*Elizabeth Adams has joined the Harrison Network, a Cumbria-based business that delivers culture change in organisations through training, coaching and mentoring.

After more than 15 years supporting researchers in Higher Education to be as innovative as possible, Elizabeth then moved into innovation management via the Game Changers programme in the nuclear industry. She brings that blend of research skills and action focus to her new role as Learning and Development Consultant with the Harrison Network. “As well as work, I love the outdoors and I’m a keen cycler, fell racer and swimmer. I’ve made wild swimming friends here as well as coaching a youngsters’ cycling club in Whitehaven and completing a Frog Graham Round in 2021.”

Elizabeth is already working with Lucy Harrison and other colleagues in the Harrison Network on a number of current projects including the delivery of the Step Up and Speak Up? programmes for Sellafield Ltd and working with nuclear graduates and Cumbrian SMEs on a coaching for innovation programme.

 

*Burnetts Solicitors’ Corporate Partner Michael Walby has become the new Head of Department of the corporate team, based in Carlisle. The current Head Vaughan Jones is stepping down from the role having led the team through transactions with an aggregate value approaching £200m during 2021.

Michael has been with Burnetts since 2015 and is ranked as a “Leading Individual” in Legal 500, the only Cumbria-based corporate lawyer to receive this accolade.

Michael said: “I am thrilled to be taking over from Vaughan during what I intend to be an exciting period of growth and expansion, building on the team’s hard work over the last few years. The majority of our work is generated from recommendations, which demonstrates the high regard that our clients and business contacts have for us.”

 

*H&H Group has appointed livestock farmer Steve Pattinson as a Non-Executive Director. Born and brought up on the family farm, Kinkry Hill, Road Head, Carlisle, Steve has been involved with the H&H Group and its livestock trading company Harrison & Hetherington all of his life.

Steve said: “From a very young age, I used to go to the mart at Botchergate and I can still clearly remember the day when the Borderway Mart opened – I was five years old, and I think it was a Wednesday!

“In looking to the future, there are going to be many ongoing challenges, not least the current rate of inflation, rising farm costs and a reduction in farm payments, all of which are going to have a significant impact. My aim is to support the work of the Board, to ensure that we do everything we can to look after our customers, staff and shareholders alike.”

 

*Abigail Clucas, 32, from Cockermouth, has joined Baines Wilson as an associate solicitor in the commercial property team while Ailsa Layton, 26, originally from Brampton, becomes the firm’s latest trainee solicitor.

Abigail is a former pupil of Cockermouth School who studied law at Newcastle University before completing a legal practice course at Northumbria University while simultaneously working as a paralegal at Carr’s Group in Carlisle.

She then spent seven years at Burnetts Solicitors, becoming an associate solicitor specialising in commercial property, before moving to Milburns in Workington after the birth of her children Harry, aged four, and Imogen, two.

In her spare time, she competes in triathlons and is a member of the Tri-Lakeland Triathlon Club. She is a strong swimmer who represented English schools and took part in trials for the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.

Ailsa attended William Howard School in Brampton before attaining a first in law from the University of Greenwich and a distinction in her legal practice course at the University of Law (Bloomsbury).

Outside work, Ailsa is looking forward to moving into her new home in Carlisle and resuming her passion for walking in the Lake District.

 

*PGA Professional, Ellie Broome, has joined Penrith Golf Hub, tasked with taking the junior drive ‘to the next level’. Ellie, 23, was previously at Kirkby Lonsdale Golf Club, where she formed part of the teaching staff for two years. She will also be helping to develop Penrith’s 60-strong ladies’ section, offering one-to-one coaching sessions and a beginners’ course.

Turning professional in 2018, Ellie is a US Kids Certified Coach.

 

*Lucie Barnes has been promoted to partner in law firm Brodies. Based in Tebay, she has eight years' experience of acting for landlords and tenants on issues including dilapidations, leasing, trespass and rights of access. She is also chair of the Lancashire & Cumbria branch of the Association of Women in Property, and specialises in telecommunications, advising operators and landowners on the UK's soon-to-be updated Telecommunications Code. She joined the firm's property litigation team in 2020.

 

*Six new Deputy Lieutenants have been appointed in Cumbria.Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Cumbria, Mrs Claire Theresa Hensman, appointed Julie Elizabeth Barton, David Beeby, Gerard Paul Richardson MBE, Francis Alexander Scott, Professor Julie Mennell and Susan Odling Villiers-Smith to the prestigious roles.

 

*Peter Brendling, 60, of Mealbank, has been appointed as the new manager of Kendal BID, which represents nearly 700 businesses in the town.

Mr Brendling has spent much of his career in the travel and tourism industry. One of his early jobs was working in the Caribbean teaching sailing and windsurfing. “My claim to fame is that I taught Robert de Niro to windsurf!” he said.

Since then, his career has been in management in the travel and tourism industry. He ran his own company in the late 1990s, guiding backpackers from abroad around England, Wales and Scotland, before managing Ambleside Youth Hostel for 14 years.

He was commercial director for Mountain Goat from 2014-2017; general manager at the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway and, for the past three years, he has his partner have run the The Bakehouse in Blackhall Yard in Kendal.