Poppy litter on Great Gable

For many years, The Fell and Rock Climbing Club has held its Act of Remembrance on the summit of Great Gable on Remembrance Sunday. This service was originally in memory of its members who had been killed in the First World War.

Before the creation of the Lake District National Park, the Lake District fells were in private ownership. As a memorial to those deceased members, the Club bought a huge area of central Lakeland high fell from the landowner and donated it in 1924 to the National Trust to be enjoyed by everyone for ever. A memorial plaque at the summit lists the members who were killed and depicts the area donated.

Over the years, many non-members have arrived to join in the service and they are very welcome. Thinking perhaps of the service at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, they bring poppies as remembrance tokens. These poppies are damaged by the weather and strewn over a large area of fell, sometimes a mile away. They become unsightly litter, surely not the intention of those who left them. One of the differences between the summit of Great Gable and the Cenotaph is that there is no arrangement for removing the poppies from the mountain top. In the past, club members have climbed the mountain and have removed several large rucksacksfull of disintegrated, soggy poppy waste. This isn’t an easy or pleasant task as the weather is usually awful in late November. To make matters worse, none of the poppies were left by members.

Non-members will continue to be welcome but, please, could they not bring poppies and wreaths. Their thoughts and sorrow will be every bit as sincere without these well-meant tokens and the absence of poppies will do a lot to enhance the atmosphere of one of the most beautiful and most visited summits in Lakeland.