25 years ago – 1997
LAZONBY
Bakers Bell’s of Lazonby are planning a big expansion of their plant in the village. They are hoping to expand the floor area of the Edenholme bakery by 80 per cent., with extensions to the dispatch, production and office buildings. Managing director Michael Bell said the company planned to grow steadily in the next year.
LITTLE SALKELD
Workers at the Thompson Board Mill, Little Salkeld, face a grim new year following the announcement of wholesale redundancies in the run-up to Christmas.
All 40 workers received a letter last week notifying them of the closure of the mill. Since the turn of the century, the mill has traded at Little Salkeld in board and paper.
PENRITH
One of Penrith’s leading hotels is under new ownership. Husband and wife Graham and Carren Carruthers have taken over the Roundthorn Hotel, Beacon Edge, from Sheila Gamet, who had run it for six years in partnership with her late husband, Brian.
Mr and Mrs Carruthers have moved from Solihull.
Transporting Mercedes Benz sports cars for the Sultan of Brunei, space satellites for the Chinese and live sharks and pot bellied pigs for other customers is all part of a day’s work for one Penrith man.
Former RAF flight technician Peter Johnson is now flying high having just been appointed chief training flight engineer for airline company Cathay Pacific.
Colleagues wished Syd Tyson many years of happy retirement after he saw the Herald “to bed” for the last time.
Printing works manager Mr. Tyson, who joined the newspaper as an apprentice more than 50 years ago, was presented with a set of indoor bowling woods from the staff.
SHAP
Tributes have been paid to magistrate Mrs. Marjorie Guthrie on her retirement from the Bench after almost 30 years.
Mrs. Guthrie, from Shap, became a magistrate 29 years ago, serving firstly at the former Shap Magistrates’ Court.
When it closed in 1987, Mrs. Guthrie joined her colleagues at Penrith.
At a ceremony before her last sitting as a magistrate, Jack Downie, of the probation service, said: “We wish you well in your retirement, free from rogues, villains and thieves.”
50 YEARS AGO — 1972
PENRITH
The Hussar Hotel at Penrith — known as the Crown Hotel or New Crown from the 18th Century until bought by its present owners in 1969 — is again up for sale.
The particulars of sale claim that the hotel has recently been remodelled at a cost of £55,000 and the accommodation includes a ballroom, several bars, grill room, lounges and 34 bedrooms.
The auctioneers estimate that a figure in excess of £70,000 might well be achieved for a hotel of this calibre and potential earning capacity.
A link with a Penrith “institution” which will have sentimental childhood memories for many Penrith people — Mulligan’s toffee shop in the Middlegate Arcade — was broken by the death in the Penrith New Hospital, at the age of 86 years, of Mrs. Mary Clarke, who was a daughter of “Jimmy” Mulligan, founder of the business.
Mrs. Clarke was the widow of Mr. Walter Edmund Clarke, Fairholme, Lowther Street, who will be remembered for his part in the husband-and-wife partnership which carried on the business at the former Mulligan’s premises.
Mr. Clarke was a market gardener and his wife was in charge of the sweets and greengrocery shop.
CROSBY GARRETT
Mrs. S. E. Fothergill retired at Christmas after many years of service at Crosby Garrett School.
She went to Crosby Garrett as assistant to Mr. F. W. Moody during the 1939-45 war and with the exception of a period of service at Soulby School had taught at Crosby Garrett since then, first as assistant and then as Head Teacher.
ULLSWATER
“The Lady of the Lake,” the ill-fated Ullswater launch which, in a little under a century, has twice been sunk and which was put out of commission six years ago when badly damaged by fire, may return to the Lakeland scene as a top-ranking tourist attraction.
Following one of the most successful years on record for the Ullswater Navigation and Transit Company, the general manager, Mr. Tom Hewartson, told a “Herald” reporter: “We are very seriously considering restoring the ‘Lady’, possibly in her original role as a steamer.”
CUMBERLAND
The decision of the Cumberland Education Committee to cease to maintain the Church of England schools at Maughanby, Melmerby, Ousby and Skirwith and the school at Hunsonby is yet another big change in the educational facilities for rural Cumberland and a striking contrast to the time when nearly every village had its schoolmaster who, besides teaching the children, played a leading role in the village community.
It reflects not only changes in the educational system but also to some extent the fall in rural population.
100 YEARS AGO — 1922
ALSTON
On Boxing Day those in Alston bent on excitement found diversion in a football match played on the Golden Lion field between teams from the Blue Bell Hotel and the King’s Arms Hotel.
Mrs. Bunton, King’s Arms, kicked off and the Blue Bell scored the only goal, thus becoming possessors of Mrs. Bunton’s trophy.
Dinner was served at the Blue Bell and supper at the King’s Arms, but unfortunately the day wound up rather unpleasantly. The mill race which flows through the town overflowed and several houses and cellars were flooded.
150 YEARS AGO — 1872
KESWICK
In order to place the posting and general travelling in Keswick and neighbourhood on an efficient and uniform system, the Skiddaw Omnibus, Carriage and Cab Company, Public Baths, and Boatmen and Guide’s Lodge, Keswick Ltd. has been formed.
The baths will be fitted in modern style for first, second and third class people and the boatmen and guide’s lodge will have a body of smart and intelligent men in uniform.
