"Living on the Fell"
...a story in photographs
...a story in photographs
Exhibition: 24th - 26th October 2025
and 2026 Calendar
We were pleased to be able to exhibit 116 photos at Cartmel Fell Parish Hall from 24-26 October 2025.
The photographs were all taken in the year from September 2024 to September 2025 illustrating the theme “Living on the Fell” and submitted to us by local photographers.
The exhibition was free to enter. Visitors were given a voting slip to select their favourite print in the People's Vote, and they listened to a "Sounds and Seasons of the Fell" soundtrack and read a composition about each season as they meandered through Cartmel Fell Parish Hall looking at the mounted prints. There were so many entries that we needed to build some new exhibition boards as well as borrow them from Crosthwaite School and Eric Pye. We were very pleased to do it!
There were over 120 visitors across the weekend, the majority of whom also voted in the People's Vote.
We got some lovely comments about the exhibition and venue.
We asked: What was particularly good about the event?
Visitors said:
"The variety of photos and the friendly volunteers"
"Better than expectations!"
"Proof of a vibrant community. Wonderful photos."
Our “Living on the Fell” exhibition aimed to capture a snapshot of life and the lived experience on Cartmel and Newton Fells at the beginning of the second quarter of this century.
We wanted to record what life in our area is like and we want to maintain the rich photographic history of the area that community members before us have collected.
Our 2026 calendar sold for £10 from local outlets near Cartmel Fell and helped us to raise funds for future community work and events. Below are the photos from our exhibition that were selected for the 2026 calendar by our guest judge, Eric Pye.
Kelly Gibbons
"Sun breaking through snow clouds"
Angela Nicholson
"Snowdrops near Hartbarrow"
Lucy Brown
"The shepherd’s hut"
Kelly Gibbons
"Looking at ewe"
Chelsea Clarkson
"Young stag in Hodge Close"
Marion Martin
"Summer pastures"
Alastair Martin
"All rowed up!"
Martin Scovell
"Rush hour on The Fell"
Helen Caldwell
"September sunrise"
Chelsea Clarkson
"Getting ready for winter"
Tim Attwood "Bonfire Night" AND
Lucy Brown "Fireworks on Bonfire Night"
Ken Paxton
"Misty Morning"
Thank you to everyone who entered their image or images for the exhibition and consideration for the calendar. We received approximately 130 entries - and despite applying strict entrance criteria we were left with 116 great images for our exhibition reflecting “life and the lived experience” in the year up to September 2025.
Images of tremendous beauty rubbed shoulders with people's illustrations of everyday work, leisure and frustrations. The wonderful landscape of Cartmel Fell is clearly a fertile source of inspiration.
Photographs were selected for the calendar by our guest judge and professional photographer, Eric Pye - and he also selected a favourite image from these which also became the calendar front cover. Congratulations to our 2026 calendar winner, Helen Caldwell and to everyone that had a photograph selected for the calendar.
The calendar sold for £10 and raised funds for the Cartmel Fell Volunteers, helping us to continue our voluntary work.
The entries chosen for each month in the calendar are listed on the page below, with the entrants' names.
The result of the People's Vote was announced on Sunday 26th October.
Laura Martin's picture of St Anthony's Church was the winner - the picture was taken on 21st December 2024 of the church lit up ready for the Carol Service.
"Life on the southern fells of the Lake District has changed dramatically in the last 100 years. The population has ebbed and flowed, whilst agricultural practice has evolved to meet the needs and desires of the nation. Forests and Damson orchards have come and gone or lie quietly as nature reclaims them for her own. Threats have erupted and receded. Over the years the changes have been captured in photographs both formally and increasingly informally, as we enter the second quarter of the first century of our third recorded millennium."