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
The Hired Man
Melvyn Bragg and Howard Goodhall’s Cumbrian musical, The Hired Man, begins its three week run to a sell-out Theatre by the Lake audience on Saturday in what will be the first professionally-mounted production of the musical in the county of its origin.
Set in the first quarter of the 20th century against a vivid background of Cumbrian rural and industrial life and the First World War, the story follows John Tallentire’s journey from hired farmhand on the Cockermouth fells to miner in the Whitehaven pits and soldier fighting in France, and his wife Emily’s ill-fated passion for Jackson Pennington, the son of her husband’s boss.
Local amateur performers have the chance to appear alongside professional actors in this musical which was adapted for the stage by Wigton-born Bragg from his acclaimed novel, and a award-winning sucrose was written by Howard Goodall, composer of television theme tunes for Mr Bean, Blackadder, Red Dwarf and The Vicar of Dibley.
30 years ago
The cat that came back
After nearly three weeks ‘on the run’ Jimmy Jaw, the three-year-old cat owned by Marion Abbott of Greta Side, has turned up.
Jimmy Jaw’s best friend and constant companion, Esmeralda, a blind cat which relies on Jimmy to be her ‘eyes’, is very pleased to have him back! Mrs. Abbott had distributed some 1,000 leaflets and pictures of Jimmy Jaw together with adverts in local papers to try to recover him, and during the time he was missing she answered numerous calls on ‘sightings’ – all false alarms.
“We had almost given up hope. Then I came back from work and there he was – a bit thinner but otherwise OK”, said Mrs. Abbott. Her theory about Jimmy’s disappearance is that he had got locked in a building and been unable to get out.
Notice to quit
The woman who has been living in a car on Keswick’s Central Car Park for several weeks has been served a notice to quit.
Allerdale Borough Council say the notice was served a week ago and as we go to press the seven day period during which she was to leave the car park was due to expire.
The woman is understood to have indicated that she may be leaving in any case, perhaps to go to Kendal. A spokeswoman for Allerdale said if this was so, the Council would move the Rover 2000 car to a place of safe keeping.
Allerdale Council sought the order to quit on the grounds that the woman was contravening local byelaws. Social Services were unable to take action as the car is parked on private council-owned land and the woman had not sought help; the police say no offence has been committed as she had a car park ticket. So Allerdale took appropriate action.
Some weeks ago a number of birds were taken from the car by RSPCA officials, but the woman still has a dog with her.
The Rover 2000 bronze-coloured car has been parked for over three months near the toilet block on the Central Car Park, and there have been a number of complaints about the unpleasant smell.
40 years ago
Return of road sign
There’s a firm moral for any would-be pranksters coming to make mischief in Keswick’s streets — don’t do it in front of the mayor or a magistrate, especially when it’s one and the same person.
A cheeky trick backfired on a visitor from the South West who decided to take home one of Keswick’s street signs as a souvenir of his stay. For he committed the act right under the nose of the Mayor Mr. Martin Jordan, who just happens to also be a local magistrate.
And with the assistance of a public- spirited visitor, Martin launched on a bit of detective work which, several weeks after the event, has resulted in the recovery of the Heads Road sign.
Martin was on his way back to his hotel on The Heads when he saw someone leaning over the sign. When he looked back a few moments later the sign and the offender had both disappeared.
Fortunately a visitor who was staying at a nearby guest house had seen what happened and not only did he tell Mr. Jordan that the sign had been forcibly removed but also he had had the foresight to take the car number of the person responsible.
The matter was promptly placed in the hands of the police, and Mr. Jordan reports that the sign has now been duly returned from Bristol in the wake of a stern reprimand for the vandal who took it.
Now Mr. Jordan has the job of putting it back in place. He said: “I’m going to make sure that it’s well and truly fastened up this time so there’s no repeat.”
“He added: “The one good thing to come out of the episode, apart from the return of a valuable sign, is that someone was public spirited enough to take down the car number and do something about it. If more people were prepared to act like this instead of turning the other way we might get more things back or damage repaired.”
Letter to the Editor – Re: Pedestrianisation of Town Centre
Dear Editor, — I am very much concerned about the above proposal. As a member of the Keswick Publicity Association I am primarily worried about the effects on the bed and breakfast trade.
I feel that there would be a ripple effect once traffic was diverted from the town centre. I do not know what proposals there are, but fear that yellow lines would appear around Southey Street, Church Street and Eskin Street. The increased volume of traffic around this quiet residential area would be disturbing, and the effect of parking restrictions would be obvious to all those with guest houses in this part of town.
The housing, water and sewerage systems (as Allerdale District Council must be aware) are old, and would be subject to further subsidence with such an increased weight of traffic.
The many young children walking up and down Church Street and crossing Eskin Street on their way to and from the school would require more supervision and be subject to much higher levels of lead pollution in the air.
These are only a few points but I feel that many more problems would arise by diverting all traffic from the town centre.
I would urge that all residents consider the proposal most carefully, thinking how the ripple effect may reach them, and attend any meetings held to discuss the idea.
Eileen Hirst
Walla Crag
Church Street
Keswick
Letter to the Editor – Re: “Rock of Names”
Dear Editor, — The Tower Hotel, Portinscale, was built in the 1800s as the home of Alderman John Grave, three times Lord Mayor of Manchester and chairman of their Waterworks Committee. The plan to make Thirlmere a reservoir to supply water to Manchester was his brainchild.
During my researches into the history of The Tower and the life of Mr. Grave I was greatly assisted by the Central Library of The City of Manchester and by one of the Lake District’s foremost writers on the subject of local history, F. J. Carruthers.
Some of the references supplied to me contained very interesting and pertinent information that might be of interest to the parties caught up in the “Rock of Names” controversy.
Mr. Carruthers’ book “Lore of the Lake Country” reveals that Manchester decided to rescue The Rock from a watery grave when the level of the lake was to be raised. They were to present the Rock to the Wordsworth Institute, Cockermouth, as being the right and proper place for it.
But the Rock crumbled on being lifted and the relevant bits, with the famous initials, were built into a cairn on the side of the road above the lake’s new level, where it stands today.
However, a much more startling piece of information comes from a booklet published in 1894 entitled “Thirlmere to Manchester — the Thirlmere Waterworks Scheme” by J. Wilson, B.A. (Dur.). He asserts that the initials on the Rock weren’t made by the poets and their friends at all! He writes that it was pretty well established, long before the Thirlmere plan was launched, that the initials were inscribed by one John Longmire of Troutbeck Bridge, intimately known to the book’s author. Longmire, he says, was a clever but eccentric amateur stone-cutter, for some years a parish constable for Ambleside. He was also responsible for the “rock graffiti” that was to be found in great profusion in the Windermere area in the 1800s.
I do hope this information doesn’t put too many cats among too many pigeons!
S.J. Heudebourck
The Tower Hotel
Portinscale
Keswick
50 years ago
Allerdale District Council
Members of the Planning Development Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. S. T. Hogarth, were told at their meeting earlier this month that the Lake District Planning Board had instructed the District Valuer to negotiate for the purchase of the Keswick Railway Station and adjoining land.
A request from the Above Derwent Parish Council that the District Council should purchase the Braithwaite Railway Station and adjoining land for housing development was considered by this Committee and by the Housing Committee. The Lake District Planning Board have been asked to look into possible uses of this site, but meanwhile the site has been included in the itinerary of the tour for the Keswick area.
R.A.F. Association
The endeavours of the Keswick Branch of the R.A.F. Association had not gone unnoticed by the Association’s Central Council said a member of the Council, Mr. R. A. F. Collins, on Wednesday evening, when he spoke to members and guests at the annual dinner and dance of the Branch at the Moota Restaurant.
“The branch is regarded in very high esteem by the Central Council,” he said. “It is a very successful branch which supports everything the Association does and strives to maintain everything the Association stands for in its aims and objects. Apart from that, the branch also enjoys excellent relationships with the local authority and plays a full part in local affairs.”
Mr. Collins, who commented on the ability of the secretary, Mr. G. W. Hodgson, said he was amazed at the tremendous acceleration over the past three years in the Wings Appeal collections and he paid tribute to the organiser, Mrs. Joy Hodgson.
