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
Wivell Bridge rebuild pledge
Following a special meeting of Keswick’s charitable trustees last Wednesday, a pledge has been given that every effort will be made to rebuild the Wivell Bridge over the River Greta in the town which links Penrith Road with Fitz Park, after it was completely destroyed in the recent floods.
The bridge was under renovation before it was swept away in the January storm. However, the Fitz Park Trust intends to replace it even though the estimated rebuild cost of the bridge and repairs to associated pathways and footings could reach £200,000.
Acting Chair of the Trust, Town Mayor Elizabeth Barraclough, said: “I realise that we don’t have funds readily available, but the footbridge must be replaced. It is invaluable as it provides level access into the Park for wheelchair users and those pushing prams. It is also a safe route to school avoiding the road.”
Councillor John Goodfellow agreed: “This is a real opportunity for the Trust to create a new and innovative bridge that the town can be proud of.”
Sponsor saves guided walks
Lake District hikers, voluntary guided walk leaders and members of the National Park Authority have reason to celebrate after a last-minute private sponsorship deal has ensured the popular programme of guided walks has been saved for this year.
Following the sponsorship deal by Hawkshead, the Cumbria-based clothing company which sponsors the Lake District National Park Authority’s Weatherline service, the threat that the walks programme would have to be cancelled this year, as part of cost cutting by the Authority, has been lifted following the announcement at a meeting in Kendal on Monday.
Chairman Michael Bentley told the packed meeting that the private sponsorship deal to cover the £38,000 costs of the walks this year had been agreed in principle, allowing the Volunteers to carry out their planned programme of activities, including walks, starting at Easter.
News that the walks, led by volunteer rangers, would fall victim to what the Authority said was a re-focusing of resources in a bid to attract a wider diversity of people to the area, prompted a local outcry.
Dancing at Lodore Falls
Last week the Lodore Falls Hotel played host to the stars of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. Camilla Dallerup and lan Waite, who partnered athletes Roger Black and Denise Lewis on the popular Saturday night TV show, offered their expertise in the hottest dance class in the country.
Twenty two lucky couples joined them to sample the sensuality of the samba, the energy of the jive and the romance of the waltz. From complete beginners to those who already knew their rumba from their quick step, young and old arrived at this stunning venue with their dancing shoes at the ready. Latin rhythms pulsated out of the ballroom as tuition began, nerves soon dissolved and hips loosened as everyone soaked up the Cha Cha beat and shimmied across the dance floor.
30 years ago
Access to Derwent Island
Derwent Island, which was given to the National Trust by Mr Denis Marshall in 1951, is to be opened to Keswick residents on Sunday 14th May.
There has been no public access to the island since 1951, but last year new tenants moved into the picturesque Derwent Island House and as part of their tenancy agreement it was agreed that the public should have limited access during 1995. Fittingly, it has been agreed that the first of the special open days will be for Keswick residents only, in recognition of their support and interest in the work of the National Trust over the years.
Derwent Island is opposite the Keswick boat landings and its most famous period was during the ownership of Joseph Pocklington (1736-1817) who crowned “Pocklington’s Island”, as he called it, with a Palladian villa in 1781. It was he who introduced the annual regatta that included mock naval attacks on the island, and its defence with six cannons, when he assumed the name “King Pocky”!
The National Trust’s Centenary regatta on Sunday 28th May will be an attempt to recreate this colourful period in the island’s history.
Keswick Show
Members attending the annual meeting have decided that the event should reflect a more traditional aspect of local farming life, incorporating attractions which emphasise farming methods.
The treasurer, Mike Bulman, told the meeting that 1994 was not a good year financially from the Agricultural Society’s standpoint. Receipts from the gate and the car park were down £2,127.00 and this drop in attendance, due to the bad weather earlier in the day, was reflected in lower catalogue sales and a smaller share of the bar takings.
Another major decision taken at the meeting was to limit the number of raffles and charity stands allowed on the Show field. Officials had received many comments about the large number of raffles taking place, and they feel the time has now come to draw the line so that visitors to the event do not feel pestered.
Mr. Bulman said: “I think we must be careful and not allow too many charity stalls so that visitors to the Show are not pestered with ever-increasing numbers of raffle ticket sellers and collecting boxes of various types.” The secretary, Mrs. Judith Hildreth, agreed with his comments and put forward the suggestion to limit the number of charity stalls and raffles.
40 years ago
Interest in School of Art sale
The future of Keswick’s School of Industrial Art premises at Greta Bridge is likely to be decided later this month when the building goes for sale at public auction.
In recent weeks there has been considerable interest in the building amongst prospective purchasers who are likely to have to go to a figure in excess of £80,000.
The auction on the premises, on February 20th, will be conducted by Mr. Alan Hully on behalf of Messrs, R.J. Smeaton and he said this week: “Our instructions are from the Trustees in conjunction with the Charity Commission.”
Mr. Hully said that the sale was going to auction in an endeavour to obtain the best price possible. The property will be sold subject to a reserve and if it is not sold at auction, it will be sold privately.
Mr. Hully said: “There has been considerable interest in the property. Various individuals and craft bodies have shown an interest prior to auction.”
In memory of “Rusty”
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team has agreed that a formal memorial to their founder and Hon. President, Lt. Col. H. Westmorland, O.B.E., who died last year, would not be what he himself would have wished.
And at their recent annual meeting they came up with an idea which would surely have met with the complete approval of “Rusty” Westmorland.
The Team’s present Transit/Ambulance is sadly in need of replacement, and members are endeavouring to raise funds to replace this vehicle in Rusty’s memory. A memorial plaque will be placed in the new vehicle to the remarkable man who first climbed a fell at the age of four, and retained his love of the great outdoors until his death in December at the age of ninety-eight.
His action packed life included emigrating to Canada where he had several jobs before qualifying for a commission with a Territorial Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders of Canada, and where he climbed the Rockies with the main surveying party. He served in the 1914-18 War with the Royal Canadian Regiment, trained troops in mountain warfare, and later organised winter sports at a rest camp in Italy for allied troops.
After returning to his native Cumbria in 1945, he saw the need for organised mountain rescue, and in 1947 founded the Borrowdale Mountain Rescue Team with thirty-six volunteers. Later, representatives of all the rescue teams in the Lake District appointed Colonel Westmorland chairman of their search panel.
Two of the original volunteers were Keswick twins George and Richard Fisher, and at the annual meeting of the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team George was appointed Hon. President to succeed Rusty Westmorland, with Richard as Hon. Vice-President.
Keswick magistrates’ decision on Thirlmere tree case
The North West Water Authority are considering the implications of the result of a unique case which was heard by Keswick Magistrates last Friday relating to their tree planting policy for the shores of Thirlmere.
A 67-year-old woman brought a private prosecution against the N.W.W.A. under a statute dating back almost a century and, following a six hour hearing, the Bench upheld the complaint against the authority.
Mrs. Susan Johnson of Barrow Cottage, Ravenglass, took the Authority to court in a test case claiming they had failed to carry out their obligations to plant native trees under the Manchester Corporation Waterworks Act of 1897.
Her father, the Revd. H. H. Symonds was one of the founders of the Friends of the Lake District movement and Mrs. Johnson said the case had been brought “on behalf of those who go on the hills and find recreation and happiness in our wild landscape”.
She claimed the margins of Thirlmere had been planted with many solid stretches of non-indigenous trees such as spruce and larch. She accused the N.W.A.A. of acting illegally under the Act because indigenous trees were either not planted or were shaded to death by conifers.
Mrs. Johnson said broadleaf trees were a major scenic asset, but the authority had continued to plant and care for non-indigenous trees.
The chief estates officer for the N.W.W.A. Mr. Peter Veevers said conifers had been planted to stabilise the steep banks leading down to the lake. Broadleaf trees also created a problem with falling leaves blocking the treatment and straining systems, and he said the authority’s engineers would be very worried if there was any large-scale additional broadleaf planting.
Mr. Ronald Chapman, the N.W.W.A.’s forestry officer, said the vast majority of the eight mile perimeter of the reservoir was planted with indigenous trees.
The Authority’s solicitor Mr. Tim Warne said the authority felt they could best serve the interests of the Lake District by co-operating with the Lake District Planning Board in the development of forests. They feared that any wholesale felling would be doing a dis-service to the Lake District by interrupting carefully — structured plans which took decades, even centuries, to reach fruition.
In upholding the complaint against the Board the chairman of the Magistrates, Mr. E. C. Hicks said: “In the context of the past, the Water Authority has not acted reasonably even bearing in mind the many constraints upon it.”
However the Bench had, he said, noted the plans for landscape improvement contained in a letter to the Planning Board and they did not propose making any order in the hope that the N.W.W.A. would carry out the intentions expressed in that correspondence as quickly as nature allowed them.
After the hearing Mrs. Johnson said that anyone who had a general love of the Lake District would be glad to see the landscape become more natural around Thirlmere and less like a parody of Ennerdale.
Water Authority spokesman Mr. Roy Ritchie told the Reminder: “We will consider the implications of the result and the possibility of an appeal is one aspect we will consider.”
50 years ago
Music
A family tradition of music is carried on by Miss Heather Logan, grand-daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Holyland, of High Street, Keswick.
At nine years old she has gained maximum marks for her first theory examination set by the Trinity College of Music, London. She has already passed the Initial Grade and Grade I with merit in the practical pianoforte examinations and is practising hard for Grade II, which she expects to sit this June. She is also hoping to learn the guitar soon.
Readers will remember that her mother was Elise Holyland, at one time organist at the Congregational Church in Lake Road, who is currently organist at the Abbey Road Baptist Church at Barrow-in-Furness.
Friends of the Lake District
In their latest newsletter, published yesterday, the Friends of the Lake District claim the decision by the Secretary of State to refuse planning permission for a by-pass at Ambleside as a major victory for conservation. They would now like urgent steps to be taken to prohibit the use of the Kendal-Ambleside-Keswick road by through heavy goods vehicles.
The Post. Office has under-grounded the telephone line north of Thirlmere to Keswick, removing a blemish from the wide landscape to be viewed from the A591, and this action has been welcomed by the Friends.
The Friends continue to campaign for the abandonment of the scheme for a dual carriageway along the western shore of Bassenthwaite Lake. There are, they consider, overwhelming reasons why this road should not now be constructed.
“It is unfortunately too late,” the Report of the Friends continues, “to undo what has been done and retract the basically wrong decision to construct a major highway through the Lake District, but it is not too late to alter the design for the road along Bassenthwaite’s western shore. We have continued to press these arguments in many quarters. In face of the economic situation, the energy crisis, and, by no means last, in the interest of our most beautiful National Park, it becomes daily more obvious that the abandonment of the proposed new carriageway along the lake shore is the right course.”
