SITE UPDATE 21.03.2001
Dear friend

Hello to all new subscribers ..... Yesterday was the Spring Equinox - mid-Spring, though you would never know so from the weather! Hope everyone enjoyed whatever celebrations they took part in.

Although the Foot and Mouth crisis has led to the closure of footpaths in the Peak District, the word from the camp is that there has also been a reduction in lorry movements! This could be something to do with the disease, or it may just be a consequence of recent changes in quarry workings around the area.

We have also seen this press release on the PDNPA's web site:
Press Release
Code 103.00/01
20 March 2001
NATIONAL PARK 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION POSTPONED
The 50 Anniversary celebration of the Peak District National Park, planned to take place at the National Trust's Longshaw Estate, near Grindleford, on 17 April, has been postponed due to the foot and mouth crisis and the fact that the event would have taken place on moorland where stock were grazing.

Narendra Bajaria, Chair of the working party organising the event, said, "We are deeply disappointed at having to call off the celebration but given the current situation it would have been wrong to go ahead at this time. We are now planning to hold the event in the autumn on a date to be announced."

The celebration had been planned to reflect the aims of the people who had campaigned for the creation of national parks over 70 years ago. Narendra explained, "We were asking people to make their way to Longshaw by foot or cycle, or by using public transport. With access to rights of way and the National Trust estates restricted it would nave been impossible to get people to the event."

Martin Doughty, Chair of the National Park Authority, said, "The current foot and mouth crisis has brought home how much value we place of having access to the countryside. The National Park and other local authorities' help-lines have received hundreds and hundreds of calls from people wanting to know where they can walk and when access will be restored. We can only reassure them that full access will be allowed as soon as it is safe. In the meantime the many towns and villages in the Peak District still have lots to offer and local businesses and tourist attractions will extend a warm welcome to visitors."

Suggestions for what to do and places to visit in the National Park, as well as further information about 50th Anniversary events, can be found on the Authority's website at www.peakdistrict.org.
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 Note: The Longshaw Celebration has been organised by the Council for the Protection of Rural England, the National Trust, Sheffield City Council and the Peak District National Park Authority.

Just a thought, but would they really want to hold their golden jubilee against the backdrop of the re-opening of dormant quarries? It is our private suspicion that the May meeting may not be the last of things after all.

See you soon,
The Nine Ladies Web Site Team