English Lakes Blog

Great North Swim Place & Accommodation Package

 

As one of the event sponsors we have an exclusive last chance offer for swimmers to take part in the swim as well as experience a night of luxury at the 4 star Waterhead close to the events venue.

Dinner bed and breakfast in lake view room as well as entry for 2 people to take part in the fully booked swim on Saturday 18^th June (Sunday swim places also available).

Package prices from £125 per person (PLUS save on the £37.50 per person registration fee!)

Be quick! The last date of registration for swimmers is 23/5/11 and this great value package has limited availability.

The Waterhead is just minutes away from the venue of the Great North Swim on the shores of Windermere near Ambleside.

To Book Telephone: 08458 504 503

[Video] Launching Boats on Lake Windermere

Every winter the team at the Watersports Centre take all of the boats, based at Low Wood Bay Marina, out of the Lake and store them on dry land for maintenance. It is always a sure sign that Summer is on its way when the crane returns to lift the boats back into Windermere once more.

This morning we took a camera down to the marina to film some of the boats going back into the water.

Low Wood Watersports Centre, with its extensive range of equipment and an inspiring setting against a backdrop of the Lakeland fells is a great location for getting out on the water. They offer a wide variety of watersports instruction and boat hire suitable for all ages and abilities. To find out more about Low Wood Bay Watersports & Marina see englishlakes.co.uk.

Onesimus director commentates on Asian Games to audience of 500 million

A former Olympic athlete from Windermere has been commentating at a sporting event to a massive audience of around 500 million viewers.

Ian Woods, 45, the director of Low Wood Bay-based people development company Onesimus, temporarily swapped working with managers at top UK firms for a microphone and headphones at the recent Asian Winter Games held in Kazakhstan.

Mr Woods, who represented Great Britain in biathlon at the Albertville and Lillehammer Winter Olympics, was commenting on his former sport as well as the cross country skiing event.

“It was a great adventure,” he said. “I really enjoyed doing the work and it was a fantastic experience. The people in Kazakhstan are wonderful and I was very surprised by how good the infrastructure was. They had clearly spent a lot of money to create a positive impression.”

Viewers from more than 20 different countries across Asia and Australasia tuned in to the Astana-Almaty Games. Mr Woods was helping provide the English language commentary for the International Games Broadcasting Service which provided the television footage for the events.

Mr Woods, who has previously done television commentary for Eurosport and was also the national coach of the British biathlon team after hanging up his skis and rifle, likened the competition’s standard to the Commonwealth Games.

He said: “The standard was very high in some of the sports – particularly the ones I was commentating on, such as biathlon and cross country skiing. They are big winter sports fans in Kazakhstan, especially having taken a silver medal in the biathlon sprint at the Olympics twelve months ago, so there were huge crowds with high expectations.  They have a lot of history in these sports from the Soviet era.”

Ian Woods has been the Director of Onesimus since 2001.  The company is part of the English Lakes group which also includes three hotels and an inn here in the Lake District and two hotels in Lancashire.

Two years ago Ian led an English Lakes team which took a giant red nose up to the top of Skiddaw for Red Nose Day and two years earlier he travelled Around the Lakes in 80 Ways for the charity.

For more information about Onesimus please visit www.onesimus.info

£45,000 Fundraising Target Reached!

Congratulations and thanks to everybody that helped raise an incredible £45,000 in 2010 which will build and equip an orphan home in the Open Arms village in Eldoret, Kenya.  This has been a tremendous effort by all and the results will undoubtedly, and in a very real way, improve the lives of dozens of children for years to come.

The Open Arms fundraising project has clearly shown the dedication and care of the staff at English Lakes who have risen to the challenge with their usual enthusiasm and commitment. The list of activities undertaken this year demonstrates the creative energy that we have within the group:

Sponsored swimmers, face painting, aerobathon, boxing dinner, raffle, salary giving, learn-to-sail scheme, jumble sale, 3 peaks challenge, 5-aside football competition, sponsored walkers, country and western evening, cellar tours at Storrs, guess the baby’s weight, cake baking, cross bay walk, sponsored runners, Christmas gift fair, silent auction, staff raffle, pyjama party, beauty evening, Land’s End to John o’ Groats static bike ride,  photo competition, car washing, Morrison’s collection, pub quiz, tuck shop … the list is long and impressive!

We hope that the building work on the orphan home will start in Spring 2011 – watch this space for more details.

Orphan Home Fundraising Project Update

I’m pleased to say that the fundraising team here at English Lakes have pulled out all the stops in their challenge to build and equip a home which will dramatically improve the lives of 16 Kenyan orphans. To date, we have raised £40,000 through a whole host of activities including aerobathon, boxing dinner, Land’s End to John ‘O Groats cycle challenge, sale of cakes, photography competition, three peaks mountaineering, a staff learn-to-sail course, sponsored walks and many other events. 

In a final push to reach our £45,000 target we are organizing a Christmas Gift Fair at Low Wood Bay this Sunday.

Charity Christmas Gift Fair 
Sunday 14th November
Low Wood Bay
11.15am – 4.00pm

FREE ENTRY

Many local suppliers will be exhibiting Christmas gifts, pampering products, cakes, jewellery, bags, decorations and cards! Also enjoy Coffee & Mince pies, a book stall and raffle.