Help Fred (Ambleside update)

Help Fred (Ambleside update) name

A lot has been happening on the Ambleside campus over the last few months. We have been focusing on campus vibrancy for our students, helped by the arrival of a part time Community Development Officer funded by the Students Union.

Other developments have included a new gym in Stockghyll (the old dance studio); this has been very popular and we have arranged a number of classes as well. The basement of Fairfield has had a make over and will re-open soon as a residential social space.

We have organised a number of events including a student community breakfast, where 166 people turned out, a series of professoriate lectures to which all are welcome and a winter ball. The conservation and forestry societies have taken over the old hockey pitch (as was) and turned it into a pocket nature reserve.

Looking forward we are having an open day Ambleside Showcase on 27th April where we will welcome alumni like yourselves, visitors and village community on site. 

I am also working hard to re-open a long requested student bar on site, which disappeared in 2007. To help with this, I am keen to re-open Millet, but of course, my priority is to restore and protect Fred Yates’s charcoal drawings when we do this, as a key part of our campus heritage. As we are custodians of Fred Yates and Charlotte Mason’s heritage we are exploring a range of ways to honour their legacy at Ambleside.

The plan is to use the Millet during the semesters for a range of academic and student support spaces and then open it as a temporary exhibition space in the summer for visitors to come and see Fred’s work and learn more about Charlotte Mason.

As an initial step I am appealing to you, the Ambleside alumni, for any knowledge you may have about Fred Yate’s current family who might like to be involved in this project. I am also exploring fund raising opportunities for the drawings and exhibition. 

If you can help at all in any way regarding Fred and Millet, please contact me on: lois.mansfield@cumbria.ac.uk

Your Campus Director, Lois