25 years ago – 1996
ORTON
The chairman of Eden District Council, Bernard Thornborrow, Tebay, took to the driving seat to launch a new village visitor attraction.
Mr. Thornborrow, who is also councillor for the Tebay area, exchanged the cut and thrust of local government debate for the hurly burly of motaball racing.
The launch of the new facility at the George, in Orton, took place in a howling gale but the council chairman and the other guests joined in the high speed fun.
ALSTON
Failure to win £1 million of cash from the Government will not stop the revitalisation of Alston, say the group who are aiming to revive the fortunes of the Pennine town.
The Alston Moor Action Partnership won the Cumbrian round of the Rural Challenge competition but learned that they were not among the six national winners of £1 million from the Rural Development Commission, the body charged with promoting rural communities.
NEWTON RIGG
The telephone rang, two people sitting in a college lecture theatre in Finland appeared on the screen and a conversation took place almost as if they were sitting in the next room. The world seemed to have suddenly shrunk a little bit more.
By courtesy of an ordinary desktop computer, a piece of relatively inexpensive software and an ISDN digital telephone line, Newton Rigg College principal Ken Jackson spoke “face to face” with Cumbria’s Euro MP, Tony Cunningham, in Brussels and, shortly afterwards, to the principal of Kempele College, in Finland.
PENRITH
An imaginative poem about a payphone has won a Penrith youngster national honours in a competition run by the Funday Times and the Times Educational Supplement in association with BT Payphones.
Sarah Ellerton, who is nine and a pupil at Penrith’s Beaconside Junior School, beat off competition from more than 8,000 children across the country to claim a runners-up spot. She is the daughter of Dr. John Ellerton and his wife, Christine, of Fell Lane, Penrith.
ASKHAM
Thomas Powley, Highfield Farm, Askham, won the clamp silage section of the AF Penrith forage competition, the results of which were announced at the Crown and Mitre Hotel, Bampton Grange.
There were 20 entries for the three sections of the competition, which was run by AF in co-operation with the Bampton Farmers’ Discussion Group. Les Kendal, Outgang Farm, Helton, won the hay section and Carl Walters, Low Hullock Howe, the big bale section.
EDEN
The council house in Eden is to be consigned to history, after tenants this week overwhelmingly voted for its demise. In a ballot, 79 per cent. of council house tenants voted in favour of Eden Council transferring their entire housing stock to a newly formed housing association.
50 YEARS AGO — 1971
SHAP FELLS
Lancashire River Authority proposals for a reservoir in the remote Borrow Beck valley between the A.6 road over Shap Fell and the M.6 motorway near Tebay would lead to the building of a dam 375 feet high — which would be the largest in the country. This was revealed this week when the Authority’s director of engineering, Mr. C. Clay, met landowners in the area. He told them the construction of the dam and others at Killington and Hellifield would be an alternative to a Morecambe Bay barrage scheme.
PENRITH
A call by Mr. T. K. Jones, chairman of Penrith Urban Council’s Finance Committee, for a major cut-back in council house building next year was rejected by the Housing Committee chairman, Mrs. M. A Wilson, at a meeting of the Council. Mr. Jones claimed that the Government’s new “Fair Rents” scheme would encourage many more people to obtain mortgages to buy their own homes but Mrs. Wilson claimed their would be a continued demand for council-built property.
GREAT ASBY
Mr. T. A. Horn, Low Griseburn, Great Asby, won both championship and reserve with exhibits in the porker carcass section at the Royal Smithfield show this week. Twenty-three-year-old Mr. Horn, former Appleby Grammar School scholar, breeds pedigree Landrace pigs, having a herd of 30 to 40 sows.
THRELKELD
Encouraging progress towards building a golf course at Threlkeld Hall was reported to Keswick Golf Club annual meeting, in the Keswick Restaurant. The chairman, Mr. John Morrison, explained that there had been no visible progress on the site, because of restrictions imposed while negotiating for a Government grant and discussions over details of the clubhouse, but these had now been lifted and it was hoped to apply for planning permission very soon.
The Committee had decided to proceed with a nine-hole course and delay extension to 18 holes until finances permitted.
100 YEARS AGO — 1921
PENRITH
A notable Penrith businessman, Mr. George Reed, has died at his home at Laurel Bank, aged 64. Mr. Reed took a prominent part in advertising the town as a health and holiday resort, from his stationery and printing business in King Street, which he founded after serving his apprenticeship at the “Observer” office.
APPLEBY
The directors of the Appleby Auction Mart have decided to sell the concern and have entered into negotiations with Penrith Farmers’ and Kidd’s Auction Companies.
The mart was for many years carried on by Messrs. Udale and Atkinson as lessees but, in more recent years, Messrs. Udale and Sisson have conducted the business.
150 YEARS AGO — 1871
PENRITH
The people of Penrith are of the opinion that the proposed Penrith to Langwathby railway ought to be started at once and be quite complete by the time the Carlisle to Settle portion of the Midland Railway is opened, giving the opportunity for tourists to leave the London train at Langwathby and come to Penrith and the Lake District.
