COOKING has really taken off over the last decade or so. You can’t turn on the TV without seeing a faux-celebrity in their whites cremating a crème brulée.

BAY Search and Rescue had its busiest year in 2009.

ESTATE Agent Sarah Washington had a lucky escape yesterday when a car driven by an elderly woman crashed through her office window.

BRITAIN’S Energy Coast™ will need a highly skilled workforce if it is to remain at the forefront of energy technology.

LIAM Campbell bagged a brace as Barrow Raiders claimed a deserved but unconvincing win over Blackpool in their Northern Rail Cup opener against Blackpool.

IF Barrow AFC’s Mr Fix-it managed to repair the team-tactics board Dave Bayliss vented his frustrations on after the match, one would hope the joint-managers used it in training today to iron out the side’s obvious frailties in defending set-pieces.

LADY in the Lake killer Gordon Park was found dead in his prison cell on his 66th birthday.

MORE than 200 family and friends packed into a church to say their last goodbyes to convicted wife killer Gordon Park.

POLICE divers have been searching Ulverston canal for a missing man.

A POLICE search of railway lines in the Ulverston area was due to continue today after officers were unable to trace a missing man.

THE weekend cold snap didn’t deter more than 170 runners taking to the slopes of Birkrigg Common, near Ulverston, for the annual fell race yesterday.

INFANT school children dressed as characters from their favourite books to celebrate book week.

POLITICIANS, police officers and teachers are all embracing new media in a bid to reach out to young people.

Evening Mail's Pothole Watch. Send your pictures and videos to pictures@nwemail.co.uk

DECADES of work came to fruition yesterday when the first of 10 years of consignments of highly-radioactive nuclear waste was loaded on to a ship bound for Japan.

AN ANIMAL-LOVER has thanked firefighters who came to the rescue of a puppy after the pooch’s head got trapped in a tin of cat food.

Two time competitor, Joe Riley, give his tips for the Great North Swim.

DRINKS promotions that encourage binge-drinking will be banned from April, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has announced.

We catch up with Whitewater Hotel and Restaurant operations manager James Beech

Pupils celebrate being awarded the National Sing Up silver award

New Year's Dips at Earnse Bay, Walney, and Canal Foot, Ulverston.

Over 100 Schools were forced to close after snow fell over much of Cumbria

WEATHER forecasters are predicting more ice and snow in the run up to Christmas.

A LITTLE girl fighting cancer received an extra special Christmas present when Santa Claus turned up on her doorstep.

Drivers in Cumbria are being urged to take extreme care on the roads tonight after the Met Office issued another severe weather warning in anticipation of further heavy snow tonight.

A FAMILY is bringing festive cheer to all with their charity winter wonderland.

EVENING Mail reader Robert Beach’s moving poem is a timely reminder during the festive season that while pets can make a wonderful gift for a loved one – they are not just for Christmas but for life.

MALE voice quartet, Voce, rounded off a terrific Christmas carol service.

A HOMELESSNESS charity will hold its 20th Christmas shelter next week.

THERE’S a buzz about the town, and it’s not just pre-Christmas excitement. Barrow AFC is looking forward to one of the biggest games in the club’s history when they take on Premier League Sunderland at the magnificent Stadium of Light.

BARROW’S new secondary school has teamed up with a Super League rugby club.

A HINT of snow blew over Ulverston’s Market Cross as musicians young and old performed festive classics in aid of flood victims.

A HEROIC rescue team which helped South Cumbria’s flood-hit residents has been praised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

THE mainstream Labour Party comfortably repelled a challenge from the British National Party in a by-election.

POLICE officers and other agencies carried out a swoop on licensed premises in Barrow and Dalton as part of Operation Siskin.

HUNDREDS of angry residents and students flocked to a public meeting last night to air their views over plans to mothball the University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus.

A SMALL knot of people had gathered around the church font in the warmth of St Patrick’s.

TRADERS fear a continued loss of business because of ongoing roadworks.

GOVERNMENT minister Lord William McKenzie said action is needed to solve flooding in Ulverston after witnessing first hand the damage caused to residents’ homes.

AN eye-witness has described how he saw his neighbours being airlifted from their home.

A £40M project to transform a college campus is about to be launched.

BARROW witnessed a Christmas miracle on Saturday when persistent driving rain suddenly stopped in time for the lights switch-on ceremony starring the Hairy Bikers.

SCORES of families watched the Astute submarine leave Barrow shipyard ahead of her planned departure for sea trials

BARROW-built Astute left the town to begin sea trials. Crowds of people went to Roa Island and Walney to witness the departure of the Royal Navy’s most advanced attack submarine.