On the night of Saturday 5 May, Catbells was once again lit up by hundreds of walkers – all with the aim of raising vital funds for the people of Nepal
In 2015, Nepal was hit by a devastating earthquake. The Lakeland Festival of Light is the brainchild of Matt Le Voi, owner of Lakes-based outdoor activity company Lakeland Mountain Guides. As a regular visitor to Nepal, Matt has ensured that every year since the 8.1-magnitude earthquake killed 9,000 people in the country it is brought back into the public eye. Funds are sent to Nepal to aid the relief work.
This year, over 700 people attended the event, which revisited the 2016 venue of Catbells.
Matt Le Voi said, “I’ll never get over the generosity and support, ranging from the participants through to raffle prize donors. Big thanks have to go to the marshals, the National Trust for allowing us to use the mountain, Little Chamonix Café for baking so many cakes, and of course our talented team of official event photographers.”

The Lakeland Festival Event team includes professional photographers Tom Mcnally, Carmen Norman, Nick Landells & Harry Baker. The four have been beautifully snapping the events and successfully raising additional funds for the charities every year. This year they pitched themselves in various locations around Keswick, from the lakeshore at Crowe Park and the Ashness Jetty, up to the slopes of Latrigg.

© Harry Baker Photography


© Nick Landell


© Carmen Norman Photography


© Tom McNally Photography


With more than £10,000 raised, there’s no doubt that this year’s event was a huge success. This brings the total funds sent to Nepal in just three years to in excess of £40,000. The charity who will receive the funds are PHASE Worldwide, a Bristol-based charity that support various projects all over Nepal.

Should you wish to purchase any of the images captured by the event team you can do so by visiting the website www.carmennorman.co.uk. 50% of all picture sales will be added to the total raised from the event too.

“We will keep on doing these events as long as people keep on supporting them!” Matt said. “Up next is our annual ‘Striding Edge by Torchlight’ event for Lakes-based Mountain Rescue teams, shortly followed by an attempt to light up Fleetwith Edge for Cumbria YouthAlliance.” More information on these events can be found at www.lakelandmountainguides.co.uk

 
Header image © Harry Baker Photography