On Wednesday 16th November Peter Burgess arrived in Grasmere after a visit to Lakeland, chiefly to walk, but also to present monies from the sale of his new map.  At the time of its publication in April this year, Peter was keen to forward money to a favourite cause such as landscape management or mountain rescue within his favourite Lake District.  Fortunately for 'Fix the Fells', it was Neil Winder who stepped forward after realising the potential of the map.  A chance meeting at the Outdoors' Show at ExCeL in January led Peter to offer up his map in order to raise much needed funds for Fix the Fells, especially as funding from the Lotto was coming to an end. As with many new ventures, Peter was unsure how the map would sell, if at all, but within a few weeks he realised that 'Tubular Fells' had touched a nerve and people seemed enamoured by its quirky design and unique perspective on Alfred Wainwright's 214 fells.
The astonishing realisation with the new map was that by the end of October and just 6 months after being launched, 6000 copies of Tubular Fells had been sold to the public.  As a result, Peter had to honour his original pledge of offering £1 from each map sold. So it was that Peter turned into the National Trust Regional Headquarters at 'The Hollens' with a cheque for £5500.  £500 is being forwarded from the sales of the map at the National Trust shop and information centre in the village of Grasmere thereby creating a contibution of £6000.

So it was that on a glorious November day Peter stood with his original acquaintance, National Trust Area Ranger Neil Winder, along with Mike Innerdale, Director of operations for the National Trust and Suzanne Elsworth, Communications Consultant for the National Trust.  Although Mike was busy with meetings, he was pleased to emerge into the sunny, but chill air in order to accept the money on behalf of 'Fix the Fells'.  With Helm Crag looming behind, Mike reminisced about his own love of Alfred Wainwright and his expert guides as well as the newly published map illustrating AW's fells in a new and unique way.  The photograph shows Peter Burgess, Neil Winder and Mike Innerdale poring over the map in an effort to find Helm Crag.  Peter says, "It's here on the Central Line!"

This article will finish with a thanks to the thousands of unsung supporters who have bought the map and as we go to print, are still buying Tubular Fells.  From an idea eleven years ago to a printed version in April 2011, the success of the map is down to all those who have purchased it and also given support either via Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and letter.  Of course there are also now over 30 shops selling the map within Lakeland and elsewhere.  Without everyone's approval this new and quirky map wouldn't be helping to preserve one of the World's favourite landscapes, but might just have gone down the tube! How wrong could we be?

If you'd like to see where some of your money and support will be going, just check out the statistics at the bottom of the page: