ORGANISERS of Keswick’s Words by the Water literature festival, which is about to enter its second week, say they are “delighted” with attendances.

 Festival Director Kay Dunbar said the number of people attending the festival this year was higher than in 2009.

She said: "We knew it had been a difficult winter for the area, and the roadworks in the town have not helped. But we hoped to get the message out to people to come along and help the local economy, and people have responded.”

Miss Dunbar said one of the striking things about the festival was the wide variety of talks and discussions that take place over the ten days. She said: "We like to have feedback from the people who attend, but I also like to listen to eavesdrop a little on people's conversations after an event. I think you can judge just how much people have enjoyed a particular topic in this way."

Keswick’s Words by the Water literature event is described as “nourishment for the mind” but this year it has also been a treat for the senses with a first week marked by glorious weather and some fantastic views to entrance visitors.

The festival has brought together top notch writers and broadcasters in packed series of talks and discussions ranging from serious topics such as child trafficking and MPs’ expenses to the humour of Gervase Phinn, education’s answer to James Herriot.

ITV journalist Chris Rogers delivered one of the most dramatic talks. The award winning TV man spoke about the personal dangers he faced in making a programme about child trafficking in Romania, a country he described as a “paradise for traffickers.”

Rogers told a wrapt Main House audience he went to Romania posing as a brothel owner to find out what went on in brothels. During his investigation he met real armed traffickers and was offered a 14 year old girl.

Rogers (pictured) smuggled himself into state run orphanages and found conditions after the fall of the Ceaucescu regime had not improved.

He said that young girls simply accepted their fate. Girls were being rented to British brothels and flown out of the country on cheap airlines.

Interviewed by another leading television figure, Michael Buerk, he told the audience that, as a result of his investigation, he was forced to live in a safe house in London for six months. “I never stop watching my back,” he commented.

Martin Bell, the former BBC foreign correspondent famous for his challenging of elected representatives, spoke about MPs and the expenses scandal. Bell spent four years in the Commons after taking the Cheshire seat of Tatton from Tory Neil Hamilton who had been plagued by allegations of sleaze.

Bell described the chasm between electors and those who supposedly serve them and said above all there had been a disappearance of conscience and avoiding an action simply because it was the wrong thing to do. He condemned a generation of politicians with no experience of the real world and with little to give and plenty to take.

Words by the Water president Melvyn Bragg did a double stint at the festival. His talk on Sunday related to the controversial decision to axe television’s South Bank Show, while on Saturday the subject was closer to home, Wigton and In Our Time.

From birdwatching to conspiracy theories, this year’s Words by the Water has provided a richly entertaining and provocative range of events.

Among the well known personalities speaking during the opening week of the 10 day festival are Sandra Howard, novelist wife of former Conservative leader Michael Howard, and Lynn Barber whose book An Education was made into an award winning film.

The festival moved to Mirehouse near Bassenthwaite on Wednesday for the poetry competition judged by John Burnside, the 2000 Whitbread Award winner. The Mirehouse Poetry Prize has been given to celebrate a longstanding literary link with writers including Wordsworth, Southey, Tennyson, Fitzgerald, Carlyle and Thackeray.

Regional as well as national voices have been heard during the festival including a session on Monday which celebrated Northwest voices.

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