Looking back through the archives of The Keswick Reminder from around this week 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
20 years ago
Grenade alert
An Army bomb disposal squad was called to Keswick Museum and Art Gallery last week after a grenade was discovered in a store room.
The unit came from Catterick as a precaution after the German hand grenade was found. They used a portable x-ray machine to see if explosives were inside the device.
The item was found to be an empty stick grenade which could have been highly unstable if it had been full of explosive material. Records have been amended to show that it has been declared safe.
The museum curator, Hazel Davison, says events moved very quickly and she and the staff were really impressed at the speed with which everything happened following their initial call to Cumbria Police Headquarters Firearms Section after the staff discovered the grenade in the Museum collection.
“We’re very grateful for everyone’s help including the Border Regiment Museum at Carlisle Castle for their advice, the local Police and the bomb disposal team,” she said.
This is Your Life… Sir Chris Bonington
Rheged, Cumbria’s award winning tourist attraction at Penrith hosted an evening to remember last Tuesday when one of the nation’s favourite TV programmes “This is Your Life” came to pay tribute to Sir Chris Bonington.
Chris Bonington, probably the most famous British mountaineer, was “surprised” at The Heathrow Marriott Hotel by Michael Aspel and his big red book, after completing a business presentation to
The International Powered Access Federation. Chris then travelled back to his home county of Cumbria for an evening of excitement, emotion and surprises. This is Your Life was filmed against Rheged’s spectacular backdrop of waterfalls, lake and stunning architecture.
Michael Aspel opened the programme by describing Chris Bonington as a driving force in establishing The Helly Hansen National Mountaineering Exhibition at Rheged, and he referred to the venue as “Cumbria’s most extraordinary visitor attraction.”
This memorable evening for Chris Bonington was shared by his family and friends and revealed a remarkable life of mountaineering memories along with amusing family stories.
Chris said: “It was a fantastic surprise and absolutely wonderful having my family and so many old friends assembled together.”
30 years ago
Police watch stone circle
A close eye is being kept by local Police on the Castlerigg Stone Circle this weekend in a bid to head off any hippy invasion.
A police spokesman said that farmers had been notified and there would be parking restrictions around the Stone Circle and in the immediate vicinity.
Contingency plans were revealed by the police last week to deal with any large scale invasion by new age travellers in the Allerdale area. Keswick Police say there will be road checks on Friday and they will try to prevent the formation of any camps. It is anticipated that a few so-called hippies who do not associate with the big festival sites will be in the area.
Sergeant Jim McMonies said: “We will be taking action to prevent any breaches of the byelaws and to stop camps being established. Once they establish a site you never lose them.”
40 years ago
Editorial
Those who saw BBC TV Look North programme on the Lake District last Thursday evening, in which Keswick was featured, and its future as a tourist centre discussed, may be wondering what on earth the interviewer was trying to achieve. Keswick was shown as being a religious convention centre for two weeks each year; our mayor was put “on the spot” on the issue of traffic and the Market Square; and out of the thousands of visitors to our town, the interviewer could find only three worth talking to—all, in their own words, “long haired, leather jacketed, motorcyclists,” whose only comment on our town was that they were not allowed in the pubs because “the landlords think we’re animals.” A point against Keswick in their eyes, maybe, but certainly a point in favour of Keswick in the eyes of more discerning visitors. Compared with Look North’s excellent programme on the Blencathra Hunt in Borrowdale the previous evening, this was not worth the BBC’s time and expense.
Diamond wedding
John and Hannah Plaskett were given the surprise of their lives on Saturday when they went out for what they thought was intended as a quiet family celebration of their diamond wedding anniversary.
Their children, grand – children and great grand – children had other ideas. For some weeks they had been preparing for a secret celebration buffet and dance at a hotel in Keswick.
The couple thought they were just calling in for a few minutes at the Millfield Hotel on their way to a relative’s home in Braithwaite. But when they walked into the hotel, a handsome buffet stood waiting for them, along with forty-eight of their relatives intent on making it an anniversary to remember.
Mr. and Mrs. Plaskett, who live at Mountain View, Borrowdale, received sixty cards and numerous presents to mark their anniversary, and pride of place went to a card from the Queen.
They were married at St. Michael’s Church, Workington, on April 23rd, 1923. Mr. Plaskett, although born at Dearham, is actually a member of an old Borrowdale Valley family while his wife comes from Workington.
After their marriage they lived at Stonethwaite Farm and Mr. Plaskett later worked at Honister slate quarry until the recession in 1935. For a season he was whip to a pack of otter hounds in Cockermouth, but returned to his old place of work at Honister where he became foreman.
Mrs. Plaskett had been anxious to get back to Borrowdale to live, and she wrote to the quarry company asking if they could have one of the houses at Mountain View which, at that time, were owned by the quarry. The job went with the house, and as a result the couple moved into the little row of houses where they have lived for the past fifty-one years.
50 years ago
Council matters
The Urban Council’s Housing and Town Planning Committee on Tuesday evening received thirty letters from tenants objecting to the provisional fair rents assessments on their houses and listing various complaints about the houses. It was agreed that the principle contained in the letters, which were all on a similar form, should be discussed by a sub-committee but the complaints about the houses should not be taken into account as these were matters which should be addressed to the Housing Manager.
Following Cumberland County Council’s decision not to implement the suggested one way traffic system in Market Square the Public Health and Highways Committee agreed that the Council should press the County Council for plans for a pedestrian precinct and the provision of double yellow lines to prevent the present parking problems in the evenings.
The Finance and General Purposes Committee were told that negotiations between the National Trust and the District Valuer on a rent for the site for the Derwentwater Bathing Club had proved abortive and it was recommended that the Council write to the Trust expressing its regret and requesting that the club be allowed to use the lake shore at a nominal rent.
