Keswick 1914:
Recently I’ve been lending a hand on a project by Gable Media, deep in the heart of the English Lakes.
The year is 1914 and two climbers, Siegfried Herford and George Sansom, are about to make a pioneering climb of Scawfell Pike but, with with a war looming on the horizon, for one of the climbers it would be their last. Both of the climbers of Central Buttress would enlist that year and serve in Belgium. However, with a name like Siegfried, life was never going to be fair.
Filming in the world-famous mountaineering shop, George Fisher, the mission was to turn the shop front back one hundred years to its former identity: Abraham’s Photography Shop.
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| What we were trying to achieve: Abraham’s c.1914 |
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| Behind the scenes. |
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| “When I’m Dressin’ Windahs!” |
Haven been given the shop front as a set, the rest of the building carried on – business as usual. This included assembling ten foot high window display at the side of the shop. Much to our surprise, in the 50 minutes it took to set up a shot, the entire display had changed. What had taken two days to build, set up and dress the windows, had taken the pros little more than a coffee break.
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| George Abraham |
As we go on into a further three years of First World War Centenary commemorations, I have no doubt we will see more Great War related work. However, not many will be as picturesque as the ascent of Napes Needle via Borrowdale.
The documentary is due to be shown at the Kendal Mountain Festival, this November.
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| Derwent Water on a Sunbeam |
