Looking back through the archives of The Keswick Reminder from around this week 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
20 years ago
Keswick School ‘A’ Level results
Once again the Year 13 students of KeswickSchool have produced excellent results at ‘A’ Level, and on behalf of the Headmaster, the Head of the VI Form, Mr Andrew Jones, and Dr Peter Roberts, Deputy Head, said: “We congratulate the students on their results, which are due to their hard work and the efforts of their teachers. Their percentage of A and B passes was 43%.
“Particular congratulations to Eleanor Kemp and Gemma Sharpe who both achieved top candidate awards at ‘A’ Level Art & Design, meaning that they were in the top five candidates nationally. And special congratulations to Rachel Jones who has been accepted by Churchill College, Cambridge, to read English.”
Alan Jenner
Many of his former pupils and friends in Keswick will be saddened to learn of the death of Alan Jenner in hospital at Preston last Friday. He was 90 years old.
He came to Keswick School in 1944 as Head of the Science Department and was a popular teacher and member of the local community. While at Keswick School he was the master in charge of Rugby and of Cricket, and he played for Keswick Rugby Union Club and for Keswick Cricket Club — indeed he was captain of the Keswick Cricket Team which won the County Cup in 1951, a team which included such notable local cricketers as Ted Bickerdike (today’s Club President), Bobby Elliott, and Derry Saul.
Alan Jenner also brought light opera to Keswick School where, with the Director of Music at that time, A V Kitching, they presented Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe and The Mikado, taking charge of the stage production as well as playing leading roles himself. An accomplished actor and baritone, Alan was an unforgettable Lord Chancellor, giving a memorable performance of the “Nightmare” song.
He left Keswick in the early 1950s on his appointment as headmaster of Blackrod and Rivington Grammar School in Lancashire. He retired to the Kendal area but often revisited Keswick with his son David to watch rugby or cricket matches, and as a member of the K Shoe Choir who presented several concerts at St John’s Church.
A keen Rotarian, Alan was a Past District Chairman of Rotary District No. 105. His wife, Elsie, died a few years ago, but he is survived by his two sons and by four grandchildren.
Letters to the Editor: The sound of jets is the sound of peace
Dear Editor, I refer to the letter from Ellen Crowson (Keswick Reminder 08 August 2003) and her comments about the noise from RAF jets in the skies above Cumbria. Whilst I agree that they are noisy, I would point out that they are also the sound of peace for the UK.
Your writer adds her age to her letter, which would make her a young woman during the 1939-1945 conflict. Surely she has the memories of the terrible waste of life, not to mention damage caused by that conflict, in which the lives of so many young airmen were lost because we had to throw them into the front line of the Battle of Britain, with only the minimum of training.
Having been born and raised in Bassenthwaite, only moving away when I married, I have seen and heard the RAF jets training over the lakes mentioned, and I see and hear them on a similar scale now at my home in Kirkby Stephen. I am an ordinary housewife who lost members of my family in the last two world wars, as did my husband. We recently travelled to France to visit the graves of those we lost in those conflicts. It is a humbling experience, especially when one looks at the ages of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
Thank goodness in this modern world we are able to train the men and women of our armed forces properly. I do not mind them flying over this county – to me they are the sound of peace.
(Mrs) L B Jordan
Kirkby Stephen
30 years ago
Fitz Park sports pavilion
Following the appeal made in last week’s Keswick Reminder by the Fitz Park Sports Pavilion committee, the appeal secretary, Keith Richardson, reports that there has been a very encouraging response with, at the time of going to press, £2,000 pledged in donations to meet a shortfall of £10,000 by a deadline of September 27th.
The new building will be used by the Cricket Club and also provide a base for three other clubs in the town which do not at the moment have a home – namely, the Hockey, Junior Football and Athletics Clubs. The social room could also be used by other organisations for meetings etc.
Mr. H. J. (Jim) Mungall
Jim Mungall, a former Deputy Headmaster of Keswick School and Head of French for many years, died on Saturday at the rest home in Otterburn where he had been a resident since May.
Many thousands of Old Keswickians will be saddened to hear of his death. Jim Mungall came to Keswick School in 1944 when he was invalided out of the forces, and he immediately took a leading role in many aspects of school life. In addition to his duties within the French Department he became the School’s athletics coach, taking the athletics team to inter-school competitions throughout the county and the north of England where they were very successful. He also helped with the coaching of rugby, while many will remember his prowess on the staff hockey team in their annual match against the hockey Ist XI.
He was appointed Deputy Head on the retirement of Mr. G. T. Mann, and he held this very responsible position until his own retirement in 1974, and for several years he kept his connection with Keswick School by teaching on a part time basis in the French department.
In the late 1970s Mr. Mungall was appointed a Governor of the School by the Old Keswickian Association and he served in this capacity for some five years, helping the Governors at the time when Keswick School and the former Lairthwaite School were merged to form one Keswick School.
Throughout all these years Mr. Mungall was supported by his wife Sally. Sadly, Mrs. Mungall died three years ago and Mr. Mungall’s health began to give cause for concern. Earlier this summer he moved to be near his son, Iain, who is a doctor in general practice in the Hexham area.
Mr. Mungall is survived by his family, Wendy, Iain and Elspeth, and several grandchildren.
40 years ago
Lake level
There was nothing disparaging in the Town Mayor Mr. Martin Jordan’s bid to reach an all-time low this week. It was not a reflection on his Council duties, but a way of commemorating the fact that Derwentwater had reached a record low level after the long hot spell of weather.
Several leading citizens of Keswick have installed tablets over the last hundred years or more to mark the new low levels, and Mr. Jordan was determined to continue the tradition.
It has been one of the driest Lakeland summers in history, and as the height of Derwentwater has diminished, it has revealed more and more of the plaques just off Friars Crag, showing the various record low levels. The plaques, most of which were placed near the well-known beauty spot by local Council chairmen, date back to 1887. Most of them carry dates and the initials of the person responsible for placing them and scratches on the rocks show where other locals have notched up lake levels.
Mr. Jordan said that earlier this week the last plaque, set down by Mr. George Hodgson during his year as Town Council chairman in 1980, has finally been uncovered. Other tablets which are above the water-line include those laid by Tom Wilson in the late 1930s, Fred Mills, Stephen Hogarth and the late Barbara Robinson.
The tablets can be clearly seen if one climbs down the end of Friar’s Crag through the tree roots, but unfortunately there are signs that other plaques, including one laid by Sir Percy Hope, have either been stolen or vandalised.
Marathon ale marks Himalayan run
Richard and Adrian Crane of Cockermouth completed their remarkable run across the Himalayas in only 101 days. During this historic marathon they completed 2,029 miles, crossing over 64 mountain passes, travelling at an average altitude of 12,000 feet and climbing over 35,000 feet in total – equal to twelve Mount Everests!
And the Crane brothers, former pupils of Keswick School, made this terrific effort to benefit Intermediate Technology, the charity which provides simple, low cost tools to the people in developing countries.
At the completion of the run, however, they had been sponsored for only seven thousand pounds which many of those who fully appreciated the dedication and effort of these two Cumbrian men felt was not a good enough response. Among these were the chairman of Jennings Brewery of Cockermouth, Mr. Colin Lee and his fellow directors who decided to honour the splendid efforts made by Richard and Adrian in a special way.
The result – Marathon Ale, a special strong ale produced by Jennings at Cockermouth to mark the triumph of the Cockermouth brothers, and the profits from the sales will go to International Technology.
Threlkeld Sheepdog Trials
Threlkeld Sheepdog Trials returned to its regular home yesterday and finally managed to break a six year bad weather hoodoo.
The secretary, Mr. William Airey said: “It’s hard to remember the last time we had a fine day. We were beginning to think the bad record would never end.”
Apart from the odd flurry of fine rain, the conditions were ideal for the colourful Lakeland show of fell foxhounds, terriers and sheepdogs, attracting the best crowd for years.
It was a day of triumph for the locally-based Blencathra pack, whose kennels are within hailing distance of the trials field. They won the open foxhound championship with two year old Susie, which has already won five other similar titles at Cumbrian shows this year.
The local sheepdog trials were won by Joseph Relph of Borrowdale with Cap, who had 63 points, two ahead of Chris Todd of Loweswater with Glen.
50 years ago
Retired
After acting as agent for the Prudential Assurance Co, in Keswick since 1955, Mr. J. E. Snowden, Fenton, has retired and to mark the occasion, he received a canteen of cutlery from his colleagues in the Penrith District of the firm and a cigarette lighter from local Union colleagues.
Mr. Snowden, who, like his wife is a Liverpudlian, started his career with the company in Liverpool at a time when apprenticeships were served and he later became an agent, serving there until 1947 when he moved to Maryport as Superintendent of the Cockermouth area.
Mr. Snowden was obliged to relinquish his post in 1959 because of ill-health, however, and he moved as an agent to Keswick where he has been a well known figure to many people. At one time Mr Snowdon was a keen member of the now defunct Blencathra Amateur Theatrical Society which performed at Threlkeld. He is a Freemason and is Master of the Bective Lodge of Master Mark Masons.
Mr. Snowdon said this week that he should very much miss meeting the many people with whom he came in contact during his work in Keswick – but he would now have time to renew his interest in a former hobby, angling, and had brought a brand new set of fishing tackle for that specific purpose.
Letters to the Editor
Dear Sir, — We have just read the letter by G. M. Kitchener on the proposed erection of an Aerial Tower for television transmission close to Springs Farm, and share his concern to preserve the beauty of this part of the country. We can understand his point of view, but would point out that Re-diffusion is NOT available to all out-lying districts around Keswick.
We, ourselves, can only receive B.B.C. 1 and greatly miss the enjoyment of many programmes on B.B.C. 2 (which we understand this tower will provide for us), as well as I.T.V. We have, of course, no reduction in our television licence fees, but pay the same contribution as everyone else, but only receive one-third the programmes offered.
Here is, therefore, a legitimate case to be made out for those who have no choice at all in which programmes to watch on television — through no fault of their own; simply because of the distance they live from Keswick and the surrounding fells which impair their reception.
We rely on television a great deal (especially in the winter months) for information and entertainment, living as we do out of Keswick, and are hoping that we, too, may have the share of programmes offered that the rest of Keswick enjoy.
Yours faithfully,
Harold & Margaret Candeland.
“Watersmeet”
Stair,
Newlands Valley,
Keswick. 10th Aug, 1973.
