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
Former head boy’s appointment
A former head boy of Keswick School, Irving Scott of The Limes, Ireby, has been appointed a non-executive director of Cumbrian auction firm Penrith Farmers’ and Kidd’s.
Mr Scott, whose appointment was confirmed last week, said: “It is a fine company and I am interested in what it does and in taking it forward together with my colleagues. They have had a difficult time in the last couple of years with the ramifications of foot and mouth and the decision to close the livestock market, but the past is past and we are looking forward to a bright future.”
Mr Scott, who is a marketing consultant and freelance writer, said he hoped to be able to bring his wide experience in the field of retail and marketing to bear in his new appointment.
“I have a particular interest in the furniture and fine art sales side and I have always felt P.F. and K’s retail estate agents were very good at what they do.” he says.
Mr Eric Green
One of Keswick’s best known personalities, Eric Green, died suddenly at the weekend aged 81. He had been seen working in his garden on the day of his death and had gone into the house to make a cup of tea when he collapsed and died.
He was a member of the well known Keswick joinery and undertaking firm of F. and W. Green and will be remembered by countless local families for his kindness and professionalism as a funeral director.
Mr Green, who was born in Skiddaw Street, was a Cumbrian through and through, and his son John “said: “He loved the Cumbrian life and was happiest out and about having a crack with everyone he knew.”
At the age of 17 Eric Green joined the Royal Artillery and saw service as a driver in Holland and Germany during the Second World War. He met his wife Dorothy, who was in the ATS, in Kent and they married in
1943, returning to Keswick after the war when he went into the family business.
He built a house in Eskin Street although he later moved to Manor Park. Together with his cousin Ronnie Green, he took over the business from his grandfather William and much of his life was devoted to it.
John Green said: “He was well respected by many people because of his business and well known for his professionalism and kindness to bereaved families.”
He retired when he was 68 and took up gardening and stick making and often took his friends shopping or to appointments.
Mr Green’s wife died some years ago and he is survived by his sons Terry and John, and grandchildren Sarah and Tim.
30 years ago
Final curtain
Ellis Jones, Artistic Director at the Blue Box at the lakeside, takes his final bow this weekend with a message that the town’s traditional summer season of plays must continue if there is to be any hope of getting a permanent new theatre.
Artistic Director at the Blue Box for the past four years, Ellis has taken up a post with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London where he will be working with famous stars like Sir Anthony Hopkins, Richard Attenborough and John Thaw.
Ellis’s association with the Blue Box started in 1980 when he played the lead in a Keswick play on the condition that he could direct one of the summer season plays. Since then he has helped out in several crisis points – Ellis drew up plans for a new Blue Box company when the Arts Council withdrew funding for the Keswick theatre four years ago.
He has pledged his continued support and backing for theatre in Keswick and may return as a consultant director once it has been decided where the theatre will be situated.
While the Cumbria Theatre Trust explores a new theatre project, with consultants preparing a report, the immediate future of theatre in Keswick has to be decided. Options include removing some of the trappings from the present Blue Box in order to get a fire certificate or risking moving it to a new site like the railway station.
Surprise landing
Biggles, a dog, belonging to some visitors to the Lake District, plunged headlong over the edge of Surprise View beauty spot near Keswick and disappeared. The incident was reported to the Keswick police who feared that the mongrel would have been severely injured or killed in the fall.
However there was a happy ending to the story when Biggles turned up at Seatoller in Borrowdale the following day. A spokesman said: “Amazingly the dog was uninjured in the fall and must have walked all the way up the valley. It had gone right off the edge of Surprise View.”
He added: “We gave it some food and all it wanted to do was sleep the fall off. There were a few tears when the owners and the dog were reunited.”
40 years ago
October holiday
The holiday season in the Northern Lake District went out on a high note this week.
The combination of the school half term holidays and the marvellous weather in the early part of the week brought visitors flocking to the Keswick area. One restaurant owner said: “The town has been teeming with folk, it’s been almost like August.”
“Herries” rights being sought for TV film
Negotiations are nearing completion for the rights of Hugh Walpole’s “Herries Chronicle” series of novels, set in Borrowdale and Uldale, to be available for a £6 million TV production based on the four books.
It is expected that much of the film, planned as a 16-part TV series, will be shot in this area.
Sir Hugh Walpole spent much of the latter part of his life at Brackenburn, Manesty, where the four books were written. “Rogue Herries” first appeared in 1930, “Judith Paris” in 1931, and “The Fortress” in 1932 and “Vanessa” in 1933.
Parents to buy computer
Parents at Crosthwaite C. E. First School are hoping to raise enough money to purchase a computer for use by pupils.
The computer, which includes a tape recorder and software, is likely to cost £250. It is considered useful to young children because of the increasing use of computers later in their education and in the world generally. Staff from Crosthwaite have already attended computer evenings at other schools in the county and children have had an opportunity to see the Keswick School computers at work.
50 years ago
Speech day
Keswick School’s annual speech day was held on Saturday when a good number of parents and friends were present to see the prizes presented by the Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Rev. David Halsey.
Those present were welcomed by the Head Boy, Alan Gray, and by the Chairman of the Governors, the Rev. J. C. Johnson, who in his remarks, urged parents not to be worried by the words of certain politicians. The Governors, he said, were not prepared to allow anything to be cut down and would fight to the end to retain the status of the school. He also reported that while they had not been able to get into the major building programme, they had plans well advanced for a great deal of work and improvements under the minor building programme.
A comprehensive review of the school year was given by the Headmaster, Mr. J. E. Thompson, who said “A” level results were such in both 1972 and 1973 that almost every school leaver was able to go on to university, polytechnic, college of education or some other meaningful future, and the “O” level performances had again been of a satisfactory standard encouraging very many children to stay on and reap the benefits of a further two or three years’ full time education. The entries at 11-plus and later had been very satisfactory in both size and quality and had led to a total of 430 boys and girls in the school – the highest numbers they had ever had. The sixth form at 111 was the highest total in the school’s history.
Mr. Thompson also described the sporting and other activities in the school life including “two truly remarkable seasons at cross-country and athletics.”
After presenting the prizes, the Bishop said it was extremely difficult sometimes, in a world where it was often thought clever not to take trouble or make an effort, to hold values and standard.
He urged them to maintain standards, to aim high, and to remember at the same time that other people had rights and standards and to maintain them.
The Bishop was thanked by Canon F. H. Marshall, seconded by the Head Girl, Alison McKay.
