news feature

On this page ,every now and again we will feature an in depth news story about shap.

shaps lucky escape

October 2009 .Ten years ago this month,shap had a very lucky escape when an r.a.f hawk 1a aircraft crashed into the village ,sadly both pilots died,the following is the story of that day in october 1999.

October 1999, 13.00. A usual friday afternoon in shap,people were just returning to work after their lunch break ,children going back to the classroom after playing in the school playground,shoppers going to the village shops ,no one was prepared for what was about to happen.
13.10 . About 18 miles south of shap over sedbergh three r.a.f aircraft break off in different directions following an exercise in which hawk t1a xx193 of 100 squadron r.a.f leeming was the aggessor aircraft , xx193 headed north following the M6 corridor towards shap . 13.12 .In shap roadsweeper john lowis looked up to see the jet flying very close to the eastern edge of shap ,nothing strange in low flying planes he thought but this is unusually low, working on a roof on the new parkers croft housing estate keith kelly had just resumed work after dinner and on hearing the jet looked across to the east and immediately recognised the plane as an raf hawk and he too noted how low it was flying (both men were later called as witnessess at the coroners inquest into the crash) At the north end of shap tracy faser is cooking dinner for her young children oblivious to what is about to happen less than twenty yards from her house .13.13 An explosion shook the village and a huge ball of flame and black smoke appeared in the sky above the northen end of the village, a barn adjacent to the unocupied bleak house which is just a few yards from the west coast mainline was completely destroyed by the crash. The most miraculous story was van driver colin murray who was just crossing skew bridge entering shap from the north when his van was enveloped in flames,with the help of keith kelly and his workmates who were first on the scene he fortunately was able to walk away suffering from shock and with just minor burns .Tracey fraser and other terrified local residents run from their houses most unsure of what has just happened ,a scene of devestation awaits them ,tree branches ,rubble and pieces of wreckage from the aircraft litter their gardens and the main A6 road through the village ,a garage across the road has a hole in its concrete wall the size of a fist where a piece of wreckage has gone through ,windows are smashed, the impact such that little of the plane remains . Further south in the village people are asking what was that bang and smoke , john lowis just gets incredulous looks when he tells them a plane has crashed,it just doesn't happen does it ,not here not in shap ,you are joking aren't you? unfortunately he wasn't .

This is a rough estimation of the flight path of the hawk which crashed,the red arrows show how close it was to shap and according to the subsequent investigation into the crash by the r.a.f it was discovered that the plane had no column input for the last 18 seconds of its flight, this means from about a mile south of shap the plane was flying on its own as it were and could have crashed anywhere in the village ,only by pure chance did it miss all the houses and only hit a barn. One dreads to think what might have been ,a few hundred yards south of the crash site is the village school,less than fifty yards south was a petrol station.The crash claimed the lives of the two pilots -squadron leadr mike andrews 38, and flight lieutenant steve todd 28 ,but could have claimed so many many more .This was indeed a very lucky escape.

For a look at the damage caused and interviews with 3 residents check out this link - http://www.newsplayer.com/raf-hawk-jet-crashes-in-cumbria-video

In its findings into the crash in 2001 the m. o d board of enquiry reported that the plane had crashed because it had deviated from a safe flight path and hit the ground !! (tell us something we dont know) ,it recommended the fitting of g p w s (ground proximity warning system) and a radar altimeter,it also recommended the addition of a voice recorder to the existing data recorder ,all things which could have prevented or explained the crash. The fitting of gpws was later rejected on feasibility grounds . The raf continues its low flying exercises over the area and one can only hope that an incident like this never happens again.

The memorial to the two pilots who lost their lives ,outside bleak house

A SERVICE AND PARADE FROM THE CHURCH TO THE MEMORIAL TOOK PLACE ON SUNDAY OCTOBER 18TH 2009 TO MARK THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE TRAGEDY.

loo'sing all hope

This is the story of eden district councils attempt to close the public toilets at shap and villagers determination to prevent this happening.

A campaign was started by villagers to prevent the closure, led by self styled looman lowis .A petition was started and forms left in the toilets for visitors to sign. The picture to the left shows a sign outside the toilets erected by looman lowis

In late 2003 eden district council undertook a review of all public toilets in the district with a view to closing some toilets and transferring responsibilities for others in an attempt to save money. A scrutiny committee led by councillor fisher ,decided that shap toilets were category 2 ( those which would be offered to local organisations along with a nominal sum of money for upkeep( £800!!) ,it was decided that shaps toilets would be offered to the parish council on the basis that £65,000 would be spent on refurbishment, however as the need to save money and cut costs further, shaps toilets came under a very real threat of closure from eden district council as it was seen as an easier option to close them than spend money on refurbishment.

It was then that a few people led by looman lowis decided to fight for the toilets and in mid 2004 a petition was started to try to save the toilets ,forms were left in the toilets for visitors to sign and the fight began . Over several months visitors signed the petitions left in the toilets by looman lowis and eventually over 11,000 signatures were collected and presented to eden district council in 2005,with people from as far away as the usa and australia putting pen to paper , here are just a few of the 11,000 plus comments - "more than a convenience ,a neccessity"-n.johnson ,newcastle, "thank goodness they were here"-kay &colleen kennedy ,iowa u.s.a , "essential facility"-h.green ,bala ,n wales ,most appreciated"-deborah koch-washington u.s.a, "don't close a vital facility"- e.loydall ,sawley ,notts , "very clean and neccessary"-marie pitt,queensland,australia , "vital to walkers "-d.tonge ,bolton, "a tourist who's grateful for public toilets" -m.neilsen ,perth w australia , "public toilets are essential in a civilised society"-s.day,twickenham ,"on c2c,much appreciated & convenient"-vicky austen ,auckland ,nz , "only facilities for miles"-r.totty,southport. As you can see by these comments people from the world over pass through shap, and through the summer months especially, shap is busy with tourists as well as passing motorists, shap is also on the route of wainwrights coast to coast walk and its facilities welcomed by the weary walkers who have just walked over 15 miles to get here,shap is also frequently used as a base by coachloads of walkers who ramble through the local fells and hills .If you are one of the 11,000 + who signed the petition then you deserve a pat on the back ,because thanks to the strength of feeling and support shown ,the toilets have been saved ( for now).

The picture above shows looman lowis with an addition to his sign outside shap toilets,this was after edc admitted they were having second thoughts on the matter

Mr lowis said at the time eden disrict council were full of crap ,but not as full as the streets of shap would be if the toilets were to be closed.

Shaps new toilets .compare this photo with the ones above to see how much smaller the new toilets are.

Work finally began on shap's new toilets on the 7th of july 2008. Although grateful that their toilets have been saved and indeed been refurbished ,local people are annoyed that eden district council ignored local opinion and halved the size of the toilets,from there being 5 cubicles in the ladies now there are two,from three in the gents there is now only one ,eden district council were asked at the time why they were doing this and replied that it was big enough because shap isn't as busy as it used to be!! ( 11,00 signatures + a traffic survey that shows upwards of 20,000 vehicles a week pass through shap !!) .The council also ignored a request from the parish council to face the building with local limestone so that it was in keeping with the surroundings, the result is -over £80,000 spent ,work over running,and a building that looks totally out of place . As some locals have now christened it ""the " wee "wee house"" the emphasis on the wee .It only remains to be seen what happens when the coaches start rolling up and 50 people are wanting to use them at the same time ! "is that it ?"," what have they spent all the money on ?", "there a bit laal aren't they?", "taken em long enough ", "if i'd bought em in a shop i'd tek em back and ask for a refund" are just a few of the comments (the printable ones !!) that have been heard in shap in the last couple of weeks . Rumours in shap that snow white would be opening the new toilets are not true ! locals have been speculating recently that snow white would be opening the new toilets as they are only big enough for seven dwarves,( even that would be pushing it ,just enough room for a couple, i would say) people have also been speculating if one of the dwarves designed the toilets- i'll let you work out which one !!

But at least shap has got a public toilet ,and at long last facilities for the disabled ,and for that we must be grateful, there are a lot of places in the area who are not as fortunate .

november 01 /2008

The recently finished toilets complete with moat!!

march 2009 It is now several months since the opening of the new toilets and problems persist,not only have they been run into by a large vehicle ,but problems with standing water both inside and out continue,as you can see from the above photo ,levels were not correctly sorted before tarmacing and look at the result ,inside the gents toilets two pools of water stand constantly because of design faults with the toilets and urinal.