A VERY personal anniversary takes place this week — 70 years of living in Penrith. The time of arrival in 1937 can be pinpointed precisely because it coincided with Guy Fawkes Day, which was celebrated in style, in new surroundings on the fringe of town.

This columnist is a Cumbrian, but not a born-and-bred Penrithian. Although a lesser form of life, known locally as an offcomer, he still enjoyed most of the privileges and experiences of the natives, which were exciting and pleasurable!

Early activities merit mention, for they are not available to many boys in 2007, such as climbing trees and farm walls or searching fields and hedges for mushrooms and brambles.

A feature of great interest was Horse Shoe pond, on Skirsgill farm, where lads collected frog spawn and, thereby, an interest in natural history. Alas, the pond was removed from the landscape by the extension of the M6 around Penrith in 1968.

The motorway also erased a nearby sloping field, which was popular in winter for the sport of sledging, generally in the belly-flapper style.

On becoming more adventuresome, there were field walks to Pokey Dubs, on the Eamont, bike rides to Ullswater, and Satruday afternoons at the Alhambra for the main film and a serial — all for sixpence.

Being educated in Penrith was another of the new-found privileges, although pupils had mixed views about one of the instruments employed. The swish of the cane was then seen as acceptable at the Boys’ Council School, not just to maintain discipline, but to persuade pupils to work harder in readiness for exams.

And it worked — for the school had outstanding results in the number of pupils promoted to the nearby grammar school at the age of eleven.

QEGS was (and is) a fine school, with the added advantage of bringing students closer to those of the opposite sex!

Teenage years were dotted with more memorable experiences — dancing in Penrith Drill Hall, a growing interest and involvement in team sports, making friendships in the YMCA and, eventually, the exciting challenge of the “first job”.

It has been a 70-year “love affair” with Penrith, somehow typified by a recent phone call from one of the first buddies at the Boys’ Council School in 1937. Friendships forged at school tend to be the most enduring.

POSTAL PRIDE

The daily visit of the postman is often taken for granted — until he suddenly goes missing, as he did during recent industrial action, in a bid for better pay.

Local postmen are a friendly bunch and generally astute and accurate in delivering letters, however inadequate the addresses may be.

A prime example of this perspicacity was once commented on by Tom Sarginson (“Silverpen”) in this newspaper because it was to the credit of the Penrith postal service.

It seems that two farmers met at the town’s auction mart and talked over a deal involving two sows, but failed to agree on a price.

The would-be buyer, on getting home, decided the price requested was not unreasonable. Alas, he didn’t know the seller’s name or precise address; all he could remember was the name of the village where he lived.

The GPO of that era came to his rescue and delivered, without delay, a postcard addressed as follows: “Long, thin, dark fellow with two old sows in a garth at…”.

Being in possession of the name of the village was, of course, sufficient to ensure delivery to any farmer who was so vividly described!

The story illustrates the nature of village life in the past, in communities which seldom changed and contained many relatives.

Daily visits of postmen are also welcomed by the household dog, especially the kindly man who delivers a dog biscuit with the letters.

DESPERATE DAN AT 70

Welcome back, Korky the Cat, Lord Snooty, Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan, Roger the Dodger, Dan Dare and the Bash Street Kids.

Colourful comic cuts characters, who starred in the Dandy, Beano, Wham and other once-popular publications, have made a comeback — on the TV screen.

Comics Britannia, on BBC Four, recalled 70 years of cheeky scamps, superheroes and thought bubbles since the launch of the Dandy in 1937.

Happily, grizzle-chinned Desperate Dan is still going strong, thanks no doubt to the nourishment he gets from his diet of cow-pies.

Will the program-makers devote another mini-show to the comic books of exciting stories, like the Wizard and the Hotspur?

The star of one of these tales was a fearless football goalkeeper of such agility and courage that he never let in a single goal, week after week, match after match…

It could only happen in the Wizard or the Hotspur.