Calls to restore mountaineers' WW2 memorial bridge

There are calls to restore a memorial bridge that commemorated members of a mountaineering club who died in World War Two.

The footbridge over the River Liza in the Ennerdale Valley, Cumbria, was damaged in floods last year and had to be taken down.

Wendy Dodds, president of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club of the English Lake District, said it honoured members who "gave their lives to provide us with the freedom to roam on the fells and the mountains, and do all things that they were no longer able to enjoy".

MP for Whitehaven and Workington Josh MacAlister asked for £42,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The government said details about funding would be released later this year.

Dr Dodds said she would be delighted to see the bridge return.

Ten servicemen were named on a memorial plaque placed on the footbridge.

"A lot of people now, have forgotten the two world wars," Dr Dodds said.

"So it would be a very fitting tribute to restore it back to how it was."

She thought their families would be "very pleased to know that their loved ones and ancestors, who made the greatest sacrifice, were still being remembered today".

The government announced a £2m funding boost for the maintenance and repair of war memorials last year.

Last week, MacAlister wrote to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy saying the allocation of money to purchase the bridge would be "exactly the kind of project the fund was designed to support".

He said the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA) was leading efforts to design a replacement, and had offered to meet the installation costs.

MacAlister said it also provided a "vital crossing" between Scarth Gap and Pillar Rock.

Dr Dodds added it was a "very useful bridge to get to the other side of Ennerdale otherwise you have to walk some way upstream".

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the fund was managed independently by the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF).

NHMF would announce further details about the programme, including eligibility criteria, grant awards, and timelines, later this year, DCMS said.

The LDNPA has been contacted for comment.

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