A Quick Reminder: Looking back through the archives of The Keswick Reminder from around this week 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
20 years ago
Bats at the back door
Local bat warden Sally Phillips gets called out to a variety of different buildings but it was a ‘first’ for her when she was called out recently to Keswick Police Station.
She explained: “They had had a bat by the back door for two days and they were getting worried about it. When I got there I found it was a whiskered bat, which is quite rare. I’ve no idea how it came to be there, but there is likely to be a roost in or near the town.”
30 years ago
Greta Hall
Greta Hall, the old house with associations with the Lakes Poets through two of its former residents Robert Southey and S. T. Coleridge, is to be closed as a girls’ boarding house at the end of this school year.
This decision was made, with great regret, by the Governors of Keswick School at their meeting last Friday. The decline in the demand for boarding places for girls during the current recession – a trend which is reflected in boarding schools all over the country – has enforced a radical revision of boarding accommodation at Keswick School.
The Governors state that it is now clear that, beyond July 1994, there will be insufficient boarders in residence to sustain the three boarding houses in a cost effective way. In particular the Governors wish to avoid the imposition of a sharp increase in the boarding fee for 1994/1995 and beyond which smaller numbers and surplus spaces in the boarding houses would have made it inevitable.
The future of Greta Hall, which first became associated with Keswick School in the early years of this century, is being considered by the Governors. In the years since then it has been used as a girls’ boarding house and more recently it has provided study bedrooms and small dormitories for girls in the Senior School.
From next September the Governors plan to accommodate all the girl boarders – an estimated 30 to 35 – at Lairthwaite boarding house.
A “Major” surprise
After the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool, the Prime Minister, John Major, and his wife, Norma, spent the weekend at the Sharrow Bay Hotel, Ullswater, staying in the hotel annexe, Bank House.
On Saturday they enjoyed a trip on the Lady of the Lake motor vessel on Ullswater, and they toured the Lake District by car, including in their itinerary a short stop in Keswick and afternoon tea at the Borrowdale Gates Hotels at Grange in Borrowdale.
Students staying at the Newlands Adventure Centre at Stair were surprised that afternoon when a Daimler car turned into the drive and the P.M. alighted. Steve Beinder, director of the Centre, said: “His car was parked in the drive for about twenty minutes, together with the security people.
“He seemed to be very interested in the centre and spoke to some of the students who, I gather, took the opportunity to lobby him about the future of their union.”
This visit to the Lake District,described by Downing Street as “purely personal”, was paid for by his local Conservative Association in Huntingdonshire as part of his 50th birthday celebrations earlier this year.
The co-owner of the world famous Sharrow Bay Hotel, Brian Slack, said that the Majors were “a marvellous couple” and that it was an honour to have hosted their stay.
On Sunday, the Prime Minister and Mrs. Major visited Dove Cottage at Grasmere where they were shown around by the Director and the Chief Guide.
40 years ago
Ken Stuart – fell runner of the year
Local athlete Ken Stuart has clinched the “king of the mountains” crown at the first attempt.
Ken, a gardener for Keswick Town Council at Hope Park who lives in Threlkeld, has won the British “Fell Runner of the Year” crown in his first full season as an amateur.
The former professional guides race star took the title after a dramatic showdown with his chief rival John Wild in the last big race of the season at Thieveley Pike in Lancashire.
Fell Runners’ Association secretary Jon Broxap said: “John has been winning a lot of races since mid-season, and if he had won Thieveley Pike he would have taken the championship by 309 points to 308 from Ken. It needed a win for Ken, or someone other than John, in the final points scoring race for Ken to hold on to his lead. In fact Ken beat John by a sixty yard margin to win the title by three points.”
Keswick lady will defy compulsory purchase order
Seventy eight years old Miss Ethel Young of Main Street has used the garden at the rear of her home as a drying ground and for sheds for many years, and she says she will defy the bulldozers if planners take over her garden as part of a local development scheme.
The Lake District Planning Board say they propose to go ahead with a Compulsory Purchase Order for the land to create access to a development scheme for shops and flats, but Miss Young said: “The land is not for sale. They can put a compulsory purchase order on it if they like, but they aren’t getting it. They will have to bulldoze me into the ground first.
“I can’t see how this new development is going to help Keswick. Just look at the way some other recent schemes have altered the character of the place in recent years and not for the better,” she added.
Miss Young has lived at her house in Main Street since 1926 and her father originally had the land. She says that if the garden is taken away it will leave the house with nothing.
Opposition to planners’ proposals
The Lake District Planning Board face a “ding dong” fight in Keswick if they go ahead with a Compulsory Purchase Order for seventy-eight year old Miss Ethel Young’s garden at the rear of lower Main Street.
Opposition to the Board’s decision to take compulsory purchase powers has been mounting locally and one group are planning a house to house petition if necessary.
Shopkeeper Mr. Mike Newton said: “It is harassment of the elderly and the Lake District Planning Board have totally misjudged the attitude of the people of Keswick who are pig sick of stupid planning decisions in this town which have set Keswick on a downward spiral. If this goes to a public appeal then the planners can expect a real ding dong.”
Mr. Newton said it was possible that a house to house petition would be organised to support Miss Young against the decision of the planners who say that the garden is needed for access to a planned new shopping and flats development near Tithebarn Street.
MKr. Newton is one of a group of Main Street traders who stand to lose their long standing parking places if an access road is made at the back of Miss Young’s house.
Mr. Newton said: “Some of us have been parking here for decades. How can they justify moving us out when the ground will be used for shops and holiday accommodation. There is enough room to gain access from a different point, but it would mean a couple of units being taken out of the development scheme and they are too greedy to allow that.”
He added that opponents of the Board’s proposals had already been in contact with local M.P. Dale Campbell Savours.
Chamber of trade revived
In recent years Keswick has come in for adverse comparison with several other towns in the district over its approach to the festive season shoppers, but the first role of the newly formed Chamber of Trade will be to give Christmas shopping in the town an injection of new ideas.
Mr. C. G. Furness, secretary of the Chamber of Trade, says: “In the South Lakes there is a scheme where people are bussed into the shopping areas, but we in the North Lakes don’t have support of that kind. I think the Chamber of Trade are the people to set the ball rolling.”
Monday night’s inaugural meeting decided to join pressure on Allerdale Council to set up a special Tourism Committee, and in addition members hoped that the new organisation would get together with the Publicity Association and Hotels and Caterers Association for the joint promotion of Keswick.
50 years ago
The Royal Oak Hotel
In saying farewell to Mrs. MacVarish, the manageress, as she leaves to take over the George Hotel at Crawley, Surrey, we wish her every happiness in her new undertaking, and now welcome Mr. Nicholas Bickham who has taken over the management of the Royal Oak Hotel.
Mr. Bickham comes to Keswick after managing the Rose & Crown Hotel at Tring for the past five-and-a-half years for the Trust House Forte Group.
His wife, Anneli, is a native of Finland, and they have a seven-year-old daughter who is now a pupil at Crosthwaite Old School.
Mr. Bickham is a classical guitarist and music is his chief hobby.
We trust that the family will have a happy and successful sojourn in Keswick.
Wedding: Davidson-Bonnar
The marriage took place on September 22nd at Crosthwaite Church between Mr. Geoffrey Davidson, son of Mrs. and the late Mr. G. H. Davidson of 11, Longcroft, Braithwaite, and Miss June Bonnar, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. I. Bonnar, Western Lodge, Brigham Road, Cockermouth (formerly of Braithwaite). Canon F. H, Marshall officiated, and the organist was Mr. C, Barnby.
Given in marriage by her father, the bride wore an Empire line dress in white satin with headdress and long train of white lace, and her bouquet was of pink rosebuds and stephanotis.
Her sister, Mrs. Anne Sanderson, was matron of honour, and she wore a dress of floral printed cotton voile trimmed with white satin. The bride’s niece, Charlotte Sanderson, and the groom’s niece, Michelle Mandale, were the attendants, and they wore long dresses of floral printed cotton voile trimmed with pink satin, and kerchief headdresses of the same material. The bridesmaids carried posies of pink and white carnations.
Mr. Richard Todhunter was best man, and the groomsmen were Mr. Michael Sanderson and Mr. Stephen Mandale.
The bride’s mother wore a chocolate brown and white two-piece with a coral hat and brown accessories. The groom’s mother wore a multi-coloured dress and jacket with brown accessories.
A reception was held at the Derwentwater Hotel, Portinscale, and the honeymoon was spent in Majorca, the bride travelling in a long orange and brown skirt with matching orange blouse.
The groom is employed at the Cumbria Constabulary Headquarters at Carleton Hall, Penrith, and the bride is on the staff of the Keswick Branch of Barclays Bank.
