How Michael

Unhappy fate in store for West Cumbria’s royal Afghan visitor

ABRAHAM Young, and please note that I have got his name right this time, was described as “a rather quaint figure in Carlisle musical life, who was an occasional organist at the Cathedral.” And that’s as much as anyone seemed to know about him except that he gave organ lessons to the young WT Best.

Last updated 24 September 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Women’s Land Army and how much they helped in Cumbria

WLA. These initials will mean little to those who didn’t live through the Second World War.

Last updated 17 September 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Snetzler, Oliphant and the world of West Cumbria church organs

ORGANS and organists have been on my mind lately. Since writing about WT Best, I’ve become aware of the activities of countless organ enthusiasts. But I shouldn’t really be too surprised. The dividing line between enthusiasm and obsession is a thin one.

Last updated 10 September 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

The old country pursuits of cock throwing, duck herding and daintiest ankle displays

DUCK herding was featured at the Seaton Miners’ Welfare Committee’s Field Day, in September 1940.

Last updated 20 August 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Doing battle with the council’s squandermania – Victorian style

RATEPAYERS Associations come and go. Every so often some campaigning, and often complaining, individual will persuade like, and almost like, minded citizens to band together to publicly cast an eye on the running of their local authority.

Last updated 6 August 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Toy factories, prize composers and brick walls to information

BRICK walls! I keep running into them. Only metaphorically, of course! It’s when I get interested in some historical topic and start digging for info, only to discover that it’s nowhere to be found. Not that it doesn’t exist. It probably does. But where?

Last updated 30 July 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

An echo from the past that may save our flagging economy

MONEY makes the world go around, etc. It’s an old song – and I bet you’re already humming it in your head. It’s a catchy tune. Perhaps one of our political parties could adopt it as a party anthem. It says it all. What everybody in the world wants is money.

Last updated 23 July 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Corpulence and the Cure, or how to become a guinea-a-day super model

WONDER diets! They’re in the news again. When haven’t they been?

Last updated 16 July 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Publish and be damned . . . and get fined a lot of money

PUBLISH and be damned! A laudable sentiment but one which could land an unwary newspaper owner in court – being done for libel.

Last updated 9 July 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

When a Silloth weapons range welcomed Afghanistan royalty

SHAHZADA. Not a word that means much to us nowadays, but in early 1895 most people would have known it.

Last updated 2 July 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

The Official Institution in the UK for bringing about high class marriages

SINGLE? Looking for a marriage partner? Preferably one with pots of money? If that’s you, you’ve got competition. But if no one local suits, you can always see what you can find on the Internet.

Last updated 25 June 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

“If Jesus came to Workington he’d ‘go for’ Lord Lonsdale”

TWO thousand people turned up to hear him speak.

Last updated 18 June 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

From WWI body armour to the Brylcreem boy Denis Compton

WOULD you fork out a fiver to buy body armour for a soldier who was going off to war? And in so doing, perhaps save his life!

Last updated 11 June 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

When pigeon feathers and salt were popular among our dying traditions

ASHES to ashes, dust to dust! A few words to remind me that I do seem to have attended rather too many funerals lately – some for people younger than I am. It’s that which makes them so dispiriting.

Last updated 4 June 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

A wealth of musical and artistic talent right on our doorstep

KO-KO! He was the Lord High Executioner of Titipu. It’s the answer to a question I asked a few weeks ago – at the end of my piece on hangman Berry.

Last updated 28 May 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Embalmed Zulu heads – £5,000 at today’s prices, £67 in 1899

“SWEET lass of Richmond Hill. Sweet lass of Richmond Hill.” All together for the next line. You must know it, you must have murdered it often enough. I know I did. Then I’m of an age to have endured horrendously boring weekly school music lessons that consisted mostly of singing, or rather croaking, our way through the pages of the Community Songbook to a piano accompaniment provided by a music teacher, unconvincingly feigning enthusiasm while, no doubt, wondering what misdeeds in a previous existence had condemned him to trying to coax some semblance of musicality out of a bunch of actively uninterested adolescents.

Last updated 21 May 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

Jeering, booing and rowdyism at 1917 ladies’ soccer cup final

WE WUZ robbed! That’s what some soccer fans thought.

Last updated 7 May 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk

When prize fighters punched, then threw in a Drowsey’s hank

DICK Ditchburn used to work as a pitman at Marley Hill. Being Cumbrian born and bred, it wasn’t too surprising to learn that, as a young man, he’d taken up wrestling. He was a competent wrestler and probably made himself a few pounds, at shows or in tournaments.

Last updated 30 April 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk