Wainwright would not want statue, says Blackburn walker's nephew

Plans are being finalised for a statue of Blackburn-born Wainwright in the centre of the Lake District town Kendal, where he lived for much of his life.

But Wainwright’s nephew Jack Fish, 84, of Richmond Crescent, Blackburn, said his famously-private uncle would not have appreciated such a fuss.

Mr Fish, who is a son of Wainwright’s eldest sister Alice, said: “My uncle did not like publicity, he was very quiet.

“I don’t think he would have liked this at all.

“If they want a memorial his books are already a fitting memorial, especially as they are still selling.

“They tried to make a statue of him in the 1980s but he said no to the idea.

“He was a very nice man but always very quiet, even with family.”

The proposed £80,000 statue of the fell walker is to be sculpted by Graham Ibbeson, the artist responsible for the figure of Eric Morecambe on the seafront at Morecambe.

In recent years there has been a surge in interest in Wainwright’s Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, a series of seven books which chronicled the Lake District peaks.

And Mr Fish said the renewed appeal of the books would have baffled his uncle.

He said: “He wrote the guides so he would have something to look at in old age to remember him of his days walking the fells.

“I don’t think he ever expected them to be so popular.

“The thing with him was he never sought publicity.

“I hate to think what he would have made of the Wainwright Bridge and Thwaites naming an ale and a shire horse after him.”

Alfred Wainwright was born in 1907 and grew up in a house in Audley Range, Blackburn, which is now marked by a simple blue plaque which notes his time there.

Wainwright died in 1991, aged 84.

Mr Fish said he had contacted Kendal regeneration chiefs and was under the impression that the statue was still under consideration.

Lake District authorities said they were pushing ahead with plans for the statue which could stand in the centre of Kendal.