A town council is hoping that a popular annual wool festival which attracted visitors from all over the country will be able to keep links with Cockermouth.

Earlier this summer, the organisers of Woolfest, which has been running since 2005 from Mitchell's Lakeland Livestock Centre, announced they would not be organising any future Woolfest events.

Ruth Strong, current chair of the co-operative, said at the time: “We are certainly keen to celebrate our original ethos by supporting and attending other events."

At a recent town council meeting, Cllr Julie Laidlow said: "I have been contacted by Janet Likeman, who owns Graysonside Caravan Park in town.

"She said Woolfest brings a lot of revenue into town and asked if we could persuade them to run it on a smaller scale in one of the empty units in Cockermouth.

"I was thinking we could we contact Woolfest and ask them about putting something on at Cockermouth Show."

Cllr Alan Tyson said: "I spoke to Mrs Likeman and it was suggested we could have a mini Woolfest at Cockermouth Show, perhaps with local craftspeople spinning. Herdwicks are now in great demand for their fleeces."

Cllr David Malloy said: "Woolfest was very popular, there was a phenomenal amount of people."

He supported the idea of a presence at Cockermouth Show, as long as it did not clash with existing craft stalls.

"I think the biggest thing would be trying to get together a committee which was willing to organise it. It's a fair undertaking," said Cllr Malloy.

It was decided that the council approach the show committee and say they were disappointed that Woolfest had come to an end and would it be possible to have a presence at the show.

The council will also write to the Woolfest organisers and ask whether they would consider being part of the show.

The annual festival was organised by Wool Clip, a Cumbria-based cooperative of sheep farmers, spinners, dyers, knitters, feltmakers, weavers and other wool workers with a shop in Caldbeck.

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