AN MP’s call for a House of Commons debate on safer cycling certainly wins approval in Penrith, in view of the continuing threat of the pavement pedallers.

Two youths pushbiked along the crowded footpath in Devonshire Street, with minimal concern for strolling shoppers, while another biker chatted on his mobile phone, guiding his machine with one hand.

But the most perilous incident spotted recently was on the sloping footpath in Cromwell Road where a speeding cyclist took the sharp corner into Ullswater Road without slackening pace.

As it happened, the path was clear, but if this kind of idiocy persists, somebody will be seriously hurt.

PROTECTED BY TRADITION

Penrith resident Robert Coon has bravely made a slashing attack on one of the traditions of West Cumbria — Workington’s “Uppies and Downies”, the Easter ball game, which is now under threat from the proposed development of a supermarket in the Cloffocks area of the town.

Ball game or big-scale mayhem made possible by local custom?

As one who formerly lived and worked in West Cumbria, Mr. Coon has strong views, recently expressed in a letter to the local newspaper, the Times & Star.

People who do not have first-hand experience of “Uppies and Downies” should not harbour romantic notions, he writes.

“For it is not a game at all, but public disorder on a large scale, and there are no rules and many of the ‘players’ use the occasion to settle old scores,” adds Robert Coon.

His letter should not be ignored, and may well echo the views of many others.

It seems some questionable events are protected by tradition and accepted as part of the local “scene”, even by the guardians of law and order.

Appleby New Fair is another centuries-old event which survives despite its shortcomings of unruliness, excessive drinking and road danger.

OLD STARS OF SALERING

Have you noticed how auctioneers have shot to stardom as television entertainers?

They wield their gavels in daytime shows about sales of property and antiques, such as Homes under the Hammer, Cash in the Attic, Bargain Hunt and Flog It.

Suspense builds in auction rooms as the man with the hammer tries to extract another tenner from the bidders to decide who wins a lighthearted contest in profit and loss.

Auctioneers have tended to be eye-catching characters, with a gift for good humour, such as the men who sold livestock at local marts in years long past.

There must be scores of stories about the wit of Jack Proctor, a Penrith auctioneer, who officiated at the old mart at Troutbeck during sheep sales. He once recalled:

“Yan day — mebbee aboot 1950 — Ah was sellin’ these laal black hoggs. Fit laal things — they wad lowp owt fer a bite o’ grass.

“Ah sez, ‘Ten shilling a hed. Ten shilling a hed…’

“T’owd farmer sez, ‘Bad price, Jack. Bad price.’

“Well, Ah carries on an’ he pipes up agin, ‘Bad price. Bad price.’

“So. Ah sez, ‘Sell away, mun. Sell away. The way these laal things can lowp a dyke, thoo’ll hev them back bi tomorrer’.”

Big prices were made at pedigree Shorthorn sales in the Penrith mart, although the immaculate Jeff Thornborrow and Jack Davidson sometimes reproached reluctant bidders and urged them to “Try another barrel”.

Television shows arrived too late for old-time characters of the salering to gain wider recognition.

PENRITHIAN’S TASTY TREATS

Local boy makes food! Look out, Delia Smith, for a Penrithian, Keith Lawson, has joined the writers of recipe books with Flaming Woks and Pans, comprising dishes from around the world.

The 116 pages are packed with tasty treats with strange-sounding names, such as wild boar chop with crushed peppercorns, pickled sauerkraut and cream, as well as the shorter simplicity of Yorkshire pudding and slow-roasted lamb shank.

Keith Lawson’s story is quite fascinating, for he grew up at Skirsgill Farm, on the fringe of Penrith, until the land was largely obliterated when the town was bypassed by the M6.

As a boy, he “got his kicks” by attempting to ride astride his father’s cows!

His first experience of catering was with the Kelso family at Clifton Hill Hotel and he has since worked as a chef in hotels and restaurants in County Durham, North Yorkshire, Leeds, Derbyshire and Bedfordshire.

The recipe book was inspired by Keith’s cookery demonstrations to Women’s Institutes and charitable groups in and around Penrith and the interest they aroused.

A Cumbrian lad, from an area where favourite meals were once shepherds’ pie, tatie pot and Cumberland sausage, he introduces his readers to appetising specialities of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and other faraway countries.