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
Visit of Minister for the Environment
Environment Minister Elliot Morley visited Keswick on Tuesday morning this week and praised Keswick’s emergency services for the excellent way in which they responded to the recent floods crisis.
Many householders had to be rescued when the River Greta burst its banks at Crosthwaite Road and High Hill, and there was substantial damage to property at the western end of the town, while the town’s parks and the Rugby Club received substantial damage.
Mr Morley said he was encouraged by the speed of the recovery, and he noted that the town’s main supermarket, which was surrounded by flood water, had become operational again very soon. “But,” he said, “there are longer term issues about how to reduce the flood risk in future. The Environment Agency is carrying out an evaluation and there are always lessons which can be learned from situations like this.”
He began his day in Keswick with a visit to Davidson Park, the home of Keswick Rugby Club, where he met the Club Youth Chairman, Dave Etherden and the Secretary, David Hume.
Three members of the Club’s Under 15 team, Ben Farrell, Aaron Thompson and Ben Ashcroft, and Jack Farrell of the Under 14 team, all members of Keswick School, were at the flood-damaged club to talk to Mr Morley and the local MP Tony Cunningham (who used referee at the Keswick club).
30 years ago
Keswick School
The ceremony of “cutting the first sod” for the new buildings which will allow Keswick School to go on to one site, took place at Lairthwaite on Wednesday morning.
The Chairman of the Governors, Mr. Sam Hicks, undertook the hard work, watched by Mrs. Jane Grave (President of the O.K. Association), Mrs. Pat Branthwaite (vice chairman of the Governors) and the Headmaster, Mr. Howard Allen.
Later in the day the Governors held a meeting in the Rawnsley Hall with parents to discuss the matter of Grant Maintained status.
An evening of talent
Last Friday evening the Rawnsley Hall, Keswick School had a full audience of 300 to support Keswick Lions’ latest fundraising event, an Evening of Keswick Talent.
And what a feast of talent! This surely must have been the best value for a £3 ticket for many a long year.
Alan Hully was the master of ceremonies and the accompanist was Kath School, and during the evening Alan – after some difficulty with the producer – managed to get a ‘spot’ for some community singing!
The highlight of the evening was the presentation by Keswick School of the winning ‘Cumbria Boogie’ entry in Cumbria Tourist Board’s Anthem for Cumbria competition.
Written by Sian Hellier, a student in the Vth Form, the song was given its first public performance by Sian and five of her friends. It brought the house down and they were immediately asked for an encore.
Keswick School Senior Choir, directed by Mrs. Marie Lee and accompanied by Mrs. Carole Rael, presented a varied selection of choral items, while solos were given by Tanya Cubey, Penny Walker, Aimee Murray and Jeremy Shaw. The School’s Drama Group under the direction of Mrs. Jagger gave an excerpt from their forthcoming production of ‘Billy Liar’.
There was more drama from Keswick Scouts in ‘Cake Bake’, under the supervision of Howard Rickett, while the art of dancing was demonstrated by the Cindy Zudys Dancers and the International Folk Dance Group, directed by Mrs. Patsy Hamilton-Wright.
Steve Sproat opened the evening with a medley of songs on his ukulele, and blues singer Marjorie Harper gave a very professional performance on piano, accompanied by her husband Mark on guitar. The concert closed with the Amateur Operatic Society of Keswick, conducted by Mike Aldred, with a selection from their repertoire.
The programme was produced by Bob Bryden, a member of Keswick Lions who had put in several months’ hard work in preparation.
Keswick on flood alert
Keswick was held on red alert by the National Rivers Authority during most of Tuesday as the River Greta rose to spectacularly high levels.
However, hundreds of thousands of pounds of flood defence work carried out by the Authority after the disastrous flooding ten years ago helped save low-lying areas of the town although Keswick fire brigade had to spend several hours pumping water out of the Old Mill, Keswick Youth Centre’s headquarters which stands on the banks of the river.
Properties opposite the river at High Hill and lower Main Street were sandbagged and staff at the Ravensfield old people’s home were put on alert but there was no need to evacuate residents.
The River Greta rushed by only inches from the top of the flood wall but did not break through. Indeed it was so near the top of the wall that one local man actually photographed two canoeists stepping out of their canoes and onto the top of the wall!
40 years ago
Teenager in ice rescue drama on Derwentwater
A Keswick teenager’s quick action saved a young boy from drowning on Sunday when he fell through the ice on Derwentwater.
Jonathan Brown (17), was watching television in his home at Crow Park Cottage on the lakeshore when he heard yells and looked out the window to see a boy in the water.
After emergencies in previous years, Jonathan knew that the family had put out a ladder for such cases and he grabbed it and ran out across the ice.
Friends of the struggling boy were shouting for help and came to the cottage, but Jonathan and his father were already in action at this stage. Jonathan lay the ladder flat on the surface of the ice to enable the boy to grab it then he pulled him clear. By this time the ice around them was beginning to crack.
Jonathan said later: “I didn’t stop to think. He was in a desperate situation so I just grabbed hold of the ladder and made off across the ice towards him.”
The boy was about seventy yards from the shore and the ice in that area was in a very dangerous state. He had apparently been riding his bicycle on the ice and slipped off.
Jonathan said that the boy was very shaken and said he could not feel his legs, but the boy’s friends took him home and he did not go for hospital treatment.
Jonathan did not get his name, but knew he was a local.
He said: “When conditions are like this we are on a constant alert. People will insist on going on the ice and running a big risk. We saw kids running back as the ice cracked under their feet.”
Indeed one other person and a dog fell in the lake on Sunday, but escaped unharmed.
The youngster rescued by Jonathan had been in the water about ten minutes and he said: “A few minutes longer and he would have gone under.” He added: “It’s fortunate we were at home. One of these days someone is going to die on the lake. It is half a mile to the nearest house and if we had been out one can’t bear to think of the consequences.”
Pavilion flats project
Two major re-development schemes involving the building of flats and houses in the centre of Keswick have been submitted for planning approval this week.
One of them is an application by the owners of the Pavilion in Station Road, by Graves (Cumberland) Ltd. to turn the premises into fifteen flats.
The Pavilion, once the centrepiece of local social life, has had a wide range of uses in recent years, but repeated attempts by the owners to get a drinks licence for a club have been thwarted by magistrates and objections from nearby residents. A spokesman for the firm, Mr. Michael Graves, said this week that the idea of turning the Pavilion into a licensed club was now “a non starter.”
The Pavilion, formerly known by the rather grand title of the “Queen of the Lakes Pavilion,” was owned for a few years in the 1920s by the founder of the Keswick Reminder, Mr. G. W. McKane, and by two other local businessmen. For many years after that it was a dance hall and cinema and holds fond memories for the older generation of Keswickians.
It subsequently had a spell as a discotheque and has hosted conferences and one day sales. More recently it has been run as a wine bar and roller skating rink.
Mr. Alan Dunn, a Keswick shopkeeper who runs the roller skating, said: “Our lease is due to end at the end of March and we have agreed we will leave if they want us out. However, if it is going to take a long time for planning permission to come through, we will carry on operating on a day to day basis.”
Also in this week’s planning lists is an application by the new owners of the Royal Oak Hotel, Monoflair Ltd., for the demolition of redundant buildings between Standish Street and Victoria Street for the erection of twelve flats and seven houses.
The buildings in question were once the garage premises leased by Robt. Furness & Son Ltd.
Architects who are dealing with the Monoflair application have also applied for the conversion of stores in New Street, at the back of the hotel, into an office and studio.
50 years ago
Borrowdale Parish Council
Borrowdale Parish Council last week came out strongly against the proposed setting up of a National Park Information Centre at Seatoller.
One member, Mrs. Mary Brownlee, called the centre “a scandalous waste of money,” while Mr. John Hind declared: “They must be going to build it with gold.bricks.”
Mr. William Jenkinson said that while there seemed to be a cutback in car parks expenditure, there was no cutback in money available for the information service. He felt that the planners had their priorities wrong to be embarking on such an elaborate scheme when the valley was crying out for car parks.
A number of members were critical of the money involved and the chairman, Mr. Alan Mounsey, saying a figure of £30,000 had been quoted, said this sort of money was being spent on a scheme for which a caravan would have sufficed, yet there was not enough money for car parks.
Fire
A three-wheeled car burst into flames on Sunday as two Keswick men were working on it in a garage at The Headlands.
Although they tried to control the blaze with an extinguisher until Keswick Fire Brigade arrived, the vehicle was completely burnt out within minutes and the garage was also damaged by the fire.
The men pushed the car out of the garage as flames shot into the air but all that was left of the vehicle were charred remains.
The owner, Mr. Rodney McWalters, said: “My father and I had been fitting a new gearbox into the car. We had just put in a gallon of petrol when it virtually blew up.”
