SURELY it can’t have been all that long ago? I have found myself uttering these words this past few weeks. I’ve always known that time flies by, but of late it seems to have sped by like greased lightning!

Whenever I potter through my collection of old press cuttings – especially the ones bundled together in no particular order – I often say to myself surely it can’t have been all that long ago. I wonder if it is the same with you.

Looking at a faded Times & Star press cutting, was it really back in 1981 that the Slypt Disc began to run Saturday morning entertainment for youngsters? The sessions were supposed to be “Tiswas” style shows – open to youngsters of all ages. The sessions were run by DJ Stuts and Joe Costin, “in collaboration with Grant Payne”.

So did you ever spend any of your Saturday mornings joining in any of these innovative entertainments? And for how long were these shows put on?

I seem to remember people commenting at that time on how smart and well turned out the youngsters were who were queuing to get in.

Question: Does anyone know what has happened to Kilroy? I don’t know, but one thing is certain – he’s not been around and about locally these past few years. And at one time, he seemed to be everywhere.

Readers might remember that wherever they travelled they would invariably be confronted with the following graffiti “Kilroy was here.” So where has he gone? I’ve not seen his name mentioned anywhere. I suppose that he, whoever he was, has been long forgotten. Unless you know any different!

Graffiti has always been with us. Scholars assure us that Roman soldiers have left their Latin graffiti on the Roman wall. I can’t quite bring to mind any examples, but I suppose some of them read “Septimus was here” or something. I know that there are a few books on the subject – to be added, perhaps, to my “To Be Read” list. Sometime! It is quite a long list.

Driving around the area, what has puzzled me is quite how some of our more elaborate graphics end up on bridges and other inaccessible sites.

Have you any of the following? Stiff joints, hips and shoulders, sprained wrists, injured knees, dislocations and fractures, etc. Nowadays you would go off to your doctor or appropriate hospital department. Back in 1903, or thereabouts, you would have had to seek the aid of a professional chiropodist and bonesetter, if you could afford one.

You might have engaged the services of John Hunt, bonesetter and chiropodist at his base in New Street, Cockermouth, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. He must have been an exceedingly busy practitioner. He also held sessions on Tuesdays in Aspatria, Wigton, Whitehaven, Moor Row, Cleator Moor and Workington’s Central Hotel. And on Fridays, he was based in the Temperance Hotel, Senhouse Street, from 11.30am to 1.30pm. If you wished to book an appointment you could send a telegram to Cockermouth. And if that was inconvenient, he could treat you at your own residence.

If you were to be operated on, he would supply you with an estimate. I have no idea what he charged, but his adverts describe him as being “Chiropodist and Bonesetter to the Elite of Cumberland, &c” I suspect that the less well off could not afford his services. Having such a widespread practice, I wonder if he owned a car. Anyone know?