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
Tea Gardens action delayed
Keswick Town Council had its first opportunity to discuss the outcome of the recent town poll regarding the future of the controversial tea gardens plans at its meeting on Thursday, but decided to delay any action pending the outcome of the court action over the lease which may not be resolved until early next year.
Councillors chose to receive an artist’s impression of what the development by the Theatre may look like and to wait for the result of the court case, which involves the current operators of the café and Allerdale Borough Council relating to the lease, before commenting any further.
The majority of voters in the poll chose in favour of the tea gardens remaining as it is rather than
Allerdale Borough Council assigning the site to the Theatre by the Lake for development. The Theatre, which draws audiences of 120,000 a year, wants to create a new auditorium and restaurant, but local campaigners claim if Allerdale Council, the owners, hand the site over to them it will result in the loss of a unique part of Keswick’s heritage.
The Executive Director of the Theatre, Patric Gilchrist, gave an assurance that any plans would include the outside seating area which the public fears will be lost. He said the project would create jobs and make the theatre a better centre for conferences and seminars, and added that it would put the tea gardens in the ownership of the town, which may not happen should there be local government re-organisation.
Mr Glichrist said full plans, which had not been drawn up and would not be until the court action was settled, would be the subject of public consultation through the planning process.
Mavis Clark, chairman of the Positive Action for Keswick group which opposes the handover of the tea gardens, said she would welcome a public meeting in order to dispel some of the misinformation. She also queried why the theatre had not considered expanding across the car park the other way.
30 years ago
At last! Rescue base to go ahead
Two years and 30 plus sites along the way — and Keswick Mountain Rescue Team has made it!
Planning permission was granted by the Lake District Planning Board’s Development committee on Tuesday for a new headquarters base on the Lakeside Car Park, which was, ironically, one of the very first sites to be considered by the Team.
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team is one of the busiest in the country. Last year they answered over 80 calls for help. Their need for a move from their cramped base on the Central car park was urgent.
Team chairman Mick Guy said after hearing of the Planners’ decision: “We have got over one of our biggest hurdles. Now we have a definite site we must get our spurs on and push ahead with the appeal.”
The Team will need upwards of £200,000 for their new headquarters building. Some donations have already given the fund a start, but the main fundraising can now start in earnest.
Access to Crummock improved
The National Trust say that access to the shore of Crummock Water, one of the quietest and most attractive lakes in the area, has been dramatically improved with the creation of a new lakeshore path. The path has been built by the National Trust and jointly funded by the Friends of the Lake District and the Countryside Commission.
The path, at Woodhouse, links up with an existing valley path and so avoids the need for walkers to continue using the nearby road.
The work has been undertaken by the Trust’s Buttermere/Ennerdale state team, but was largely financed through a legacy left to the Friends of the Lake District by the late Geoffrey Berry, a former secretary of the Friends and one time member of the Trust’s North West Regional committee.
40 years ago
Keswick Industrial Arts to close after 100 years
Keswick’s School of Industrial Art, whose craftsman-made products are famous throughout the world, is to close by the end of the year. Redundancy notices have been issued to the staff of seven and ironically the final decision to close has come towards the end of the School’s Centenary Year.
The closure has come about due to adverse trading over a period of several years combined with the considerable level of overdraft accumulated at the bank. The Trustees see no way of getting rid of the overdraft other than by selling the building beside Greta Bridge, which is their only asset.
It is understood that the Trustees saw no way of stopping the downward trend, something which has been causing concern for some time, and therefore decided to call at halt. Ways of expanding sales have been tried but without a great deal of success.
Two years ago the School of Art went on short time because it was producing more than it could sell and the introduction of some redundancies helped reduce the wage bill. They also began selling the work of other local craft people from their showroom at Greta Bridge in a bid to contribute to ever-rising overheads.
At present the School of Art employs four craftsmen, two office staff and the manager Mr. Charles Petrie.
At the moment two of the School of Art’s long serving members of staff, Mr. Ronnie Wise and Mr. Colin Pepper, are investigating the possibility of starting up on their own account in smaller workshop premises in Keswick and continuing to supply craftsman-made articles to existing School of Art clientele.
It was in November 1884 that the then Vicar of Crosthwaite and originator of the National Trust, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, and his wife Edith, realised that there was a need among the working men and boys of Keswick to occupy their long winter evenings.
Even in those days Keswick was a tourist town with a lot of seasonal employment. The people who became unemployed in the winter were the ostlers, coach drivers and stablemen who hired out pack horse ponies.
Edith was a very artistic woman, a craftswoman and a skilled water colour artist who was tremendously interested in the development of the School of Art. The Rawnsleys were great followers of Ruskin’s teaching of the joy of creating good design and the satisfaction of making something with one’s hands, and hand spinning and weaving were also established in 1884 under his inspiration.
School caretaker retires – and his wife says farewell too
Mr. Tommy Berwick retired on Tuesday after twenty years as a caretaker at Keswick School, the last ten of them as head caretaker.
As Tommy has reached the retiring age of 65, his wife Joan, who has been a cleaner at the school, decided to retire also. And that was why the Headmaster, Mr. Howard Allen and his wife Jill had a double presentation to make on Tuesday. Mr. Allan presented a tankard to Mr. Berwick and Mrs. Allen gave a crystal vase to Mrs. Berwick.
Mr. Berwick went to the Cumberland Pencil Mill as a tool setter after leaving the army and he spent eighteen years there before joining the school staff as deputy to Mr. Alec Walker. When Mr. Walker retired Mr. Berwick took over as head caretaker ten years ago and he has served under two headmasters, Mr. J. E. Thompson and Mr. Allen.
The school has been prone to severe flooding on occasions and Mr. Berwick recalls three serious floods during his period of service.
However one of the most memorable occasions linking the school with water is one which some might prefer to forget! After the School’s swimming pool had been completed, there was a big push to get it filled with water. So the local fire brigade were called in to pump some rather dirty water from the nearby River Greta. Mr. Berwick recalls: “The water board then descended on us and played merry hell. The outcome was that it all had to go back.”
Quarry lay-offs prevented as talks take place
The twenty-five workers at the Buttermere and Westmorland Green Slate quarry at Honister had good news on Friday when a decision taken earlier in the week to lay them off as a temporary measure was cancelled.
Instead the staff will go on to a three day working week for at least the next month. And future prospects for the quarries look much brighter.
Managing Director Mr. Bernard Moore said the men would work a three day week until the quarry changed hands. The decision follows a meeting with one of several interested parties in the future of the world famous 300 year old quarries.
Mr. Moore said that the mood had been fairly grim when workers heard they were going to be paid off. But the latest development had greatly strengthened morale. He said: “We have hired plant to keep up going and I am confident about the future of myself and the work force at Honister.”
Mr. Moore said that although he was unable to give details at this stage, negotiations would be continuing with firms interested in taking over the quarry.
50 years ago
Allerdale District Council
The cost of saving a Keswick Council house from collapse has been estimated at £5,500, Allerdale Council’s finance committee was told at Wigton on Friday.
The “semi”, at 41 Millfield Gardens, was built in 1969 and the committee wants to know why no-one apparently knew of the culvert under the property, which led to subsidence.
Defects became apparent last year, and now the house is unsafe and empty.
When a housing committee request for £5,500 to carry out remedial work came up, there were demands from several members for a full case history of the house.
The supplementary estimate was approved as being the only way to restore the property to a habitable condition, but a report is to be prepared to help the committee assess any liability and the possibility of claiming compensation. The estate was built for the former Keswick Urban Council and taken over by the District authority.
