25 YEARS AGO – 1996
LANGWATHBY
The community spirit and determination shown by Langwathby villagers has been rewarded with £1.9 million of funding from the Millennium Commission towards the cost of a long-awaited new road bridge over the Eden.
The news will have eased the minds of the team who carried out the application process to receive funding towards the total £3.9 million cost of the bridge.
Mrs. Gwen Veitch, vice-chairman of Langwathby Parish Council, said: “It is a great achievement for a parish council made up of ordinary people and it is a very ambitious scheme for such a small group.”
YANWATH
Children at Yanwath Primary School have created special garden areas at the school to remember those who lost their lives in the Dunblane tragedy.
They have planted a tree for each of the 16 children who died and one for teacher Gwenne Mayor, whose parents, Ken and Edna Hodson, live in Penrith.
KESWICK
It will be a sunny Christmas in Australia for Keswick man Dave Bulman.
The national park estate foreman is taking part in a work exchange which will see him based for a year at Mount Gambler, on the South Australian coast. Dave, who lives in Stanger Street, Keswick, flies out next month in an exchange with Barry Schriever, a senior park assistant with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in South Australia.
PENRITH
Penrith lost a woman who loved the town and the people who live there with the death of Mrs. Marian Dixon. Mrs. Dixon spent many years running Taylor’s fish and chip shop in Queen Street — a Penrith institution started by her parents, George and Agnes Taylor.
MORLAND
The Westmorland and Furness branch of the Country Landowners’ Association have announced that their new chairman is Freddy Markham, Morland. Mr. Markham takes over from Mrs. Mary Warburton, Colby Laithes, who in turn becomes branch president. The new vice-chairman is Laurence Harwood, Grasmere.
MAULDS MEABURN
Eden motorcyclist Mark Burr is hoping to race to the top of the profession. The teenager, from Maulds Meaburn, has got off to a flying start in his first season in the British Super Cup for 15 to 19-year-olds. Racing a 125cc Italian-made Aprilia bike, he hopes to finish in the top six, despite missing four of the qualifying rounds through mechanical problems with his previous machine.
50 YEARS AGO — 1971
PENRITH
A suggestion that Penrith should cease to be an overnight stop for lorry drivers and that the 300 or so lorries parked in the Carlisle, Penrith and Kendal areas each night should be concentrated at Carlisle has been made in a report by the Department of the Environment. The report suggests a national network of heavy vehicle parks with accommodation and catering for drivers.
Charge of the Light Brigade hero Trooper William Pearson’s medals are coming back to Penrith. Penrith Urban Council made a successful bid for the medals — a Crimea medal with four bars and a Turkish Crimea medal, dated 1855 — at a sale held by Sotheby and Co. in London. The purchase, for a figure believed to be in the region of £175, is the culmination of a sustained bid to get some recognition for Pearson by retired shopkeeper Mr. Charles R. Sykes, who lives in Wetheriggs Lane.
One of Penrith’s oldest garage businesses closes down at the end of the month. This is Tinkler & Co.’s premises in Victoria Road, owned by County Motors Ltd., Carlisle. Robert Tinkler was a patent churn manufacturer a century ago, and the family also dealt with other classes of farm machinery. They entered the motor trade at a very early stage and, in fact, their garage business was the oldest in the town.
EDEN
At the end of the current year the Eden Water Board will have carried out over one million pounds’ worth of capital works, revealed the engineer and manager, Mr. James Yerkess, at a meeting of the Board at Appleby.
This, he said, included £884,000 of the original planned program, estimated at £1,030,000, and additional works such as the Nord Vue scheme, costing £67,000.
ALSTON
Tolerant, understanding and fair — that was how the Chairman of Alston magistrates (Miss Dorothy Dixon) described Sergt. Guy Coates when the magistrates bid an official “farewell” to him.
Sergt. Coates, who retires from Cumbria Police in a fortnight’s time, has been a familiar figure in the court over his lengthy service in the town. Returning thanks, Sergt. Coates said: “I came to Alston first in 1956 on a ‘back end’ day when it was raining and I did not think much of it! But, over the years, it has grown on me and now I am retiring to Alston, where my children will grown up in an area we very much love.”
100 YEARS AGO — 1921
KESWICK
A new record was made for the gold course at Keswick recently, when one of the Club’s promising young players, Mr. Ashley Abraham, junior, played a round in 32, four strokes under bogey.
OUSBY
A presentation was made to John James Winson for having attended Ousby School for seven years and three months without a break. The presentation was made by Mr. Joseph English, district school attendance officer, and present were the Rev. A. H. Hodson and Mr. Topping, along with a large number of parents.
