It’s All Hills And Mountains At KMF

Terry Abraham at work

Tickets for the 2020 Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) speaker programme are now available. Once again hosted in the Theatre by the Lake, the schedule on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 May includes award-winning outdoor author and TV presenter Cameron McNeish and an evening dedicated to celebrating the 214 Lake District peaks, known as the Wainwrights.

Founded in 2007, Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) is presented by title partner Land Rover and is now one of the UK’s best-loved outdoor festivals, attracting 20,000 visits every year to Cumbria. From 15-17 May, KMF will kick off this year’s summer festival season with its unique mix of live entertainment, sporting events, outdoor adventures, high profile speakers, taster activities, exhibitor stands and camping for all of the family.

Located next to the Festival Village on Crow Park, the programme presented in the Theatre by the Lake is always one of the most popular attractions at KMF. This year’s schedule will begin at 4:00pm on Friday 15 May, with a screening of Paul Tierney’s ‘Running the Wainwrights’ film, which tells the story of his record-breaking feat in June 2019.

Cameron McNeish on Suilven at start of the Sutherland Trail in the North West Highlands of Scotland.

At 7:30pm on the Friday, mountaineer, hillwalker and adventurer Cameron McNeish will take to the stage. Cameron is an award-winning author and television presenter and will share stories from his most recent book, ‘There’s Always the Hills’, and from his long career in the outdoors.

On Saturday 16 May, the Theatre by the Lake programme will start with ‘Life of a Mountain: End of an Era’, when filmmaker Terry Abraham will take festival goers behind the scenes of his award-winning documentary series featuring Scafell Pike, Blencathra and Helvellyn. Terry will reflect on the last eight years, during which he has filmed and produced his love letters to the three iconic Lakeland fells.

The finale of the 2020 Keswick Mountain Festival schedule in the Theatre by the Lake will be a celebration of all things Wainwright related. In recent years, the Wainwright Round of 214 peaks has made headlines, thanks to records being broken by Steve Birkinshaw in 2014 and then Paul Tierney last year.

Steve and Paul will talk about their experiences and will be joined by BAFTA winning filmmaker Richard Else, who is the author of Wainwright Revealed, an account of his time working on the classic BBC series in the 1980s that featured Alfred Wainwright and Eric Robson.