91-year-old climbs fell to pay tribute to friend, Alfred Wainwright

Former Westmorland Gazette employee, Andrew Nichol, 91, helped to publish Wainwright’s remarkable work and became close friends with the great man.

Andrew Nichol with Alfred Wainwright (Image: Ken Shepherd/Chris Butterfield)Andrew had attempted to reach the tarn where Wainwright’s ashes were scattered in 2019 with the help of leading Wainwright scholar, Chris Butterfield, but had to turn back due to poor weather.

Chris was determined help Andrew reach the tarn and enlisted the help of Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team to make it such a ‘special’ day.

17 members of the team volunteered to help and used their vehicles and expertise to help Andrew get to his destination to honour his friend.

Andrew accompanied by members of Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team (Image: Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team)“The opportunity to be able to pay my respects to Wainwright or A.W. as I became to address him was something I had wanted to do for a long time,” said Andrew.

“Thanks to Chris Butterfield and Cockermouth Mountain Rescue members that has, at last, been achieved.

“From the day I was introduced to him I felt privileged. From a printer's perspective, here was someone whose writing did not need typesetting.

“It still amazes me that he produced so many pages, handwritten and justified (exactly the same width) and, as few people realise, without a single hyphen. He did not like hyphens.

“AW's priorities in life were privacy, silence and nature.

“Those minutes I spent sitting at Innominate Tarn soon made it obvious why he chose to have his ashes scattered there.”

Alfred Wainwright is known for his book series called ‘A Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells’ which he began writing in 1952 as part of 13-year project of compiling seven books on the 214 fells in the Lakes.

Andrew accompanied by members of Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team (Image: Bernice Nichol/Chris Butterfield)Decades later, they are still considered the definitive guides to the Lakeland fells.

“AW was a very interesting character,” said Andrew.

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“With a pen in his hand, a genius. With a spanner or tool of any kind, hopeless.

“In conversations if you asked a question there was always a delay in replying whilst he considered his answer. My memories of him are without criticism. He was honest and forthright.

“I think AW's preference for a legacy would be the many thousands of pounds he raised for Animal Rescue together with the many people he introduced to the pleasures of the Lake District through his writing.”