On 15 March – 26 September 2025 14:00-15:00.
14th of June and 26th Sept description to come soon…
Tickets £12.00.

Tickets include £7 Museum entry (Valid for 12 months free entry)

15th March session: For 2025, The Armitt will be welcoming visitors back into the storeroom for the chance to get up close and personal with aspects of a museum not often on show. Our museum hosts fabulous examples of local histories, but our storeroom holds tens of thousands of treasures, some of which will have their time to shine during this tour. Discover the behind-the-scenes area at The Armitt and we bring together objects into exhibitions, as well as preserve and take care of local history.
Places are limited to ensure participants can see everything that is taking place and have the opportunity to ask plenty of questions.

About the speaker
Faye Morrissey is the Manager and Curator of The Armitt. She has worked at the museum and library since March 2021, but still enjoys diving into the stores to uncover new material and stories. Faye’s background is in archaeology and heritage, with over 10 years’ experience in the sector.

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On 12 April 17:30-19:00.
Tickets £15.00.

Following on from the success of his 2024 album, True North, acclaimed Folk artist, Jonny Campbell embarked on a nineteen day tour like no other.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Britain’s first long-distance path, The Pennine Way, he set his compass north, from Edale, Derbyshire trasversing the ‘Backbone of England’

After concluding his tour, we welcome him to The Armitt for a special unplugged performance alongside the Wainwright exhibition.

This event is in support of the Alfred Wainwright exhibition hosted by The Armitt, co-curated by Chris Butterfield

About the singer

Johnny Campbell emerged onto the UK folk scene writing self-penned material and delving deep into Northern English folk song and story. The album From Hull & Halifax & Hell (2020) took him to The Faroe Islands where he recorded a live album on the island of Nolsoy. Since musical instruments hadn’t arrived on the islands until the 19th century, this is perhaps the first time Northern English traditional song has been recorded on these islands. This album earned him album of the week with Blues and Roots radio.

2024 saw Campbell releasing True North, an album of Northern English traditional songs recorded on their respective county summits, garnering press from Country Walking Magazine, Folk on Foot & BBC Radio 4 Open Country. Richard Thompson declared True North as one of his albums of the year in ‘My Year in Music’ in UNCUT Magazine.

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On 25 April 10:00-16:00.
Tickets £38.00.

he medical form for this event will be emailed out before the event to the email address you provide on the booking form. This medical form NEEDS to be filled out prior to the event

NORDIC WALKING: The art of efficient movement and power whilst staying relaxed, with Nordic Walking poles, giving a free and fluid movement over the ground with 4 legs. You don’t realise what you don’t know about your own body until you come along and have a go…Our true belief – 4 legs are better than 2 in the fells.

NORDIC WALKING BENEFITS:

• Use 90% of your muscles, by using upper body equally as hard as lower body
• Improve & correct your posture, & strengthen your lower back & core muscles
• Increase your cardiovascular and aerobic fitness
• Lift pelvic floor, essential for everyone, this is where the power for our shoulder/arm strength originates in the body
• Alleviate pressure on knees/hips/ankles for the duration of your hikes
• Increase uphill speed by ⅓ with correct posture and pole plant
• Manage your poles over technical or tricky ground, to give confidence.
• Take your hiking to the next level AND most of all… have fun in the fells with 4 legs!

COURSE INFORMATION: During this course, we will start with the basic techniques on flat ground, followed by a hike up Loughrigg. We will stop regularly to learn the next step and understanding the Nordic style tools for keeping fit outdoors with poles. We even have a go at skipping with poles for a bit of fun. We teach how to propel up hill efficiently with your poles and how effectively you can you protect your knees and hips down hill too. Rough ground typical to the Lake District can cause concern for some, especially over wet or rocky paths. Using poles correctly can alleviate this anxiety, and enable momentum over ground which may have historically caused you to move a much slower pace. Balance and posture are also paramount in the Lake District fells whilst carrying a heavy backpack. Remember your poles are not crutches and must not be leant on, but used efficiently, and we can show you how!

This course will continue up the fell onto the Loughrigg Summit, to tick a Wainwright Fell, with a glorious detour to take in the Bluebells on Loughrigg Terrace. The route is 10km with 500m ascent.

Required kit list:

• Rucksack for your kit and spare kit
• Boots or trail shoes/approach shoes with good trail grip
• Walking Socks, or Waterproof socks if weather not in our favour
• Waterproof top with taped seams, so fully waterproof
• Waterproof bottoms with taped seams, so fully waterproof
• Waterproofs above are essential even on dry day, as these are your emergency layer too
• Warm jacket, preferable not down as this can collapse if wet in the rain
• Spare midlayer/jacket for emergency that you don’t intend to wear for the walk
• Warm hat
• Warm gloves, or waterproof gloves if due to be wet (we have spares if you advise us you need some)
• Thin gloves or liner gloves can be useful if warmer weather with a chilly breeze for the top sections of the walk
• Lunch & snacks that are easily accessible in your pack
• Cold drink
• Warm drink (we have spare a spare thermos or two if you don’t have one – please advise us if you need us to bring you a warm drink)
• Head torch – this is essential emergency kit for each member of the group between September & April inclusive (we have spares please advise if you need to borrow one)

This event is in support of the Alfred Wainwright exhibition hosted by The Armitt, co-curated by Chris Butterfield

About the walker

Nicola Merrett founded “Hiking Highs” and formally “Nics Nordic Walks” in 2015 to deliver guided walking breaks, inspire folks in the Lake District Mountains and share her passion for the hills. Using poles in the fells and also teaching their magic is Nicky’s passion, alongside navigation, to those keen to develop their skills in the hills. As an accomplished Nordic Walking Coach for hiking and distance events, Nicky found her clients were keen to explore higher fells, so she took the next step to qualify as a Mountain Leader in 2018. Nicky now teaches the Bronze, Silver & Gold Levels of Navigation for the National Navigation Award Scheme, recognised by the Mountain Training Association (MTA).

On 29 April 14:00-15:30.
Tickets £6.00.

This richly illustrated talk explores the development of grave markers and focuses on the symbolism that we find in Cumbrian burial grounds.

This example from Keswick (Event image) shows us two women holding up a huge skull in one hand whilst pulling up their skirts with their other hand. Why did the Parish Vicar choose this symbolism for the grave of his three wives ? All will be revealed in Mark’s talk in April.