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
Fells appeal radio boost
Popular BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright has helped to boost the coverage of a new ground-breaking online Lake District appeal when the afternoon programme’s website expert gave his backing to the Fix the Fells appeal.
A week after celebrities Kim Wilde and Ian Botham launched the innovative Fix the Fells project to raise £5 million to repair 145 of the National Park’s most famous upland paths, the appeal received national coverage on Steve Wright’s popular afternoon show which draws six million listeners.
Miles Mendoza, who features on the programme with his Website of the Day slot, selected Fix the Fells as his subject to share with listeners and said of the 60 pleas he receives daily for national exposure, Fix the Fells stood out as an obvious choice.
Kirstie Royce, spokesman for the Fix the Fells project, said it had been “a fantastic early boost” to get the coverage on one of the country’s best known radio shows.
Drama student is London bound
Hannah Jones of Thornthwaite, who attends Keswick School and is a member of the Youth Theatre at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, has been selected by the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain to become a member.
She recently auditioned in Carlisle, as part of a nationwide audition involving over 4,000 young people between the ages of 13 and 21. For her audition speech she chose a part from ‘Starstone’ – a play she performed in Keswick with the Cumberland Youth Theatre in 2002. Hannah has been a member of the youth theatre since its inception and has enjoyed the experience of acting as well as some stage management and directing. The Theatre also gave her the chance to be on the stage with professionals in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ when Hannah was a chorus member.
On Saturday Hannah will travel to London for an intensive two-week drama course run by the NYT. Once she has completed this course Hannah will be a full member, able to audition for any NYT productions which are staged in professional venues across the UK and sometimes abroad. Former members of the National Youth Theatre include Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Ben Kingsley and Orlando Bloom.
Hannah has received generous support from Keswick School towards the cost of the course, and also from Mrs Kit Graves, owner of the Loose Box Pizzeria, where she works at the weekends.
30 years ago
Retirement of local teacher
Local school teacher Cynthia Scott, of Windebrowe Avenue, retires this weekend after 37 years teaching.
Miss Scott was born in Keswick and attended Brigham, St. John’s and Keswick Schools.
She trained as a teacher at Edgehill Training College, Ormskirk. Her first post was at Ennerdale and Kinniside School where she spent over two years, travelling from Keswick to Ennerdale on the pillion of a local man’s motorbike.
Subsequently she taught at Whitehaven, and Embleton, before moving to Threlkeld where she remained until moving to Bothel School twelve years ago.
She recalls that, during her years at Threlkeld, one of the student teachers who came showed real talent; he went on to become the pop star ‘Sting’ and Cynthia speaks of his good relationship with the children.
She leaves Bothel School with 70 pupils in September and an almost new building with facilities which are up to date. When parents and children at Bothel heard she was retiring at the end of this term they pooled their resources and made a book entitled ‘The Bothel Years’. In this book they have recorded some of the events of recent years and it was presented to Cynthia who says she will look back fondly on her years at Bothel.
In addition to a dinner last Friday with governors, parents, members of staff and friends, a playground party was held earlier in the week to give the children a chance to say farewell.
Cynthia will maintain her links with Bothel School as next term she has agreed to return to teach some of the older pupils half a day each week.
Greta Grove — decision deferred
Allerdale Councillors, at their full meeting at Wigton on Wednesday evening, deferred a decision on naming of the development at Greta Grove in Keswick until the postmen in the town have been consulted for their views.
The matter was raised by one of the Keswick district councillors, John Branthwaite, who pointed out that a house, named Greta Grove, had stood on this site for over a hundred and fifty years. It was known to local residents as Greta Grove and there was concern that a historical name would be lost if the site were to be renamed.
Mr Branthwaite said he had consulted with the local services, all of whom agreed they knew the site as ‘Greta Grove’, and he asked the meeting to reconsider their decision on the name.
It was decided that the senior postman would be consulted before a decision was made.
Editorial
Keswick is a town with its own special historical and literary connections and Keswickians are justly proud of their heritage. Many local people are expressing concern at the proposed renaming of sites without thought for the historical name and traditions. The latest of these is the Greta Grove site, named because of its proximity to the River Greta – just as Greta Street, Greta Side, Greta Cottage, Greta Hamlet, Greta Hall and Greta Lodge were named. All these follow the river as it winds through the town on its way to join the Derwent near the Lake.
For so many local people, these names hold memories like those of our MP, Dale Campbell-Savours, who spoke of his days as a boarder at Keswick School and Greta Grove as his ‘home’ during term time, when he officially handed over the keys last week to one of the first tenants of the new homes built on the site of that old house.
Several residents have mentioned names with local connections for possible future roads or developments. These include Coleridge – after all, we have a street named after Southey and another named for Wordsworth – and Rawnsley, Shelly and De Quincy. One excellent suggestion was: “Why don’t they consult Fred Aston?”
Well, why don’t they? After all, he was the man who suggested the name for Hewetson Court, and the Hewetson brothers were great benefactors to this town.
Allerdale Borough Council have wisely decided to consult again with our postmen before making a final decision on the name for the new development. Our postmen are all local men with the interests of Keswick at heart, and they all, of course, know their way around the town and the area better than anyone.
40 years ago
Retirement of deputy head
On Tuesday evening a large number of friends and colleagues of Miss Nancy Chew gathered in the Queen’s Hall, Lairthwaite, to wish her a happy retirement.
After an excellent buffet supper prepared by Mrs. Marian Wright of the Pheasant Inn, Mr. Sean Crawford paid tribute to Miss Chew’s work in Lairthwaite and Keswick Schools. The chairman of the Governors of Keswick School, Mr. Sam Hicks, presented Miss Chew with a gift from the governors, and the Headmaster, Mr. Howard Allen, spoke of the important role she had played in the life of the School, and of the support she had given to him and to other members of staff.
Miss Chew came to Keswick twenty years ago as Deputy Head of Lairthwaite School and a teacher of history, and in her first year she was asked to help with the furnishing of the boarding house which was nearing completion. She also took on special responsibility for the Library and when, a year later, the boarding house opened she became Head of Boarding for the next two years — a full programme which is very much the pattern of her life.
During the past twenty years Miss Chew has worked with three headmasters, Mr. Ren Hewish and Mr. Sean Crawford at Lairthwaite, and Mr. Howard Allen at Keswick School. When Lairthwaite and Keswick Schools came together in 1980 as one Keswick School, Miss Chew was appointed Deputy Head in charge of the Lower School, based on the Lairthwaite site.
On Wednesday afternoon at the final assembly of the term the Headmaster, staff and pupils said goodbye to Miss Chew and presented her with a camera, purchased with donations sent by pupils, colleagues and friends.
Nancy Chew has decided to take early retirement from teaching but it will certainly not be an idle retirement for in her time in Keswick she has joined many local organisations and projects with enthusiasm, from the Tennis Club to a campaign for the restoration of the old street names in Braithwaite Village, where she lived for many years.
Keswick Town Council – opposition to post office closure
The Town Council were urged to oppose any future plans to close the sub-post office at Ratcliffe Place. Mr. Neville Goodfellow said that on an average day there were nearly two hundred cars drawing up outside the office for people to post letters and parcels and draw pensions.
The hint that the sub office was under threat came in a letter sent last week to local M.P. Dale Campbell Savours by the head postmaster at Carlisle. Councillors supported Mr. Goodfellow’s argument and agreed to oppose closure plans should they arise.
Letter to the Editor: Threatened Closure of Ratcliffe Place Post Office
Dear Editor,—I have been asking some questions about this proposal and certain facts emerge which our town’s folk should know about.
It is Post Office policy to close down up to 1,000 sub-post offices throughout the country. There are some 22,000 sub-post offices throughout the country and they handle over 70% of all postal business.
The Post Office can close a sub-post office if it lies within a mile of a General Post office by compulsory order and the sub-postmaster retires under compulsory redundancy. Alternatively, — the Post Office can ask the sub-postmasters to retire voluntarily and offer them monetary incentives to bow out quietly. Imagine being a sub-postmaster who had recently bought a thriving business, to find himself in this situation. Mr. Sharrock at Ratcliffe Place most certainly does not wish to be made redundant. He is in business, serving the public well and does not wish to retire. From a conversation I had with him he finds that his business is high on the list of suggested closures and, in order to make the most of a very uncertain future, has not much alternative but to opt out voluntarily.
John and Jessie Panter, the former owners, built up their business from 1948 until two years ago. On each three yearly assessment the status of their sub-post office never failed to grow. The Ratcliffe Place P.O. serves many of the businesses in the upper end of town, the numerous hotels and guest houses, boarding houses, the residents, the visitors, the Conventions and above all, a host of pensioners. Handicapped people have easy access as car owners can park at the door. They avail themselves of all the many services the post office offers.
I am sure the Post Office authorities look only at mileages rather than human beings. In the thirty-three years that Mr. Panter owned Ratcliffe Place, no Head Postmaster visited him and obviously never knew where this sub-post office was situated. Ratcliffe Place was a mere statistic — a geographical location. If closure goes ahead we will be left with only Main Street G.P.O with all its congestion and obvious disadvantages. The service given to the community will be seriously impaired. We must fight this proposal. I shall be adding my name to the petition which I believe is in circulation and I certainly urge everyone to do the same.
D.S. Cowen
President
Keswick and District Chamber of Trade.
Shu-le-Crow House
Keswick
50 years ago
Lairthwaite School
Lairthwaite School added a traditional Lakeland activity to its sporting side last week when, for the first time, a fell race was run.
The course was from the top end of Spooney Green Lane to the summit of Latrigg and back and the results were as follows: Seniors — 1st Brian Loan (13mins. 50secs.); 2nd Duncan Stuart; 3rd Michael O’Connor. Juniors — 1st Andrew Wilson (16mins, 55secs.); 2nd David Rose; 3rd Kirk Drinkwater.
At the annual sports meeting, competitors found conditions somewhat “greasy” and spectators ended up a trifle damp but a number of records were broken during the afternoon.
Skiddaw won the house cup with most points and in the individual championships, Duncan Frampton and Ricky Stoker shared the senior boys’ award while Margaret Litt won the girls’. The junior boys’ trophy went to Kirk Drinkwater and the girls’ to Zoe Green.
“Reminder” staff
On August 17th the staff of the “Keswick Reminder” will be celebrating a special anniversary. Mr. William Hindmoor will, on that day, have completed fifty years with the firm (and, what is more, he still isn’t due to retire).
Mr. Hindmoor began his apprenticeship to the late founder of the firm, Mr. G. W. McKane, on August 17th, 1924, and, apart from the years of his war service, he has been a much respected member of the staff ever since. He met his wife at the printing works as she worked there for ten years prior to their marriage.
During these fifty years he has been of invaluable help to, and the good friend of, the McKane family, and he tries to keep the present Editor right each week!
Apart from his work on the general printing side of the business, Mr. Hindmoor sets on his Linotype all the news and the property market details each week for the “Reminder” — all the news, that is, except this piece, which has been set by his apprentice without his knowledge!
Another member of the “Reminder” staff, Mr. Eric Williamson, completed forty years with the firm at the end of May, and to both of them the Directors and the rest of the staff would like to say “thank you”.
