Officials and guests at the Penrith and District Badminton League anniversary dinner, held at the Shap Wells Hotel, 25 years ago.

Hallo Dandy, trained by Gordon Richards at Greystoke came close to winning the Grand National at Aintree, belying his starting price of 60-1. Forty-one runners, a near record, started out on the 4.5 mile supreme test of horse and rider. And Hallo Dandy ran a superb race on soft ground which he hated, to finish in fourth place after being up with the leaders for most of the way. He was ridden by stable jockey Neale Doughty for London owner Mr. Richard Shaw.

Hallo Dandy, trained by Gordon Richards at Greystoke came close to winning the Grand National at Aintree, belying his starting price of 60-1. Forty-one runners, a near record, started out on the 4.5 mile supreme test of horse and rider. And Hallo Dandy ran a superb race on soft ground which he hated, to finish in fourth place after being up with the leaders for most of the way. He was ridden by stable jockey Neale Doughty for London owner Mr. Richard Shaw.

PENRITH

A record 270 people attended the 25th anniversary dinner and dance of the Penrith and District Badminton League at the Shap Wells Hotel. Former players and officials who helped to start the league were there from many parts of the country, including Ken Shaw, the man who provided the initial inspiration and was the first chairman. Speakers recalled how the league was started at a meeting in the old YMCA rooms in Sandgate, Penrith, with 10 teams in two divisions and as few rules as possible.

THIRLMERE

The exact cause of a crash involving a 400mph Provost jet aircraft near Thirlmere may never be known. An RAF board of inquiry and an inquest have been held following the death of the 26-year-old pilot Flight Lieutenant Michael O’Neill, of Lincolnshire, in December last year. An inquest jury at Keswick returned a verdict of death by misadventure. Flight Lieut. O’Neill crashed while on a training flight from Church Fenton in Yorkshire. No technical fault had since been found with the jet trainer.

WARCOP

Residents of Warcop and beyond will be absorbed by a new book, titled I Knew My Place, by one of the village’s most famous sons, Mr. Edward Short (now Lord Glenamara). In the book he looks back not on a glittering political career during which he has served as Labour MP, Postmaster General, Secretary of State for Education and Science and Leader of the House of Commons, but to his boyhood in Warcop. The book covers village traditions such as rushbearing, sporting heroes including wrestler John Grisedale, and the arrival of the wireless!

50 YEARS

KESWICK

An apprentice bricklayer from Morecambe who went into a Keswick cottage and fell asleep was fined £20 by the town’s magistrates. The defendant said he had been climbing on the fells with a friend and had afterwards had a meal and drunk a bottle of rum. The defendant went down by the side of Derwentwater and when he felt cold decided to get into a barn to sleep. He got into the house of Mr. Bennett and in doing so damaged the shutters. He fell asleep in the house and was found by the owner, who called for the police. The defendant told the magistrates he was very sorry and didn’t know what he was doing. He was fined £10 and ordered to pay £10 for the damage.

PENRITH

A Penrith man who spent over three years as a prisoner of war in the hands of the Japanese died with tragic suddenness. He was Mr. Thomas Kitchener Jackson, aged just 43, a lorry driver employed by Mr. John Stamper, Brooklands, and living at Duke Street. Called up at the beginning of the war, Mr. Jackson served first in France, where he was involved in a road accident and brought home shortly before the evacuation at Dunkirk. Serving with the Royal Artillery, he took apart in the Far East campaign, during which he became a prisoner of the Japanese. He remained in enemy hands for over three years, during which time he and other prisoners were engaged in the construction of a Japanese aerodrome.

MELMERBY

For 14 years the parishioners of Melmerby have worked towards the erection of a village hall and they can be proud of the outcome of their efforts — the newly completed Victory Hall, which was officially opened by MP for Penrith and the Border Mr. W. Whitelaw. The cost of the building was £3,500 and of this money the villagers raised two-thirds, the remainder being made up by a grant from the Ministry of Education. The hall is of considerable size and is finished off in cedar wood with an asbestos roof. The interior is attractively decorated in pastel shades and the floor is of Japanese oak.

100 YEARS

KESWICK

Brigham School, which has been a mixed school for girls and boys, is at the beginning of May to be conducted as a boys’ school only. The girls of this outlying district will be transferred to St. John’s Girls’ School.

RAVENSTONEDALE

Mr. Metcalfe-Gibson, Elm Lodge, in accordance with his yearly custom, sent an egg and an orange to each scholar attending the Fell End School. He provided an orange for each child attending the Ravenstonedale Endowed School.

ALSTON

The death has occurred at Nent Hall, at the age of 63, of the Rev. James Sharp, who was curate at Alston for two years and later vicar at Nenthead. He came to Penrith many years ago and was a reporter on the Cumberland and Westmorland Advertiser before entering the ministry. After serving at Alston and Nenthead he served in the foreign mission field for 25 years before returning to Nenthead.

APPLEBY

At the annual meeting of the Appleby Agricultural Society the secretary, Mr. L. Robertson, reported that the last show had been one of the most successful held at St. Nicholas Holme. The cattle classes showed a satisfactory increase and in the matter of numbers the show was much above the average. There was a profit of £10 on the year’s working. On the proposal of Mr. W. Dent, Bolton, it was decided to ask Lord Kerry to be president, but in the case of him declining the presidency it was decided that Mr. J. Nanson should take the office. Mr. F. C. Chatfield was appointed vice-president.

PENRITH

In the final of the Penrith Wrestling Academy’s 12.5 and 10.5-stone championships the winners were Fred H. Pickering, Penrith, and Isaac W. Lowthian, Plumpton, respectively. The judges were Messrs. T. Holliday, Whitrigg, J. Atkinson, Skirwith, J. Nicholson, Morland, and W. Hogg, Penrith.