25 years ago — 1995
Whinfell
The council chamber in Penrith’s Town Hall was packed with onlookers on Thursday as councillors met to resolve the controversy raging over the proposed £100 million holiday village in Whinfell forest.
By nine votes to seven planning committee members agreed to grant applicants Rank Leisure full permission for the village.
Rank want to be open for business by 1997, and following the decision, company spokesman Julia Gould said work on the development was expected to begin within the next two weeks.
Kirkby Thore
On 10th September, 1941, the cargo ship Gypsum Queen was torpedoed in the North Atlantic and 10 of the 37 crew on board lost their lives.
Now, 54 years later, George Ripley, a survivor from the ship, now living on Merseyside, will name one of Loadhaul’s class 60 locomotives Gypsum Queen II in memory of his shipmates and other merchant seamen who lost their lives in the Second World War.
The naming ceremony will take place at British Gypsum’s Kirkby Thore works on Wednesday.
It will be an opportunity to remember the past but also a celebration of the close links which have developed between Loadhaul and British Gypsum.
Penrith
One of the four chemists’ shops in Penrith is relocating from the town centre to the Safeway store in Brunswick Road.
Thos. Edmondson Limited, part of Carrs Agriculture Limited, will leave premises in Corn Market and reopen within the superstore from Monday.
Cliburn
Fred Harrison, of Crossrigg Farm, Cliburn, Penrith, won first prize in the best managed farm competition of the Westmorland county show last week.
Mr. Harrison and his sons John and Richard keep a 110-head dairy herd, fatten about 100 Friesian bulls and run feeding sheep on the 390 acres of land at Crossrigg.
They also grow some 38 acres of barley, three acres of turnips and a sizeable area of grass.
“The fields, gates and hedges are well kept and all the stock is in very good condition,” said Judge John Park.
Morland
The death occurred at the age of 93 of Miss Dorothy Hartley, The Poplars, Morland, who in 1974 received the British Empire Medal for her services as a girl guide leader for more than half a century.
She was said to be the longest-serving leader in the county when the medal was presented by John Wade, then Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria.
With the late Mrs. Betty Markham, she formed a company of girl guides in Morland, which she ran for nearly half a century before being required, much against her will, to retire.
Ullswater
Fears that Ullswater could be used as a reservoir were voiced at a hearing into North West Water’s plans to pump 80 million gallons a day from the lake.
The water company need the water to replenish the Haweswater reservoir which, at only 14 per cent capacity, is at its lowest recorded level.
Pumping from Ullswater could reduce the lake level by as much as 3ft if the drought order is granted.
50 years ago — 1970
Alston
British Railways are proposing to withdraw the passenger service on the Haltwhistle to Alston line and to close the stations at Featherstone Park, Coanwood, Lambley, Slaggyford and Alston.
If there are objections to this proposal a public hearing of the objections will be held by the Transport Users’ Consultative Committee.
The Ministry of Transport has been making an annual grant of £43,000 for the continuance of the service, but a Parliamentary statement in December last year said that this grant was not likely to be renewed in 1971 unless there was stronger evidence of need.
Eden Valley
A remarkable piece of research by a young Canadian historian has solved the mystery of the origins of a little township in Canada — origins which have been traced back to people who emigrated up to 150 years ago from the villages of the Eden Valley.
This week the historian, Mr. John B. Thompson, was in Cumberland fostering a link between the people of Hudson, Quebec, where he was born, and the home area of their forefathers, four generations back, around Penrith.
Appleby
When the Crown Offices in Portland Place, Penrith, are completed next year, and the local office of the Department of Health and Social Security moves in, North Westmorland Rural Council will be prepared to offer, free of charge, a room in the Shire Hall, Appleby, for the weekly use of visiting officials to maintain the personal touch with benefits claimants.
The decision was made by the Council on Saturday on the suggestion of the Clerk (Mr. R. C. Howell), who said he was concerned about the nearest office being 25 miles away from people who were out of work, or in trouble or ill.
An Appleby man, Mr. A. Wilson Forrester, on Sunday became the Express Dairy “Driver of the Year” for the third time since 1966, when he won the competition at Ruislip in Middlesex.
Also among the 36 competitors from Express Dairy branches throughout the country were Messrs Bruce Alderson, Appleby (9th) and Jim Hodgson, Lazonby (20th).
100 years ago — 1920
Penrith
Penrith Urban Council has instructed the Surveyor to prepare a schedule of roads considered too narrow and dangerous for charabanc traffic, for submission to the County Council.
A deputation is also to meet the Chief Constable with a view to coping with the ever-increasing danger of motor traffic through the town.
Mr. T. Smith, Committee chairman, said at the Council meeting that traffic had greatly increased and regulations, especially about speed, were necessary.
Alston
Mr. Robert Todd, Alston, one of the founders of the Newcastle firm Todd Bros., has died.
Born at Annatt Walls, he had a lifelong connection with Alston and was educated at the Grammar School before serving his apprenticeship with Mr. William Simpson, a local draper.
A few years ago be bought Tynehead and the Raise estate.
