The death of Mungrisdale’s oldest resident marks the passing of an era.
Annie Elizabeth Brownrigg was the daughter of John Joseph and Mary Jackson.
Annie was born at Murrah Hall, Berrier, on April 15 1926, six days before Queen Elizabeth II.
As Mungrisdale’s oldest resident, Annie was chosen to cut the celebratory cake for the platinum jubilee celebrations which were held in the village hall.
Annie attended Mungrisdale village school by walking over the fields. She had to let the hens out and feed them on the way to school and collected the eggs on the way home, which was all part of being a farmer’s daughter.
Chalk was still being used to write on slates and the girls wore white pinafores and black woollen stockings and clogs.
Clogs were great for sliding and skating on the ice. She also helped at home, baking cakes, making meals and baking 12 loaves of bread a week. She also recalled raking hay with a wooden rake and stacking it into ricks.
In later life, Annie married Edmund Brownrigg and lived at Millfield. They had two children, David and Kathleen. Annie became the school dinner lady and cycled to the old Hutton Roof school. The meals were sent from Penrith and served in the old Women’s Institute wooden hut next door to the school.
When the new school was built, Annie was made cook and the pupils had proper school meals cooked on the premises.
Many of those former pupils will remember them and can still recall her tasty dishes and special puddings and her extra special cheese pie.
In later years, Annie was employed as the cook/carer at the Ravensfield council home in Keswick.
Annie was a life-long member of the Women’s Institute and began attending when she was 13 years old.
She was a very enthusiastic baker and regularly entered Mungrisdale flower show which was very competitive. Annie won numerous classes from knitting, making preserves, baking, sewing, showing flowers, fruits and vegetables grown in her own garden.
Annie was a very caring mother, from which David her son benefited all his life. When he suffered mental health problems, she gave him unrelenting support.
Latterly, he moved into Lonsdale Court in Penrith, where he was a favourite of the staff. Unfortunately, David contracted COVID in the early days of the pandemic and died on April 2 2020. David’s ashes were interred along with Annie.
Annie was a great-great-great-grandmother, much adored by all the generations of her family. Annie is survived by her daughter, Kathleen Mary Dickson, with whom she had lived since 2019, and will be sadly missed.
