Shorts from the
Cumberland & Westmorland Herald
December 1949
WATERMILLOCK - The rafters of Rampsbeck vibrated to the laughter of the old folk of Watermillock on New Year’s Eve when they were entertained by the hotel proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. Grundy. A local concert party entertained, helped by some of the guests, including the evergreen Mr. Bostock.
March 1951
WATERMILLOCK - The Ullswater area lost one of its best-known residents by the death, aged 70, of Major John Bush, Beauthorn, and formerly of Gowbarrow Old Hall. He was a keen supporter of the National Trust, as chairman of the Ullswater properties committee, and was also an official of Ullswater sports and Patterdale "dog day".
April 1951
WATERMILLOCK - During their golden wedding celebrations, Mr. and Mrs. WIlliam Pollock Batemen, Knotts Farm, Watermillock, received a telephone call from their son, Tom, speaking from Montana, in the USA, where he worked for an oil concern. Although he was 5,000 miles away, his parents could hear him clearly.
August 1951
WATERMILLOCK - Mrs. Edith Cooper, Ravenoaks Bungalow, Watermillock, had a brood of Rhode Island Red cross Black Leghorn chickens containing one bird with three legs. Despite the abnormality, it was a lively chicken, playing about and feeding like an ordinary bird.
March 1953
ULLSWATER - Mr. Thomas Allison, Gowbarrow Hall, Ullswater, died with tragic suddenness. A native of Borrowdale, he took over Gowbarrow Hall in 1930, along with its flock of 1,100 sheep. He seldom missed the Keswick sheep fairs. Aged 66, Mr. Allison left a widow, sons John and Fred and a daughter, Mrs. Albert Hodgson, Newbiggin. More than 300 people attended the funeral at All Saints' Church, Watermillock.
October 1953
DACRE
A surprise for the congregation of Dacre Parish Church, at the harvest festival services, was the presence of the Archbishop of York, Dr. Cyril Garbett, who was on holiday at the Rampsbeck Hotel, Ullswater.
ULLSWATER
Thornborrow and Co., the Penrith auctioneers, reported the private sale, prior to an advertised auction, of the Leeming Estate, Ullswater, comprising lakeside residence and grounds, two lodges, two houses, four farms and plantations, totalling 325 acres. The purchaser was Mr. William Whiteley, Caley Hall, Wharfedale, Yorkshire.
October 1954
ULLSWATER - The devotion existing between man and his dog was highlighted by the rescue of Mounter, a foxhound of the Ullswater pack, which was imprisoned in an underground borren for three days after following a fox into its lair in Swarthbeck Ghyll, Howtown. Despite vile weather, the hound's "walker", John Jopson, High House, Watermillock, and his brother, Joseph, Hutton John, worked into the mass of fallen rock with crowbars and hammers. Eventually, Joseph wriggled inside and found Mounter asleep beside the dead fox. Muriel, Viscountess Lowther, Thwaite Hill, took warm milk and whisky to the scene to celebrate the rescue.
January 1955
WATERMILLOCK - The Mell Fell Players staged the pantomime, Aladdin in Watermillock village hall. The producer was Mrs. Mildred Shingler, mother of Miss Helen Shingler, of stage and television fame. Leading roles were taken by Anne Boustead, Mary Brooks, Lorna Bowser, Gurney MacInnes, Cyril Shingler, Brian Dobinson, Irene Dobinson, Nicholas Ainsworth and Jonathan Brooks.
October 1955
WATERMILLOCK - Hallsteads, the Ullswaterside mansion, was officially opened as an Outward Bound School. The building was first dedicated by the Bishop of Carlisle and then opened by Lord Hives, chairman of Rolls Royce Ltd. He said the school was the latest indication of the progress of the Outward Bound Trust, which aimed to give boys the spirit of adventure, rather than be mere spectators of life, mooching around and waiting for the cinemas to open. Guests at the opening saw boys doing acrobatics and competing against each other on an obstacle course.
January 1956
WATERMILLOCK - The death occurred in a nursing home of Mr. Sidney Hall, Waterside, Watermillock, who had resided on Ullswaterside for 40 years. He followed his father into the Liverpool wool merchants' business of John Hall and Son. He was a former chairman of the Penrith and Cockermouth Conservative Association and in Watermillock he served as a school manager and a member of the village hall committee.
February 1956
ALSTON - Sergeant John Warwick Mounsey, who had been police sergeant at Alston for the last ten years, was retiring after 32 years in the Cumberland and Westmorland Constabulary. A native of Watermillock, he joined the force in 1924 and served at Penrith, Whitehaven, Cockermouth and Crosby-on-Eden before taking up the Alston post. He was thanked for his work in the town by Supt. Neil Milne and the chairman of Alston magistrates, Mr. J. A. Clues.
January 1957
WATERMILLOCK - The Mell Fell Players gave their version of the pantomime Cinderella, in Watermillock village hall. The title role was played in a delightful manner by Ann Boustead and other leading performers were Brian Dobinson, Eric Craig, Frank Whitehead, Cyril Shingler, Mary Brooks, Sheila and Vera Allison, Ann and Mary Dobinson and Vivienne Scaum.
June 1958
Watermillock Outward Bound School [Hallsteads] After driving 7,300 miles across Europe and Asia, the greater part of it on tracks and unmetalled roads, three British women are planning to spend six weeks climbing in the Himalayas and then drive back via a different route which will take them through Afghanistan and Russia. Leader of the party is Mrs. Sheila Davies, wife of Squadron Leader L. W. Davies, warden at the Outward Bound School at Ullswater. None of the three had anything to do with the inside of a car engine before starting on the journey and, although Mrs. Davies is an experienced driver, the other two women passed their driving tests only a few days before departure. but notice that first name has changed by October 1958 ???
After having driven overland to the Himalayas, explored almost unknown territory, climbed a virgin peak and driven back across Asia and Europe, a three-woman team landed safely at Harwich and their leader returned to her Ullswater home. She is Mrs. Anne Davies, wife of Squadron Leader L. W. Davies, warden of the Outward Bound school at Ullswater. Together with her two female companions she drove nearly 15,000 miles through 12 countries on the expedition, which left England five months ago. They made a coloured cine film of their journey and are to write a book on it.
September 1958
During a visit to the Outward Bound school at Ullswater, Sheikh Atiyatullah Al Khalifa, a member of the royal family of Bahrain, received instruction in handling a canoe. The sheikh, who is director of rural affairs and a member of the educational council of the government of Bahrain, visited the area as part of his current tour of Britain.
