I had the pleasure of being in Buttermere on Friday to witness the Lakes Charity Classic Paragliding Competition. What an amazing sight in the most stunning location. The weather was so perfect it looked like the paragliders were never going to come down and watching them land made me think that I really should take up the offer from Dave at Cafe Treff, Ambleside for a tandem flight. I will soon Dave!

Then Saturday, it was a local (for me) spectacle that made me get the camera out – The Harmonic Fields by Lakes Alive on Birkrigg Common near Ulverston. 8,000 others also thought it was worth a look and it certainly was an eye-opener as well as a treat for the ears. An orchestra of sound installations played by the stiff breeze coming off Morecambe Bay made you feel you were in a dream. Another success by Lakes Alive.

Of course you can see both events soon at Lakes TV.

Some think that local TV can’t work and that it will never make enough money – others think it has every chance of working but that it will need a different mind set from advertisers. I would definitely sit in the latter camp.

One of the parties to show an interest in delivering a network of local TV channels is Information TV – home of Lakes TV and United Fans TV – and it’s these two programmes that Information TV are heralding as examples of local TV that can be replicated throughout the nation. Read this news article to learn more – http://bit.ly/ef5fH6.

So what do you think?

Also new on the channel is a treat for all you Man United fans out there in the shape of United Fans TV – a half hour show that talks directly to the fans to get their views on the club they love, reviews the latest fanzine offering and gets on the road with United on their European campaigns with influential United writer Andy Mitten. UFTV is a Lakes TV production.

So if you live in the Greater Manchester area or know someone who does, remember you can see regular new content on Channel M now and you know it will meet the standards you can always expect from Lakes TV. Check local press for details – as they say.

An even better result was the removal of the clause in the Public Bodies bill that would allow the sell-off through the back door. Well done everyone who got behind this campaign and if you feel like enjoying this victory even more, get along to Whinlatter Forest on Saturday 19th February at 1pm where the proposed protest will now be a celebration of the forestry sell-off reprieve. Chris Bonnington, Eric Robson, Lord Clark of Windermere and Leo Houlding will all be there.

Enjoy!

It’s going to be a challenging year for everyone but there’s something in the air that tells me Cumbria will continue in it’s ascendancy. The Lake District continues to be a big draw for visitors. The scenery is one thing but the quality of accommodation, food and range of activities on offer means this region really has got the complete package.

TV is playing a big part in raising the profile and it’s reassuring that TV advertising is bouncing back and that businesses continue to understand that the moving image is the most effective medium there is. Visits by The Trip and shows such as Countryfile remind everyone what’s on offer but it’s ITV’s The Lakes that has had the biggest effect. As soon as a wedding venue is featured on there, it’s phone lines go into meltdown.

Viewers are watching in their millions and the only reason I can think of is that people just want to look at the scenery and dream about being here. It’s been a great idea to tap into that and I’ve not met anyone yet that doesn’t think Lakes TV is a great idea too. Through a range of films that record the county’s cultural events and celebrate its businesses and natural scenery, Lakes TV celebrates Cumbria every day of the week on Sky 203 and at http://www.lakestv.net. Soon it will also be showing on Sky 201 and Freesat 403.

What’s more, Lakes TV will soon have a foothold in the middle of the National Park, opening the eyes of 150,000 plus annual visitors to corners of the Lakes they never thought about exploring.

It’s still early days for Cumbria’s TV channel and it’s hard to do the place justice all at once but in this first quarter you can expect follow ups to our video guide on Windermere and Bowness (http://www.lakestv.net/viewchannel.php?id=42) and a series promoting the county’s bid to become the Adventure Capital of the World. Throw in some great food and businesses stories and before you know it, it will be Easter.

So the the moving image continues to dominate all our lives and just as Lakes TV produces features that are fit for broadcast, they will also fit on your website, your iPhone, your Android, your laptop, your iPad etc and continue to drive people to this incredible region to work, rest and play. If you can see the benefits, drop us a line and let us know how you want to deliver your message – info@lakestv.net.

Happy 2011.

Disappointed at not feeling the last one that was centred in Ulverston, I’m glad this one registered on the McLakes Sofa Shifter Scale. Not that I knew what it was until I opened facebook just afterwards. Everyone was all over it and had confirmed that it was an earthquake. It was literally a minute or two only before someone had posted the location of the epicentre via the US Geological Survey AND set up a dedicated facebook page – I Survived the Cumbrian Earthquake 2010. It had over 1,600 ‘likes’. More than the Lakes TV page. Gutted.

How can newspapers ever compete with the web when news spreads this fast?

Centred between Seathwaite and Wasdale Head, the quake hit 3.5 magnitude. Assuming no lives have been lost, the good folk on Twitter were having fun with the story though tweets on the lines of Grasmere’s destruction were a little misjudged. Honister Slate Mine will be salivating at the prospect of publicity off the back of this but will surely be too shy to mention it.

If you want further technical details, take a look here – http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/usc0000sdh.php#maps

I’ve already designed a souvenir Lakes TV T-shirt but they can’t deliver it until 2011. Merry Christmas everyone.

The first guide may seem a little obvious to some but will contain contributions from key attractions, hotels and businesses in the area of Windermere and Bowness, providing visitors with key information.

If you live in Cumbria, we’ll be coming to a town near you very soon, so if you run a business in Kendal and Staveley, Barrow and Dalton, Ulverston, Hawkshead etc and you would like to be involved in a video guide that will run a minimum 4 times a year for a period of 7 days on a channel that broadcasts throughout the UK and Europe and will be permanently housed in a number of key Cumbrian websites including lakestv.net, then get in touch – info@lakestv.net.

We hope to hear from you soon. Bed time I think.

John McLakes

Most people want to know how the hell we’ve done it – I say, it doesn’t matter how – it just matters that we have. Why? Because we think that a world class corner of the world deserves its own TV service. What most people don’t realise is that Lakes TV was founded on years of broadcast and corporate experience and can produce films that reach the world through web TV and the UK and Europe through Sky 203.

Anyway – that’s the corporate bit out of the way. We hope we produce films that people like about our region but one thing to remember is, this is a living, breathing county and not a theme park. We can’t just produce picture postcards. Expect to see things that you never knew about Cumbria, such as we’re home to one of the best music festivals in the country.

Also expect to see definitive video Guides to the places you think you know and those that you’ve never dreampt of visiting. Until now.

It’s midnight. Time to sign off on our first blog. Speak again soon.

John McLakes