Care of Police Survivors
Light the Lakes 2023
The Light The Lakes event sees teams of police officers, staff, retired officers and police friends light up the famous Wainwright fells of Cumbria in memory of colleagues who have lost their lives.
Story
The father of Light the Lakes, retired PS Ian Davis, organised the first event on 28th April 2012, where some 594 Police Officers, colleagues and friends climbed Wainwright peaks in the Lake District to raise money to support the orphaned children of murdered Surrey DC Heather Cooper. The event raised in excess £30,000.
Since then Light the Lakes has become an established event in the climbers diary where Police Officers, colleagues and friends climb Wainwright peaks in the Lake District to raise money to support COPS (Care of Police Survivors) who relentlessly work to provide peer support and access to counselling services to help surviving family members rebuild their shattered lives. They have helped hundreds of police families devastated by the loss of a loved one who died on duty.
The Vision has always been to cover all 214 Wainwright fells to light a flare in honour of our fallen colleagues. The 2012 event was the foundation Ian Davis laid for Light the Lakes with the ambition of completing all 214 Wainwright Peaks. In May 2015, Ian announced he was stepping down from organising the main event and Vinny Wagjiani continued organising the event with a strong team, keeping the legacy going with his sight on getting all 214 Peaks covered.
Seeing the flares in the dark across the peaks was an incredibly special and moving experience.
See the COPS team taking part in Light the Lakes in 2019:
