Queen's Guide to the Sands

Cedric Robinson, the Queen's Guide to the Sands, leading a group across Morecambe Bay in July 2014

The Queen's Guide to the Sands is the royally appointed guide to crossing the sands of Morecambe Bay, an ancient and potentially dangerous tidal crossing in northwest England. As of 2015, the Guide is Cedric Robinson MBE, who became the 25th guide in 1963. The guide is paid a nominal salary of only £15 a year[1] but the holder of the post also has the use of the 700-year-old Guide's Cottage at Kents Bank, which is owned by the Crown and managed by the Duchy of Lancaster.[2]

The first official guide was appointed by the Duchy of Lancaster on 29 January 1548, a Thomas Hogeson.[3]

Until the building of the railway in 1857, the cross sands route had been a major transport route in the area, with Guides appointed royally since the 16th century. Before that, the monks of Furness at Cartmel Priory had provided guides for crossing the sands. In modern times a crossing of the sands has become a popular challenge walk for charity fundraisers, with Robinson often leading groups of up to 500 people. These walks are typically once a fortnight (from spring to autumn), from either Hest Bank or Arnside over to Flookburgh Point or Kents Bank—tide and river levels (the River Kent has to be crossed at some point) allowing—and are often in support of a charity.

References

  1. ↑ "Morecambe Bay's Queen's Guide to the Sands on why he loves his job". BBC News. 29 September 2013.
  2. ↑ The Duchy of Lancaster - Lancashire Archived 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Peter, David (1985). 'Cross Kent Sands. Lunesdale Publishing Group Limited. ISBN 094609103X.

Further reading

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