In spite of all the requests and all the warnings, empty cigarette packets, sweet papers, and torn pieces of newspaper were as plentiful as ever in the Lake District over the Easter weekend. But the voluntary wardens of the Lake District National Park are far from giving up. They have a slogan “Help Keep the Lake District Spring Cleaned,” and they believe that when the Lake District Planning Board’s special publicity programme to keep litter down is fully advertised along the by-ways and in the hotels and hostels they will be able to do a better job of pricking the public conscience.

Speeding boats on the Lakes 'outrageous' – archive, 6 July 1960 Read more

“The bulk of the litter results from mere thoughtlessness,” says one of the wardens, Mr Leslie Hewkin, of Ambleside. He believes there are encouraging signs already: “Where people have picnicked away from the main roads, it appears they have either buried their rubbish or taken it home with them. It is the motorists who seem to be the worst offenders. Easter egg cartons and sweet packets have been discarded in considerable numbers at lay-bys and on roadside verges by people who have stopped apparently for a few minutes.”

The voluntary wardens do not have set patrols. “We just walk around and we are nearly always on duty,” says Mr Hewkin. If and when they see someone discarding some rubbish they “draw to his attention” the disservice he is doing to the district and, in most cases, this is warning enough to end the wrongdoing. It is only when the rubbish contains some dangerous litter, such as broken glass, that the matter is passed on to the police.

To the wardens this system appears to be the best, and the more local people join their ranks in giving gentle admonitions to erring visitors the more they will be pleased. They want to be quite sure that the admonitions are gentle “This is a tourist area,” Mr Hewkin, says “and we welcome visitors. We don’t want to frighten anyone away.”

Easter traffic

Some records set up over Easter were announced yesterday. The 30,845 vehicles carrying 64,492 people, which used the Mersey tunnel on Monday, exceeded the previous highest figure for any day since the tunnel was opened.

On Thursday, Saturday, and Monday, the 1,415 long-distance trains which ran from the principal London stations carried more than 488,000 passengers, 32,000 more than last Easter. In all, 2,998 additional long-distance trains were run by British Railways during the holiday period, an increase of 194.

From the archive, 18 July 1960: The first Lake District Festival is launched Read more

There were 6,035 cars in Bridlington corporation parks, compared with 3,847, and 6,000 deck-chairs, twice as many as last year, were out on hire. Four thousand more holiday-makers used deck-chairs at Scarborough, and 2,000 more motorists used corporation parking rots.