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
‘Our man in Keswick’ retires
Last week a man who has become one of Keswick’s best known faces retired after giving a lifetime of service to the Borough council in the town’s Council Chambers office. Council officials and colleagues gathered at the Moot Hall to say farewell to Ronnie Birkett after 47 years of dedicated local government service.
Ronnie Birkett was known as “our man in Keswick” for the local councils and can claim to have had a unique career. He started working for Keswick Urban District Council in 1956 as a clerk/receptionist, transferred to the new Allerdale authority in 1974 after local government reorganisation, and ended his career as part of Allerdale Borough Council’s staff in Keswick’s Council Chambers office.
Council leader Jim Musgrave said: “He is a very special person. It’s a long time in local government and Ronnie has been dedicated to the job as our man in Keswick. Anything anyone wants to know about Keswick they just ask Ronnie and he tells them. His enormous local knowledge has proved invaluable over the years. He has been an inspiration to the rest of the staff.”
Mr Birkett said: “I have enjoyed the time I have worked here. Things have changed a lot over the years. When I started I used to do wages and the biggest facility I had was a ready reckoner. Technology has changed out of all recognition from the days of an old Roneo duplicator and a push-me-pull-you typewriter.
“It has been a pleasure to serve the public. You get the odd one that is difficult, but the vast majority appreciate what you do for them. Lots of people hearing I was due to retire have called in at the office with cards and one lady brought flowers the other day which was very nice.”
Opposition to housing schemes
Lake District National Park planners have received objections from residents about two housing schemes which could result in twelve new homes for local people near the town centre of Keswick.
Residents in the area have raised a number of objections including claims of over-development, road safety and the impact on guest house business near the location.
Members of the planning development committee will be given the opportunity next week to look at one set of plans for six flats and a pair of semi-detached houses at the rear of Stanger Street, as well as an amended scheme submitted by Eden Housing Association for four new homes on an adjacent site.
Planners will be told that in the case of the flats and houses development there is no specific evidence provided of the need in Keswick for homes that locals can buy.
However, Mike Hodgson, speaking to The Keswick Reminder on behalf of developers I & R Hodgson, says his company would be able to sell the flats and houses many times over, after being approached by numerous local people.
Mr Hodgson said: “I believe there is a chronic shortage of affordable housing for local people, in particular for young people with families.”
In support, an officer’s report says: “There is strong anecdotal evidence to suggest that there is a large pool of people in the town looking to buy the sort of first time buyer flats and small semi-detached properties proposed.”
There has also been support voiced from a number of residents drawing attention to the problems of young people buying a home of their own in Keswick, although six letters objecting to the scheme have already been received from owners of properties in Stanger Street and Bank Street.
A spokesman for Eden Housing Association told The Keswick Reminder that there were 65 people on the list for these four houses, of which 15 had very local connections with Keswick.
30 years ago
Car removed
It took only half an hour for a recovery team to hoist a car, which had been parked for three months on the Central car park, on to the back of a wagon and cart it away.
The bronze coloured Rover 2000 had been ‘home’ for a middle aged woman for several weeks. She had been staying in the car with a dog, and a few weeks ago a number of budgies were taken away from the car by the RSPCA.
Allerdale Borough Council enforced a notice to quit last Thursday morning by having the car, complete with a flat rear wheel, removed. There was no sign of the woman as the car, packed with bird cages and paper bags, was lifted from its long time parking spot near the car park toilet block.
She was rumoured to have left Keswick the previous day for Carlisle or Penrith with the eventual intention of moving to Kendal. A spokeswoman for Allerdale said the woman had not been in touch with them to reclaim the vehicle, which is on a Council compound. “She will have to pay to retrieve it,” said the spokeswoman. “If it is not claimed within 96 days the Council would be able to dispose of it.”
One Keswick businessman said: “It’s a relief to see the back of it. The car has been full of rubbish. It’s not really the image Keswick wants to project to visitors.”
But in a new twist to the story, the woman was again parked on the central car park on Friday, this time in a Renault car. However, the Council say she did not stay overnight and earlier this week it was confirmed that she was not on any of the car parks in Keswick.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor, – It was good to see during the Easter weekend that the changes to traffic at Tithebarn Street have eased congestion. Traffic coming from Borrowdale now has a fighting chance at the mini roundabout and we did not get the usual queue waiting at the old ‘T’ junction.
Well done, planners.
Derek Harrison
Keswick
40 years ago
Carnival Queen chosen
Keswick’s 1984 Carnival Queen will be Michelle Mandale, daughter of Steve and Ann Mandale, of Windebrowe Avenue.
Michelle was chosen on Friday night at the final dance in the Royal Oak Hotel. She was one of eight finalists to go forward to Friday’s judging following a series of heats in Keswick and the surrounding rural district.
Michelle was the representative from Keswick itself and the runners up were Emma Clark of Bassenthwaite, and Kirsty Green-Armytage, a boarder at Keswick School, representing Braithwaite.
As well as their role in the Keswick Carnival on Sunday, June 17th, they will also represent Keswick at a number of other carnivals in the area during the summer months.
In fact Friday’s other five finalists will all be involved in Keswick Carnival. They were Tracy Chapman (Borrowdale), Diane Stevens (Threlkeld), Gillian Thorburn (Underskiddaw), Emma Hamilton (Portinscale) and Helen Kirkby (Thirlmere).
Candid companion
How about this, then? Keswick is bourgeois; its car parks are very poor; it lacks top quality or classy hotels and it is rather useless for food, though it is improving.
That’s Hunter Davies in his “The Good Guide To The Lakes” (Forster Davies, £2.95), a comprehensive and controversial compendium of information and opinions about the Lake District.
It’s not all gloomy. The Moot Hall Information Centre, along with Seatoller Barn and Bowness Bay Centre, earns three stars. Fitz Park Museum reaches the ranks of the best museums, even though it is the oddest (“an idiosyncratic collection of strange objects”) and almost merits the triple star “just for not trying”.
Mirehouse is a delight not to be missed. The Century Theatre “the rather unsafe-looking collection of jacked-up portacabins” — wins modest acclaim but the Alhambra Cinema is “a bit like Derwentwater’s floating island, it seems to come and go. When it is there, the films are often so old, they aren’t worth bothering with anyway.”
Borrowdale loses a star for its crowds. Grange is “one of Lakeland’s prettiest villages”; Watendlath should be avoided on summer bank holidays. The valley can boast Taylor Gill, the experts’ choice for the Lake District’s finest waterfall, but the better known Lodore Falls are mildly censured for their pay-as-you-enter turnstile.
Although Ullswater is Hunter’s top lake, Derwentwater runs it a close second. Friar’s Crag “has one of the finest views in the country”, as John Ruskin suggested a long time ago. The launches, noisy though they are, provide “a really spectacular excursion”.
Skiddaw, so often scorned by the hard men, is “rather a cuddly, rounded, modest-sort of mountain” offering some excellent walking. The airy scramble along Sharp Edge on Blencathra is “the best ridge walk in the Lake District”.
Keswick, of course, is not the only place subjected to the critical eye of Hunter Davies and his chief researcher, Colin Shelbourn. Grasmere has its nasty cafes and tourist shops; Coniston is “probably the most disappointing of the major Lakeland villages”; the forest trails at Grizedale are often poorly marked and the paths can be confusing.
On the other hand, the views from Bowfell are fantastic; Buttermere is a perfect little lake; Sheila’s Cottage is one of the best tea shops around Ambleside; Sharrow Bay and Miller Howe outclass all other hotels and “will give you table talk for years wherever people of good taste are gathered together”.
Let’s be fair, This honest appraisal of Lakeland is inevitably provocative but it earns its three stars. It is packed with useful information.
Hunter Davies is, after all, searching for the best – a subjective choice which also means rejecting the worst. Even though we may disagree (and hackles will certainly rise), we must accept that he is honestly trying to point visitors to the cream of Lakeland.
It’s written in the racy, crisp style one would expect from an author who can turn out an amusing article every week for Punch.
Come to think of it, this guide has plenty of punch in it.
G.B.
50 years ago
Blencathra Hunt
On Saturday evening, at an excellent social function at the Horse & Farrier Inn, Threlkeld, the Masters and General Committee showed their appreciation of the 25 years’ service as Huntsman of Mr. John Richardson, and the support throughout these years of his wife when presentations were made to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson.
The Joint Masters, Mr. P. L. Davidson and Mr. G. B. Graham, presented Mr. Richardson with a cheque and Mrs. Richardson with a box of chocolates, while on behalf of the Committee, Mr. P. G. Youdale presented Johnny with a tankard and Sally was presented with a stainless steel tray by Mr. Stanley Mattinson, both gifts being suitably inscribed.
Mr. Richard Peel also presented a bouquet and the thanks of both recipients were expressed by Mr. Richardson who spoke of the pleasure he had derived from the company of the hunting fraternity over his quarter of a century.
