Friends of the Lake District is delighted to wish the Lake District National Park a Happy 70^th Birthday. 

We are celebrating this memorable event as our charity was originally formed in 1934 to lead the campaign for the creation of a National Park in the Lake District. (Pictured above: The original Trustees of Friends of the Lake District - 17th June 1934)

The call for designating areas of outstanding landscape for special protection was a powerful one, and pressure increased on the government to do something – which they eventually did after the Second World War.  

Above: Original 1937 booklet calling for the creation of the Lake District National Park by Friends of the Lake District. The National Park was finally created in 1951.

The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 led to the setting up of National Parks to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the areas in question and to promote their enjoyment by the public.  The same legislation also provides that National Park Authorities should foster the economic and social well-being of local communities. This is what differentiates British National Parks from those in many other countries, our National Parks are not wildernesses or rural museums, but places where people live and work. 

There will always be different opinions on what is appropriate in a National Park. Over the years changes to the landscape have included road improvements, building reservoirs, the arrival of electricity to the valleys or the provision of tourist attractions.  Finding the correct balance for our cultural landscape will always excite a range of opinions, how we achieve Wordworth’s living in harmony with nature or Ruskin’s ‘right livelihood for man in relation to nature’.  

Since its creation on 9 May 1951, the Lake District National Park has enlarged. Still campaigning, Friends of the Lake District saw its “unfinished business” resolved in 2016 with the extension of the National Park’s eastern boundary, and we have recently applied to Natural England for them to consider further extending the boundary to the south. 

The National Park is now managed by the Lake District National Park Partnership, 25 organisations – including Friends of the Lake District – representing the public, private, community and voluntary sectors, committed to working together in the best interest of the National Park, its environment, communities, economy and visitors. 

Within this partnership, we have remained active as an independent strong voice, determined to protect and enhance the character, landscape and traditions of this wonderful place. 

We believe that we enjoy a special relationship with the National Park. Our founders and their successors had the vision and the determination to drive through the inertia of many years of good intentions but little progress, culminating with the creation of national parks, while acting as the protectors of the landscape until that time. 

Today we remain a true friend of the Lake District  – happy to share all the good times, to offer all the support we can in times of need, but also to be honest enough to point out and resist anything we believe threatens the true purposes of national parks. 

Happy Birthday Lake District National Park. You were one of Government’s gifts to the nation, rewarding the population after the dark and terrible years of World War Two. Will our emerging from Covid-19 renew our appreciation?