Looking back through The Keswick Reminder’s archives from around this week 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
20 years ago
Simply amazing — The Stone Circle
The Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick is officially one of Britain and Ireland’s most “amazing places” according to the first part of a magazine published in the Sunday Times last weekend.
The stones are a familiar landmark to locals and thousands of visitors who go there each year to seek out their mystical atmosphere.
Accompanied by a magnificent photograph across two pages of the magazine, the Sunday Times writers paid due tribute to the changing look and feel of the place at different times of day, year, wind and weather.
“On days of dank mist the standing stones of Castlerigg circle seem to brood and loom large, while on crisp bright mornings of scudding clouds they shiver and dance,” says the article.
Diamond wedding
Mr & Mrs Bertie Gilpin of Greta Hamlet, Keswick celebrated their Diamond Wedding yesterday. They received a card of congratulations from Her Majesty The Queen.
They are both members of local well known families, and they were married at St John’s Church on 23 January 1943 by the Revd. H. Mathews.
Mr Gilpin was born and brought up at Braithwaite where he attended the village school and played football for the village club, later playing for Keswick AFC. After leaving school he worked for the Forestry Commission before joining the RAF in 1942. After being demobilised in 1946 with the rank of corporal, he returned to Keswick and joined the postal service, retiring after 47 years service.
Mrs Gilpin was formerly Mary Peet, one of the family of Joseph and Mary Jane Peet of Keswick. After leaving Crosthwaite School she worked at Dixon’s newsagents.
Grey squirrels in Borrowdale
The numbers of grey squirrels now being seen in National Trust woodlands continues to rise, This expanding population of greys is likely to have a negative impact on the local red squirrel population.
Currently the Trust carries out supplementary feeding in order to sustain the reds, coupled with grey control. In the long term the numbers of red squirrels seen in the Borrowdale woodlands is likely to decline.
In many other areas of the Lake District the Trust carries out a programme of feeding, shooting or trapping and in many woodlands both species are now a fairly common sight. Grey squirrels thrive in oak woodland and are especially fond of beech; the Borrowdale Woodlands are therefore a prime larder for this species.
30 years ago
Four candidates for council vacancy
Four candidates have come forward for the election for the vacant seat on Keswick Town Council.
The by-election, which takes place on Thursday, 18th February, is in the East Ward and the vacancy was caused by the resignation of the former Town Council Finance & General Purposes committee chairman, George Hodgson.
The four candidates are: Robert Barnby, Skiddaw Street, a former warden of the Keswick YHA Hostel and who works for the Youth Hostels Association. Mr. Barnby is the Labour Party candidate.
Alan Dunn, St. John’s Street, a businessman whose “Open All Hours” shop recently won for him the title of Grocer of the Year.
Sheila Hawkrigg, Rogerfield, born and bred in Keswick, who works with the youth of the area through the YES group.
Ron Munby, Helvellyn Street, was last year’s Lions Club president.
Theatre pledge call
Town Councillor Paul Buttle has submitted a notice of motion to this Thursday’s meeting of the Town Council, asking that a pledge of £100,000 towards the cost of building a new theatre for the town be made.
Mr. Buttle asked that the pledge be made subject to “suitable conditions” from the Town Project Fund. This is a special fund which the Town Council has been building up for some years to be earmarked for a major scheme.
Keswick Town Council has already said it supports the lakeside site for the new theatre with a minimum capacity of 350 seats. The Council has also endorsed the existing design and asked that emphasis be placed on the flexibility of the internal design to accommodate local use as well as professional performances.
40 years ago
Wilson Bainbridge
The grassy slopes of Latrigg are the back-cloth to the town seen from many Keswick people’s windows. For some fifty years, the flocks that grazed this peaceful landscape were under the care of Wilson Bainbridge, who died last Saturday at the age of 78.
Wilson was born and brought up on Windebrowe Estate, and was shepherd there all his life, first with Brigadier-General Wilfred Spedding and later with his son Lt. Col. James Spedding. His sister Mary, his brother-in-law, Tommy Nelson and his late brother John all worked there too, so that it was a truly family setting.
“Wills” was a shepherd of the old school; regardless of weather and the thickest of brackens and plantations, he ended many a day soaked and scratched after the pursuit of his beloved Herdwicks and Swaledales. And pursuit it was too, for Wilson’s Herdwicks enjoyed a jumping style that would have put many a White city competitor into the shade! They looked upon walls and fences as part of the routine challenge of their daily foraging.
Said by his wife to be “a man of few words,” Wils was one of the best of Cumbrian story-tellers, using most singular gesticulations with his thumbs to emphasise his high points. Many a time he was seen regaling incredulous tourists with tales of the hards of “noculating” his lambs. His life seemed to be packed full of humorous incidents. One of the best remembered must be the occasion when an over-zealous young policeman came to inspect Wilson’s dipping. The policeman was so keenly taking notes that he stepped back into the dipping bath and was extracted by Wilson only after the Herdwick ewe already in there. Sheep always came first with Wilson.
Safety work on old railway bridges
Safety work may be undertaken on bridges which used to carry the Keswick to Threlkeld railway line.
A young soldier was badly hurt in a recent incident when he fell through one of the bridges near Threlkeld while walking along in darkness.
A report which will be considered by the Lake District Planning Board’s Park Management Committee next month says that, in view of the practical and legal problems which would follow any bid to close the line as a footpath, the present use should be accepted temporarily. The bridges and surfaces should be made safe as far as is reasonably practical.
The report says that the bridges themselves are sound, but wood planks and hand rails are deteriorating.
The Board faces the problem, when they take over ownership of the line, whether they should stop trespass and close the footpath, or wait for long term proposals to be implemented involving the removal of all unwanted bridges. When the transfer of land is completed from British Rail the Board will become responsible for maintenance.
50 years ago
A66
The Lake District Planning Board, at its meeting in Kendal on Monday, decided to make efforts to change the decision of the Department of the Environment to improve the A66 by taking the matter to Parliament.
This was by no means an unanimous decision, as the voting was 7-4 in favour of the proposed action. Members voting against the proposal have warned their colleagues that the Board could “tarnish its public image still further,” and Mr. T. M. Brannan of Portinscale, a County Councillor for this area, stated that the Board is getting a reputation for being “obstructionist.”
Previous week: When Cumbria police launched a manhunt after Keswick shop raiders fled to the hills
