From "In and around Keswick 125 Years ago: August 1879"
North-Western Counties Sheep-dog Trials Association. The second annual meeting of this association was held yesterday on Threlkeld Pasture in somewhat unfavourable circumstances. The unsettled state of the weather and the successive pelting showers tended to deprive the trials of a much wider circle of interest. However, the large concourse of people who assembled on the ground held out bravely, and took such shelter as the wall and marquee temporarily afforded. The following gentlemen, members of the local committee, were on the ground:- Mr Thos. Bennett (Wallthwaite), J Crozier, Esq. (Riddings), W Longrigg, Esq. (Greystoke), Mr W R Mounsey (Lowther), Mr W Sawer (Threlkeld), Mr Jas. Spencer (Greystoke), Mr W Taylor (Threlkeld Hall), Mr D Thwaite, jun. (Dale Head Hall), Mr John Wilkinson (Dockray).
BBC news Monday, 27 January, 2003, 17:57 GMT
Officer hurt as police car rammed
Police in Cumbria say an officer was hurt when a stolen truck deliberately rammed a patrol car. The incident happened in Troutbeck, near Ambleside on Sunday [whoops! writer has wrongly named the Troutbeck as the one in Westmorland - as becomes obvious from second sentence below - Jake]. The officer was driving a patrol car which tried to stop the 7.5-tonne Leyland vehicle as it was travelling along the A66. A spokesman for Cumbria Police said: "The truck turned onto the A5091 Troutbeck to Matterdale and was pursued by the patrol car. The vehicle then stopped and reversed into the police car. The officer concerned was slightly injured. The driver of the truck ran off." Police say the Leyland vehicle had been stolen from the Skipton area of North Yorkshire before Christmas. |  | |
TRIBUTES PAID TO LADY OF THE HILLS
By Staff Reporter
Published in The Cumberland News on 28/02/2003
TRIBUTES have been paid to an 85-year-old woman who was found dead after a fire at her home in Matterdale. Veronica Watkins was found dead on Monday morning following a blaze at her home near the hamlet of High Row.
Brampton farmer and Exmoor pony breeder Peter Dean said many people in Cumbria had known, loved and respected Miss Watkins.
"She was a great friend of mine, an uncompromising person who was an acute observer of nature in its tiniest details," said Mr Dean.
Despite suffering from rheumatism, Miss Watkins had ridden her ponies long after most people would have given up and had also been a talented potter. Firefighters from Penrith and Patterdale discovered Miss Watkin's body in a storeroom of the converted stone barn after a farmer spotted smoke shortly after 7am on Monday and raised the alarm.
Cumbria police spokesman Mike Head said a joint investigation was being carried out with the fire service into the cause of the blaze.
"At this stage there is no reason to regard the fire as suspicious," said Mr Head.
Miss Watkins, who bred Exmoor and Exmoor-cross ponies, had converted the house when she moved to Cumbria from the Home Counties 35 years ago. She lived alone but was visited daily by family and friends. An inquest into Miss Watkins's death was opened on Tuesday and adjourned.
VROOM WITH A VIEW FOR THOSE COUNTY HILL CLIMBING FANATICS
By Staff Reporter
Published in The Cumberland News on 07/03/2003
There were no fiery sermons and the congregation were hardly respectful, but there were many exhortations made heavenward as trials competitors battled through the mud and up the hills of the Fox's Pulpit near Tebay this weekend. It's the permanent venue of the West Cumbria Motor Club and the sporting car trial attracted a good entry for the testing course. And if drivers and spectators had a lapse in concentration, they could look out over some of the most spectacular views of the Howgill fells and Pennines from this remote location.
The winning combination were Matterdale's Michael Toulmin and Richard Robert, with Gerald Hepplewhite and Rollo Twitchin of Cumwhinton second. Iain and Margaret Anderson from Darlington drove into third spot.
Penrith's David Martin and David Croasdell were down in sixth place - having sold his 'best Crossle trials car. Well that was his excuse!
“FORGOTTEN” PENRITH HERO [Cumberland & Westmorland Herald editorial September 2006]
“A forgotten hero” of Penrith is recalled by David Fallowfield, a former Cumbria Police officer, in the newsletter of the Cumbria Family History Society.
His fascinating article is summarised in its heading — “Levi Grisdale (1783-1855), the man who captured one of Napoleon’s top generals”.
David, a man who writes interestingly on historical topics, clearly feels that Levi has been neglected by posterity when compared with another Penrithian, Trooper William Pearson, who took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade, at Balaclava in 1854.
He has a point, for Penrith councillors bought Trooper Pearson’s medals and named Pearson Court after him. His birthplace in King Street has on its outer wall a plaque recording the old soldier’s heroism.
Levi Grrisdale, a native of Greystoke, saw action as a cavalryman in the Peninsular War of 1808-14, fighting Napoleon’s forces in Spain.
His day of glory came during an attack on the French, in which General Lefebvre was not only wounded but unable to defend himself through having lost his sabre.
The man who captured the luckless general was Levi Grisdale, described as a “tough Cumbrian”.
Lefebvre was brought to England as a prisoner of war, but, surprisingly, he later escaped and rejoined the French army!
Trooper Grisdale was justifiably proud of having taken a famous prisoner — a fact which is recorded on the family headstone at Penrith Cemetery (though the old soldier was actually buried at Christ Church).
Mr. Fallowfield ends his article: “It is a great pity his memorial is becoming weather worn and illegible, but even sadder is the fact that he has become something of a forgotten hero.”
William Pearson was virtually forgotten until the late Charles Sykes drew attention to his heroism. Can David Fallowfield do the same for Levi Grisdale?
