All
climbing guidebooks build upon information that
has been collated in previous definitive publications
to an area. Therefore, sincere thanks must go
to all those climbers who through the years
have contributed to previous guidebooks to Lancashire
and the North-West. In particular, Dave Cronshaw
and Phil Kelly must be thanked for all their
efforts in editing and collating the information
for the previous guidebook, which has certainly
stood the test of time.
Climbers
may be interested to learn that the idea of
a guidebook that specifically covered the Lancashire
Area was first mooted with Eric Byne and the
BMC in 1967. Unfortunately, these plans had
to be scrapped because of funding problems at
the time and so the first guidebook was produced
by the magazine Rocksport. After the demise
of Rocksport, Cicerone Press stepped in and
was responsible for publishing three full guidebooks
and two supplements to the area. However, as
this guidebook is being published by the BMC
it is appropriate to thank Walt Unsworth, his
wife Dot and Brian Evans from Cicerone for supporting
the area by producing so many guidebooks and
also for the friendly way that they were willing
to transfer the guide to the BMC's aegis. Without
these guidebooks, development of the area would
have been severely limited and the area could
easily have been without a definitive publication
for years.
The
main guidebook team members are listed at the
front of this guidebook and at the start of
the sections to which they contributed most.
They must all be thanked for the hard work that
they have undertaken in writing the scripts
and checking the route descriptions. In many
cases this also involved recleaning some of
the less-frequented routes and replacing ancient
protection pegs and so their efforts have improved
the overall quality of the climbing at many
crags in the area.
We
must also thank all the artists whose diagrams
have been included and Jeremy Ashcroft for producing
the endpaper map. The old adage that a picture
is worth a thousand words is only true if they
are prepared skillfully and meticulously. The
originals of the diagrams certainly appear to
be clear enough and we just hope that they will
all reproduce well. All the diagrams have been
scanned onto a computer and the route lines
and numbers have then been added. This process
was a little bit experimental and Geoff Radcliffe
must be thanked for his technical assistance
with resolving many of the scanning problems.
Thanks
must also be given to all those climbers who
assisted by proof-reading, or checking the technical
information. The attempt to include comprehensive
historical information also meant that it was
necessary to contact many of the earlier activists
and it is pleasing to note that so many of those
who contributed to the 1969 guidebook were located
and are still climbing. Sincere thanks are given
to all of these contributors and to others who
helped by checking small sections or by coming
on working meets. We must mention in particular:
Steve Barker, Dave Bates, John Belbin, Pete
Black, Nick Bond, Frank Booth, Ian Conway, Adam
Cropper, Brian Davison, Carl Dawson, Margaret
Dewhurst, Al Evans, Ray Evans, Rick Graham,
Andrew Gridley, Geoff Haigh, Dave Hollows, Tony
Howard, Dave Kenyon, Ken Lathom, Mark Leach,
Bill Lounds, Mick Lovatt, John Mason, Tony Mitchell,
Russ Murray, Dave Musgrove, Ged O'Sullivan,
Duncan Parker, John Parker, Gareth Parry, Hank
Pasquill, Keith Phizacklea, Mick Pooler, Paul
Pritchard, Jim Ingham Riley, Gary Smith, Jessica
Stam, Daniel Waddington, Tom Walkington, Alan
White, Bob Whittaker, Dave Wilcock, Steve Wilcock
and Wilf Williamson.
We
must also thank Geoff Milburn for undertaking
the final editing work on the guidebook. Geoff
is one of the great unsung heroes of the British
rock-climbing scene and has worked tirelessly
on the often thankless task of producing both
CC and BMC guidebooks. Therefore, we are extremely
grateful that he has been able to advise us
and let the Lancashire guide benefit from his
years of experience. Geoff is a perfectionist
and although this often adds to the workload
of those producing the guides, in the end it
ensures that the highest quality standards are
maintained. For this guide, changes have been
made in response to requests from Geoff, Dave
Gregory and Graham Hoey (who have also read
the script in detail), in a way that moves us
towards the style used for the BMC Peak District
guidebooks, whilst maintaining some distinctive
differences. However, whilst these have taken
time to implement and may have delayed the guide
a little, now that the necessary changes have
been made, we are pleased with the results and
must thank both Geoff and Graham for their inputs.
Finally.
thanks must go to Jean, my wife, for putting
up with the reams of scripts and diagrams that
have littered my office for several months and
for help with the awkward and time-consuming
tasks, such as scanning the diagrams, inserting
the route lines, re-ordering the first ascent
lists and regularly altering the formatting.
Les
Ainsworth, Dave Cronshaw (Volume Compilers and
Sub-editors), 1998
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