Helen Skelton – From Rags to Riches Born on the 19th July 1983 and growing up in Kirkby Thore in Cumbria, which is only 1 hour from where I live, Helen Skelton is said to be one of Cumbria’s most iconic figures. She attended Kirkby Thore Primary School and then Appleby Grammar School and graduated from Cumbria Institute of Arts in 1999 with a BA in Journalism. Whilst she was studying at the Cumbria Institute of Arts she also worked on the Coronation Street set as an extra. Helen told me ‘It was