Cumbria Community Foundation - Furness: Opportunities and Challenges 2021

F U R N E S S – O P P O R T U N I T I E S & C H A L L E N G E S 42 Furness has long-established amateur leagues in football and rugby league. There is one football team competing in the Cumbria Women’s League: Vickerstown Ladies. Furness Cricket Club competes in the Cumbria Cricket League. Barrow also has a basketball centre, Hoops, home to Barrow Thorns competing in the National Basketball League. Ulverston has Cumbria’s largest indoor and outdoor tennis venue. The 50-mile Tour de Furness charity cycling race takes place in September while the professional Tour of Britain has visited Barrow and Ulverston in recent years. Culture and Heritage Furness has a rich cultural heritage from Coniston’s copper-mining industry to Ulverston’s role in the Quaker movement, Furness Abbey’s past as a powerful Cistercian monastery and Barrow’s shipbuilding legacy. Much of High Furness lies within the Lake District National Park, which was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2017. The Royal Society of Arts ranks South Lakeland – which includes much of Furness – sixth in its national rankings based on data on heritage from more than 120 measures. Ulverston hosts the late-summer Lantern Procession, an annual fixture for almost 40 years. It also hosts an anchor festival, a flag festival, one of the country’s most important printmaking events, international Buddhist festivals and a festival that celebrates Laurel and Hardy – Stan Laurel was born there. Coniston Water stages an annual Festival of Speed where racing boats attempt to break water speed records on the lake where Bluebird set a world record and its pilot Donald Campbell lost his life in 1967. Barrow’s festivals include a Medieval Fair at Furness Abbey, a Festival of Transport and a Soapbox Car Race in the town centre. Signal Film and Media provides workshops and film-making opportunities for young people with the British Film Institute, Art Gene has projects that focus on community engagement, and The Ashton Theatre Group has launched its Theatre Factory initiative to develop local talent. Picture provided by Cumbria Tourism