Looking back through the archives of The Keswick Reminder from around this week 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago
20 years ago
Christian rejoice – but residents disagree
Christian have spent four weeks celebrating in Keswick, but residents living near the Skiddaw Street centre say it has made their lives difficult and have even described it as ‘hell’…
Three weeks of the main Keswick Convention, a religious gathering of up to 15,000 people from all over the world, have been followed this year by the international conference of Operation Mobilisation, a mission and training organisation that had its headquarters in Carlisle. A further 2,000 delegates have been attending their week long event.
And residents, particularly those who live in streets adjacent to the Convention Centre, say they have had enough of the noise and parking problems.
Ian McPherson, who lives in Skiddaw Street, said, “If I was making this much noise I would be locked up. They spill out into the street making noise and it is as rowdy as a pub.” Mr McPherson said his children had not been able to get to sleep before 11.30 at night when the evening meeting finishes.
Vicky Wright, who lives on nearby Brackenrigg Close, said the noise had even drowned out television programmes.
Doctor’s wife Sue Hamilton, who lives around the corner in Blencathra Street, describes what has been happening as “intolerable and unbearable.” Mr Hamilton added: “It has ruined our summer. The people attending have been unreasonable. They blocked the road with minibuses which they abandoned while they went to a meeting. My husband is a GP and one night there was no way he would have been able to get his car out if he had been called.”
Convention secretary Mark Smith said it was with “enormous regret” that he heard stories about local people being put out. He said: “The Trustees may need to review their policy and put in place conditions which take account of local residents when the centre is being used by other groups.
Keswick Show honour for ‘voice of Cumbria’
One of Cumbria’s best known personalities found himself almost lost for words for the first time in years on Monday. Glen Tubman is known as the man at the microphone at outdoor events and agricultural shows all over the region. Always ready with a quick quip or a dialect joke to please the local audience and visitors.
But he had a new role which took him away from the public address van and into the main ring at Keswick Agricultural Show.
As Show President, an honour marking 40 years of service to the event as announcer, he admitted that it was a different kettle of fish making the speech at the grand parade than it was doing the announcements.
Mr Tubman said: “I was really chuffed when I found out the committee had invited me to be this year’s president. I have been coming to Keswick Show for nearly 40 years to do the announcing. It is one of my favourite shows and it is a huge honour and privilege.”
Show chairman Ernest Clark said: “Everybody knows Glen. He is the voice of Cumbria. He has been involved with Keswick Show for a long time and we felt he was an excellent choice to be president.”
Thousands flocked to the High Hill show field for the Bank Holiday bonanza although this year’s attendance was slightly down on 2002. Committee member Haydn Spedding said: “After foot and mouth we didn’t want to put the prices up because we wanted to give something back to people. This year we looked carefully at the situation and decided on an increase of about £1 across the board. Numbers have been fewer, but the receipts are up.”
The decision a quarter of a century ago to switch Keswick Show to the Bank Holiday has never been regretted. It was an inspired move by the then secretary Wilfrid Relph which guaranteed that it would be one of Cumbria’s biggest crowd pulling attractions of the summer.
30 years ago
Gail climbs Skiddaw
With the assistance of members of Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, 22 year old Gail Monkhouse achieved an ambition this week – to climb to the top of Skiddaw.
Gail, who lives in Skiddaw Street, has suffered the devastating effects of rheumatoid arthritis since she was three years old. She has twice undergone kidney transplant operations and has had both hips replaced; at present she is awaiting knee joint replacement surgery.
From her home Gail looks out on the magnificent vista of Skiddaw and thought how wonderful it would be to be able to go to the top, and on Tuesday evening she realised her ambition when members of the Mountain Rescue Team hauled her wheelchair to the summit and back.
Gail said: “They fixed straps to the front of my wheelchair and others pushed. When it got to the rougher sections they fitted something like oars down the side of the chair to help lift me.
“They kept stopping to let me take in the view. We arrived at the summit just as the sun was setting and it was perfect. We could see the Isle of Man in the distance and one of the team members summed it up when he said it was one day in a thousand.”
Keswick Show
The comment made by the President of Keswick Agricultural Show, Mrs. Elizabeth Raven, “weather perfect and a setting second to none” said it all.
With the weather playing its part after a dismal summer, Keswick Show – always a major Bank Holiday attraction – seemed to play host to the world and his wife! Normal attendances recently have reached five figures, but officials are confident that Monday’s crowd was a new record, topping the 12,000 best which was established a few years ago.
Treasurer Mike Bulman said: “The gate is a record – our best ever.”
Ernest Clark, the chairman of Keswick Agricultural Society, said: “It is a fantastic setting for the show when you get weather like this. If the weather’s right the show takes care of itself.”
Sunday trading
A Keswick shopkeeper claimed this week that the loss of Sunday trading in Allerdale will reduce the number of weekend visitors and hit jobs and Council income from car parks.
Last Sunday a letter was delivered to a number of Keswick shops which open on Sundays drawing attention to the goods which are legally permitted to be sold on that day. Allerdale also drew attention to a recent court case against a retailer contravening the Sunday Trading laws which resulted in a £250 fine plus £4,000 costs.
Allerdale are reminding shopkeepers that in spite of the current national review, the Shops Act 1950 is still in force and the Council has a legal duty to enforce the law.
Keswick shopkeeper Tony Rathbone said: “There are many laws that the Environmental Health Officer could enforce to the benefit of its residents. However, he apparently prefers to use Allerdale’s resources on efforts to reduce the earnings of its residents. Maybe the Borough of Allerdale should have a new slogan – “come to Allerdale and see how many businesses we have closed down”.
Local business people point out the anomalies in current Sunday trading regulations. For instance, they can sell such items as partly cooked tripe, and fodder for mules and donkeys, but not fish and chips or tinned or bottled fruit and vegetables. There are a number of special exemptions which allow additional goods to be sold in Cockermouth, Keswick, Maryport and Silloth during the summer holiday season – but, in Keswick, only a few of those exemptions apply because some years ago the Chamber of Trade sought the views of local traders and did not get the necessary two thirds support for an application.
40 years ago
Mrs Lyndall Selvey
Her many friends in Keswick and district were saddened to hear of the death last week of Mrs. Lyndall Selvey, wife of a former Mayor, Mr. Leslie Selvey.
Mrs. Selvey, who was 79, was born in Grimsby and was a teacher, by profession having trained at Darlington Teacher Training College.
She came to Keswick nearly thirty years ago when her husband was appointed Chief Inspector with British Rail at Workington, and she entered wholeheartedly into the life of the community.
Her interest in the work of the W.R.V.S., along with her organising skills, made her a natural choice for the work of Central Organiser in the Keswick area. In this capacity she was instrumental in introducing the meals on wheels service to the town and she began a scheme of bringing to the area for holidays children who would otherwise not have been so fortunate.
Under her sixteen year chairmanship the W.R.V.S. movement was given a new lease of life in the area, She retired from this responsibility in 1974 and began to serve in the Keswick Oxfam shop.
Mrs. Selvey had a great love of the Lake District, was an accomplished artist in water colours. She was a member of the local Society of Art and also appreciated music in many forms.
Another side of her local service was the help she gave to her husband during his fifteen year term of office as a Councillor, especially during his term of office as first Town Mayor of Keswick in 1974.
Mr. and Mrs. Selvey, who celebrated their golden wedding four years ago, lived at Manor Brow before moving to Briar Rigg.
The funeral service was held at St John’s Church on Tuesday and was attended by a large and representative congregation including a contingent from the W.R.V.S. The Vicar, Canon Richard Watson, was assisted by her only son the Revd. Brian Selvey, Vicar of Cleveleys, who gave the address and led prayers.
Mrs Selvey was a regular worshipper at St. John’s where her husband has been churchwarden and member of the Parochial Church Council. Mr. Selvey is well-known in keswick not only for his considerable term of service as a local Councillor but also as chairman of the Museum and Art Galleries Committee of Fitz Park.
Keswick Show
The sunshine brought a near record 11,000 attendance on Monday to the Keswick Show. The “gate” takings of £5,600 helped put a smile back on the treasurer’s face after last year’s wet show day when the turn out was about half that of Monday.
Special attractions included a parade of vintage motor bikes, giving a reminder of a bygone era when British manufacturers ruled the scene, and the chance for spectators to ride in a helicopter at around £3 a time. The helicopter was kept on the go throughout the afternoon showing that there was no shortage of takers for the offer of a lift off from the Howrahs and a brief sortie down the Borrowdale Valley.
The main feature was the drop in by the Black Knights free fall parachute display team from Lancashire. The last time they came to Keswick Show six years ago there was genuine drama when team leader Phil Kavanagh’s main chute failed to open and he had to make a last second switch to his reserve, but there was no such problem this time. Everything was spot on and Phil and his mates landed with precision accuracy in the centre of the arena, the last group of sky divers having jumped from their plane at 9,000 feet.
50 years ago
Major E. Thompson
Founder of the Keswick firm of Edwin Thompson and Co., land agents and surveyors, Major Edwin Thompson, OBE, of Rosetrees, near Keswick, died in Keswick Hospital on Thursday evening, at the age of 83.
Born at Starwood Hall, Whitfield, Northumberland, Major Thompson was educated at Bigod’s School, Essex, and Cambridge University where he gained an Exhibition and 1st Class Honours. A keen rugby union player, he captained Northumberland before the first world war and also played for the North of England and for the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1914/15. Major Thompson was Commissioned in the Northumberland Fusiliers, served for nearly three years in France, was wounded on five different occasions and was Mentioned in Despatches three times.
After the war he founded his own firm in Keswick and built up a wide connection throughout the country but he also found time to give his services and his experience in many spheres.
He was a former chairman of the Derwent Catchment Board, Cumberland River Board and Cumberland River Board and Cumberland River Authority. He was deputy chairman of the Cumberland Agricultural Executive Committee, a member of the national Hill Farming Advisory Committee for England and Wales and, for over 40 years, he was secretary of Keswick Agricultural Society. The latter recognised his services by making him an honorary life vice-president. He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire some years ago for his service to agriculture generally.
Major Thompson is survived by his widow, formerly Miss E. M. Milburn of Keswick; a son Mr. John Thompson who followed his father into the firm; a son Mr. Michael Thompson, Scale Hill Hotel, Loweswater and a married daughter, Mrs. Anne Hayton, of Hundith Hill, Cockermouth.
Keswick Show
The Keswick Agricultural Society had a very successful day on Monday when, after rain in the early part of the day, the weather cleared to remain fine and the attendance at the show was estimated at not far below the all-time record of last year.
On that occasion the figure was in the region of 6,000 and the gate money totalled £1,114. This year the gate money was approximately £1,190, but the prices had been increased slightly and the attendance was probably not as high.
Entries in the livestock section were up to 500 with over 800 in the industrial classes, and the day included the usual trade stands, some very interesting static displays by the King’s Division of Infantry and a rousing marching display by the Regimental Band Drums of The King’s Own Royal Border Regiment who left the arena, after Beating the Retreat, to the Regimental Marches of the two amalgamated regiments.
The salute was taken by Major P. L. Davidson, President of the show, which was under the chairmanship of Mr. H. Raven, with Mr. J. W. Martin vice-chairman, Mr. Wilfred A. Relph secretary and Mr. F. R. Alston treasurer.
Friends of the Lake District
The August Newsletter of the Friends of the Lake District was published on Tuesday and contains more laments on the A66 decision, and voices the suspicions of the Friends that the decision of the Government to set up a working party to examine traffic and road problems in the Lake District, and announced before the House of Lords debate on the A66, was made only to disarm criticism.
The “Friends” announce a Protest Walk to the summit of Latrigg on October 14th to show their continuing opposition to the Secretary of State’s decision to go ahead with the A66 scheme.
They are also against proposals for a by-pass of Windermere, the Ambleside by-pass, “improvements” to the Lorton Valley road, and the proposed Duddon Valley Dam; and they welcome the further steps for the control of power boating, and the Secretary of State’s decision not to permit a new hotel on the shores of Ennerdale. A greater degree of control over new agricultural buildings is called for, they are against the proposal for a safari park at Mosedale, and they call for the introduction of a traffic management experiment of the Goyt Valley type for Watendlath.
The Society announces that it has contributed to a number of tree-planting schemes as part of the “Plant a Tree in 73” campaign.
