference Benthamer, who happened to catch a for ‘Green Futures’, an exciting five-year pro- YDMT works to support the social and in Town Council Report page 11. gramme that will support and develop envi- glimpse of the Pendolino as it sped on its economic well-being of this special area and ronmental opportunities for young people has to date delivered over 1,900 projects cov- way between Bentham and Leeds, right across the region. ering areas as diverse as countryside appren- took this photo. Using up-to-date Stephanie Hilborne OBE, Chief Executive ticeships, restoring woodland and wildlife rolling stock raises the exciting of The Wildlife Trusts said: “It is brilliant that habitats and conserving heritage features. possibility of a future new, the Big Lottery Fund has recognised that soci- You can follow the progress of this work speedy transpennine route. Imag- etal and environmental challenges are two by using any of the following links: sides of the same coin. The programme sup- ine being able to get from Ben- www.ourbrightfuture.co.uk ports young people to develop the skills Facebook: Our Bright Future tham to Leeds in half the time it needed to thrive in the workplace, and it does Twitter: @obrightfuture takes now. What an exciting pro- so through the environment.” Instagram: @obrightfuture spect for the future life and for- Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT), based in Clapham, will lead a part- tunes of Bentham. Or is this too Deadline date has changed—12th much to hope for? nership of local young people and organisa- tions, including Craven Development Educa- April for May Bentham News tion Centre. This ‘Green Futures’ partnership 44 5 B6480 Progress Photograph by Will Simm on the We Are Bentham Facebook site of repair work underway. A Fresh Tourism Initiative? criticised for not doing enough to help the town, so this proposal is to be applauded. I By Carrie Destone gather from social media that the town coun- The ever-present issue of how to attract more cil propose to relocate the Great Stone of tourists into our town has been concerning the Fourstones to the top of Ingleborough. The people of Bentham for some time. Recently daring plan is for it to replace Ingleborough’s The Punc The Punch Bowlh Bow the debate has been conducted on social me- trig point, thus making this, the most popular Low Bentham dia with Facebook being used to highlight a Real Fire Real Food Real Ale of the Three Peaks, also the highest. particular area of interest and possible devel- However this proposal is not universally Dishes made from fresh produce, locally opment. I recently found the following com- sourced popular with all the town councillors. One has ment: “It has become obvious in recent years contributed to the debate by suggesting that Dogs & Muddy Boots welcome that the Big Stone isn’t attracting the number moving The Big Stone is not feasible. But oth- Open all day from noon Tues –Sun of tourists that it should, and we think that ers have reminded the faint-hearted, that if it this is for three reasons. Firstly, its location up Food served Tues-Sat 12-2 & 6-8.30 was possible to erect Stonehenge in 2,000 BC, on the moor away from the traditional tourist Sunday -Traditional Roasts & full menu then moving one big stone should not be be- routes which lie on the north side of the A65. served all day to 8.30pm yond our capabilities. However those op- Secondly, because the tourism committee has posed to the move point out that the solution Open Easter Monday been unable to promote the attractions of the to the problem would simply be to move the Food—12-2 & 6-8.30 Big Stone due to lack of funds.