25 years ago — 1997
Newby
A woman who has supplied the village of Newby with the Herald for more than 50 years has retired. Mrs. Eleanor Jackson, of Pear Tree House, Newby, first lived in the village as a girl attending Appleby Grammar School.
On leaving school she became a post girl, taking letters round Newby and Sleagill.
“With me keeping the papers, people wanted me to keep a shop as well.
“I started one in a room on the corner of the house and in 1971 I started the sub-post office which I ran full-time,” she said.
Keswick
The owners of a holiday home were baffled when they discovered it had been broken into – but that goods had been left rather than taken.
The holiday home, not far from the shores of Derwentwater at Keswick, was entered but nothing was stolen or damaged.
The only signs that somebody had been in the house were five fresh trout, which had been left lying neatly on the kitchen table.
Alston
A host of local faces and places can be seen on-screen tomorrow with London Weekend Television’s two-hour production of the classic Charlotte Bronte romance Jane Eyre.
Filming took place at Alston, Dalemain and Catterlen.
A number of Eden people were cast as “extras” and paraded the sets in Victorian costumes.
Alston’s market place was transformed, and stalls selling game and fresh bread set up.
Location manager Josh Dynever said that this particular location had been chosen for its beauty and the view of the hills from the town centre.
Kirkby Stephen
The chairman of Kirkby Stephen Parish Council, Mrs. Sheila Haughey, has appealed for residents to remain loyal to the town’s shops.
Mrs. Haughey said she was taking the unprecedented step of making a statement at the latest meeting of the parish council in the hope that the community would unite and look towards a stable and more prosperous future.
She said that a shopkeeper in the town was under the misapprehension that a list of shops to be boycotted by residents had been produced because those traders had registered their opposition to the proposed bypass.
“This list, the shopkeeper believed, was part of a slur campaign being perpetrated by the supporters of the bypass, including members of the parish council,” she said.
Patterdale
Cash raised by the Lake District’s volunteer wardens has been used to give pupils at a villlage school a close-up view of birdlife.
The wardens presented £129 to Patterdale School and it was decided to use the money, raised from wardens’ talks during the summer months, to purchase computer software providing virtual reality images of birds and a computer-based encyclopaedia.
50 years ago – 1972
Ravenstonedale
Ladies of Westmorland Women’s Institutes took to the stage in bathing costumes on Saturday during a fashion display at the bulb show.
The costumes however, are unlikely to tarnish the modesty of the W.I. movement for they were the shapeless beachware of a bygone era, except for one lady who dared to venture on stage in a modern bikini, only to be covered in towels by the more modest bathers!
The majority of the models were from Ravenstonedale.
Penrith
Formerly for many years headmistress of Penrith St. Catherine’s School, Miss Mary Clifford died in Cumberland Infirmary on Saturday.
A native of the Killarney area of Ireland, Miss Clifford trained for her profession at the Roman Catholic college at Southampton and, except for a short period in Scotland, all her teaching career was spent at Penrith.
Would the Penrith-Keswick railway line “live” again?
This was the question posed on Saturday as the final train before British Rail’s closure of the 108-year-old line raced through the night to the accompaniment of rail enthusiasts’ whistles, the ringing of handbells and the crackle of fog warning devices.
100 years ago – 1922
Alston
The Rural Council decided to shelve the Townfoot sewerage scheme which had been advocated by the Medical Officer and eagerly anticipated by the number of jobless in the area.
Although it received strong support from some councillors who thought it important that Alston should have good sanitation, it was decided to reject the idea after Mr. Lee had said that to commit the town to the sum of £500 would be “absolute madness”.
Cliburn
About sixty children were entertained to tea in honour of Princess Mary’s wedding day.
Tea was followed by games, each child receiving a present from Mrs. Longrigg, Winderwath, while Annie Mary Bowness was presented with a book for school attendance during the year.
150 years ago – 1872
Lowther
The Earl of Lonsdale has died at his London home in his 85th year.
Born at Uffingham, near Stamford, his mother being the Lady Augusta Fane, eldest daughter of the ninth Earl of Westmorland, the Earl entered Parliament for Cockermouth, representing the tory interest at the age of 21.
He succeeded to the Earldom in 1844 and as he never married and his only brother, Colonel the Hon. Henry Cecil Lowther, died before him, his titles and vast property pass to his nephew, Mr. Henry Lowther, M.P.
