An international conservationist is appearing at Kendal Town Hall to give Friends of the Lake District's annual Kirby Lecture on Tuesday September 29.  
Professor Adrian Phillips' will discuss how the Lake District has been at the centre of ideas about landscape for the past 250 years and how those ideas have spread around the world to influence conservation action in many other countries.

It's a story in which Friends of the Lake District has played a significant part. The landscape charity celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Set up in 1934 to protect the Lake District's landscape for future generations to enjoy, Friends of the Lake District's early campaigning eventually led to the creation of the Lake District National Park.

A Vice President of the Council for National Parks and British Association of Nature Conservationists, Adrian Phillips trained as a planner and geographer. Among many other posts he has worked in London, Kenya and Switzerland for the government, the United Nations Environment Programme and IUCN - the World Conservation Union.

Local author John Cousins will also be at the event signing copies of his recently published book, 'Friends of the Lake District: the early years' which tells the story of the Friends from their origins until creation of the Lake District National Park in 1951.

The lecture is free and begins at 7.30pm with refreshments available from 7pm.
For more information please visit www.fld.org.uk, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or phone 01539 720788.

To see the text of the lecture click here.

ENDS

Editors Notes

1. For further information contact Sarah Stergiaki on 01539 720788.

2. Friends of the Lake District is the only charity wholly dedicated to protecting and enhancing the landscape of Cumbria and the Lake District and is celebrating its 75thanniversary with a series of events this year. See www.fld.org.uk for more details.

3. Prof. Adrian Phillips CBE trained as a planner and geographer. He has worked in London, Kenya and Switzerland for the government, the United Nations Environment Programme and IUCN - the World Conservation Union. He was Director General of the Countryside Commission (1981-1992), and then professor at Cardiff University until 2000. He chaired the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (1994-2000), and has worked closely with the World Heritage Convention and European Landscape Convention. He has written and lectured on landscape and served on the boards of RSPB, WWF, CPRE and the Woodland Trust. He is currently a trustee of the National Trust, a Ministerial appointee on the Cotswolds Conservation Board, and an advisor to the Heritage Lottery Fund. He is a Vice President of the Campaign for National Parks and British Association of Nature Conservationists

4. Historically the Lake District played a key part in the picturesque aesthetic of the 18th and 19th century romantic movement. Through it's influence on the National Trust and Friends of the Lake District and their role in creating the UK national park movement, the Lake District achieved national prominence during the 20th century when it's influence spread more widely still. Many other conservation movements around the world have modelled themselves on the organizations that started in the Lake District like the National Trust and Friends of the Lake District and many other countries have developed landscape legislation similar to that pioneered in 1949 National Parks Act. The Lake District has even had an influence on the World Heritage Convention by encouraging the recognition of outstanding landscapes as of international importance.