Last updated at 19:45, Saturday, 28 November 2009

The Prince of Wales today delivered a personal thank-you to emergency services for their work in the recovery operation in the flood-ravaged town of Cockermouth.

Royal touch: The Prince of Wales gave Keswick businesses a helping hand by joining TV celebrity Julia Bradbury for the switching on of the town’s Christmas lights

Prince Charles met members of the mountain rescue service, police, fire and rescue service, the ambulance service, the RNLI, the RAF and the RSPCA at the town’s mountain rescue centre.

He said: "Cumbria is such a special place with such wonderful people. I am very proud to visit and experience the fantastic way the British
people work together in a disaster."

The Prince was also due to hold a private meeting with the family of PC Bill Barker, 44, who died in the floods as they arrived at the centre to applause.

He later visited Mitchells Auction House, in the town centre, where a number of shops have been relocated to keep open for business while renovation works continues at their flooded premises.

Last night, a cheering crowd saw Prince Charles make royal history as he switched on their town’s Christmas lights and declared: “Keswick and the Lake District are open for business.”

The brief ceremony, on the steps of the town’s historic Moot Hall, was an unprecedented civic event.

As far as anybody knows, no senior member of the royal family has ever before agreed to switch on the Christmas lights in a provincial town.

It’s a job that would more usually fall to TV soap stars, keen to raise their profile and boost their earnings.

But last night was something entirely different and far more amazing.

The ceremony came after an appalling week of suffering, in which the human misery caused by the widespread flooding across west Cumbria was compounded by a sharp downturn in tourism, triggered by a perception that the entire county is stricken.

The Prince has long been a supporter of the county, praising its landscape, its traditions and its community owned Old Crown pub at Hesket Newmarket.

When Carlisle was flooded in 2005, he went out of his way to support the victims, walking among the debris along Warwick Road and listening to the distraught victims.

Last night, the Prince was back in Cumbria, showing he cares and lending his support publicly when it matters.

He was of course aware that his every move, and his every word, would be recorded for TV news channels.

That gave him the ideal opportunity to correct any impression that Cumbria has been wiped out. The Prince skilfully used his profile to put Cumbria back on the tourism map.

It was a timely message, aimed as much at the wider world as at the thrilled crowd who had gathered in their hundreds to see the royal visitor transform their town.

The Prince came to the county to see for himself the extent of the damage and to do what he could to help. After meeting flood victims and speaking to some who joined the rescue operation, the Prince, told the crowd: happy and relaxed, addressed the crowd.

He told them: “I’m enormously touched to have been asked to help switch on the lights, particularly as I know how much you have all been suffering from this perpetual rain and floods.

“The least I could do was to come and see how you’re all coping. The great thing is to get the message out to the rest of the world that Keswick and the Lake District are open for business.

“That’s the important thing.”

The Prince offered his heart-felt sympathy to flood victims who faced such “appalling conditions.”

There were loud cheers and applause as the Prince pressed a button, illuminating hundreds of coloured and shimmering white lights that shone beneath an inky sky.

The gesture went down well with everybody. Keswick man David Loan spoke for many when he said: “His coming here tonight sends out the message that Keswick is open for business.”

Schoolgirl Grace Watson, 15, said her mother Linda, 45, was stranded for two days by floodwaters at Keswick Camping and Caravanning club. She said: “It’s great to see Charles here.

“We’d felt a little bit forgotten about, but everybody remembers what he did for us during foot-and-mouth so he’s very popular.””

Guest house owner Jason Dodson said national media coverage had left many people with the impression that Cumbria as a whole had been left “under water”.

“But tonight has given us back that feel-good factor, which is exactly what we have needed,” he said.

A member of the North Lakes Accommodation Providers association, Jason runs the Ravensworth Guesthouse in Station Street.

He said that even though the floods affected only a small part of the town, the economic fallout from the media coverage had been huge.

“A lot of people have cancelled bookings – around 90 per cent of them.

“Whatever people may say, Prince Charles does not have critics in this town. What he has done is fantastic.”

Earlier in the day, the Prince had visited flood victims at Northside Community Centre in Workington.

After arriving in Keswick, he went first to the closed Greta Bridge, where he met Keswick Mayor Andrew Lysser and BBC TV presenter Julia Bradbury, whose programmes about the legendary walks promoted by Alfred Wainwright have raised the area’s profile.

Charles then went on to meet residents in Riverside Court, whose homes were among those flooded.

He found time to speak to staff from the Environment Agency who told the Prince how they had been working flat out since the deluge.

From there, he went on to Booth’s supermarket, where he met volunteers and others involved in the gargantuan rescue and recovery effort during and after the flood.

They included Rotary volunteers, Churches Together, members of the Flood Action Group, and Cumbria County Council’s Resilience Unit.

The Prince also mingled with local shoppers, stopped dead in their tracks by the sight of Prince Charles strolling past the tills.

Married mum-of-two Linda Martin, from Braithwaite, met Charles during the visit.

She said: “I filled up when I met him – he was so lovely.

“He knows how much everyone here has suffered and we all really appreciate him coming.”

The store’s general manager Jeff Brookfield, speaking before the Christmas lights switch on, said: “There has been a perception that Keswick is closed.

“We’ve had a number of calls from customers asking us when we are going to be up and running again. It has been extremely quiet.

“We do expect it to be a bit quieter after the summer period and just after half term but if you walk round the town you can see how quiet it has been. People have obviously seen the news coverage and drawn the wrong conclusion.

“Keswick needs all those customers to come back to support the town. I’m told that as soon as the Prince found out about the Christmas lights switch on he asked to be a part of it and volunteered.”

Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria James Cropper, who also met the Prince, added: “I believe this is probably unprecedented but the Prince of Wales has a particular affection for Cumbria. It think it’s only natural for him to come and to show his support in this way."

First published at 19:55, Friday, 27 November 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk