Sport and Culture
Football and rugby league are the most popular amateur sports in the Furness area. Walney Central amateur rugby league club currently play in Division One of the North West Counties. The club was formed in 1936, and have played on the island ever since. They reached the second round of the Challenge Cup in 1960, losing to Oldham and they competed in the National Conference League between 1991 and 2007. In football, Walney Island Football Club were formed as Nautical FC in 1970, and competed locally in Barrow. They joined the West Lancashire Football League Division Two in 2007 at level 13 of the English football league system, where they currently play.
Walney has become an important location for kitesurfing and wind-surfing. It annually hosts one of the rounds of the British Kitesurfing Championship. In particular the flat, wide beach at Earnse Bay is popular for this sport. Windsurfing takes place around the island, particularly to its west coast and around the mouth of Walney Channel.
In literature, Walney most notably appears, or rather disappears, in The Railway Series books by Wilbert Awdry, which was converted into the television series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. The books and television series are all set on the fictional Island of Sodor, which is located in the position of Walney, though significantly larger. Its east coast resembles Walney, and the main town to the east of the island is 'Vicarstown', located at the same place as Vickerstown.
Read more about this topic: Walney Island
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