Shap Memorial Trust

 The Shap Memorial Trust.

The Shap Memorial Trust was formed by Friends of the British Commercial Vehicle Museum in Leyland, Lancashire; inspired by stories told to them by visitors to the museum many of whom were older drivers; with very few exceptions, these stories included tales about journeys over Shap Fell.

In 1991 Gordon Baron persuaded the Friends of the Museum to initiate a feasibility study to see if and where a memorial could be erected. The planned memorial would pay tribute to the drivers and crews of vehicles that had used the A6 route over Shap, and paying respect to the local people who gave food and shelter to the travellers in severe weather during the winter months.

After looking at several sites, it was decided that the best location would be on the lay-by at the summit of the A6 over the fell, and so planning permission was sought from the local authority. The form of the memorial also came under discussion, and they were fortunate to be offered a large piece of Shap pink granite donated by R. M. C. Roadstone. An appeal was launched to raise funds to help finance all the work involved; the inscriptions were made onto two panels of Westmorland slate, thus combining the two kinds of rock to be found on the fell.

In 1993 the Friends of the Museum set up the Shap Memorial Trust Fund, now known as the Shap Memorial Trust. It was founded to help construct, erect, and maintain the memorial and site. A national appeal was launched, and was very successful. The Memorial was unveiled on 7^th May 1994 by Mrs Lenore Knowles, known in transport circles as ‘the Leyland Clock lady’. This was certainly a day to remember with a marvellous turn out by vintage commercial vehicles lining the two lay-bys on the summit; guests being transported to the site by vintage Leyland coach.

In order to raise further funds, a booklet entitled ‘The Shap Story’ was written by Gordon Baron and published to coincide with the unveiling. The booklet contained contributions by several local people and was a great success. Buoyed up by the success of the booklet, a video of the same name was produced and has been highly acclaimed as a best seller in its field. The original book was revised, enlarged and improved then published in 1998.

By 2006 many of the original trustees were getting older and wished to hand over the responsibility of the Trust to others; Jean Scott-Smith had been involved with the Trustees from the outset, and offered to negotiate with Shap Local History Society about taking over this responsibility, and in 2007 Jean Jackson, Liz Amos and Jean Scott-Smith were appointed the new trustees under the umbrella of our Society. As a result we acquired a sizeable archive of old photographs and a collection of die-cast models of vehicles connected with the route.

In late 2012, Gordon Baron who was the man with the vision to erect the memorial on Shap Fell died, and his ashes interred near the memorial, a plaque to his memory was inserted at the memorial. In May 2014 a vintage vehicle run was held to mark the twentieth anniversary of the memorial unveiling.

One of the trustees, Jean Scott-Smith has devised an illustrated talk about the routes over Shap Fell, and is happy to speak to groups. She may be contacted via this website