COULD we have seen the last of speeding sledges, snowmen and snowball fights, which once provided children with excitement and fun in the depths of winter?

Although the gruesome season has been wet, windy and thoroughly miserable, lowland Eden has escaped heavy snow — essential to the thrill of bounding sledges and desperate snowball battles. Likewise, there have been no opportunities for skating on Edenhall pond or even a bit of juvenile sliding on icy footpaths.

There used to be at least one possibility per year to indulge in such winter sports. Sometimes the activity lasted for weeks.

That was certainly so in 1963, dubbed by the Herald as “the worst winter of the century”. Snow, wind and frost dominated the weather for two months, and every issue of the newspaper contained pictures of the Arctic scene by the news photographers of that era, Eric Davidson, Alex Fraser, Bob Armstrong and John T. Hall (Murton).

Bob Armstrong even “hitched a lift” aboard an RAF helicopter which was called in to convey much-needed supplies of food and fuel to beleaguered farms in remote areas of Upper Eden.

A book of graphic pictures of the farm rescues, massive snowdrifts and road clearance operations was later published by the Herald.

The Musgrave Monument, in the centre of Penrith, was plastered with notices warning that all the roads out of town were blocked by snow — the A6 at Shap, the A66 at Stainmore and the route to Alston at Hartside.

Those were pre-motorway days and the road over Shap Fell was the main north-south route.

A key figure in the battle against the elements was the Shap police officer, Sergt. Bob Ivison, who, with his men, did heroic work in rescuing drivers of snowbound lorries and getting them to warmth and safety, often in the village hall.

Conditions in 1963 were abnormal. Winters are no longer as savage in terms of snow blizzards — but few would grumble at a modest fall and the sight of smiling, laughing children whizzing snowballs or trundling sledges.

TERRY LOOKS BACK

Handwritten letters are invariably the most interesting and that is certainly true of one just received from Penrithian Terry Mullen, living in retirement near Norwich.

An old boy of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and former secretary of Penrith Cricket Club, Terry left the town many years ago to go into the meat and poultry industry.

His final position, before retiring, was that of planning and administration manager of Buxted Poultry, the largest concern of its kind in the United Kingdom, with 18 factories.

Mr. Mullen’s letter was inspired by one of his Christmas presents, a copy of the local book, Remember the Fields where we Played?, which stirred memories of playing cricket for Penrith and other sports for the local YMCA.

No doubt he spotted himself on a picture in the book — as one of the team who played in the Penrith cricketers’ first-ever match in the North Lancashire League, at Tynefield in 1959.

Vickers Sports Club (Barrow) were beaten by eight wickets by a home side comprising Harold Millican, Bert Newton, Maurice Priestman, Mike Burrow, Peter Sarjeant, Ken Shaw, Terry Mullen, Arthur Hillman, Charlie Varty, Eric Foster and “Bunny” Thompson.

JACOB THOMPSON AVENUE?

Penrith artist Jacob Thompson flits in and out of the Herald’s columns, most recently in a letter from Mrs. Valerie Castle, commenting on a talk given by museum curator Judith Clarke.

There is no doubt that Jacob merits greater recognition in the town of his birth, for he was one of its most renowned sons, a landscape and portrait painter.

He owed much to William, Earl of Lonsdale, who saw young Thompson sketching beside the River Lowther and invited him to Lowther Castle to see its art treasures.

Lord Lonsdale became a generous patron and, with the benefit of study at the Royal Academy, Jacob’s artistic success was ensured.

He walked with Wordsworth around Haweswater, a favoured subject for his painting. But, while the poet gained lasting fame, the Penrith painter is now unknown and unsung by most people in his native town.

Perhaps, Judith Clarke can use her influence on Eden District Council and persuade it to name a street after the great man?

A “KING” IS BORN

Euphoria was rampant when Kevin Keegan, otherwise known as “King Kev” or the “Tyneside Messiah”, returned to manage Newcastle United Football Club last month.

Shirts worn by fans, at the first match with Keegan in charge, were inscribed “The return of God”.

His teams are reputed to play “kamikaze football” and he is adored by newspapermen for “talking in headlines”.

Yet Kevin was quite a normal human being and hadn’t taken on heavenly guise when he accepted jockey Jonjo O’Neill’s invitation to play in a charity football match on the Penrith ground in the 1980s, when £4,000 was raised in the fight against cancer.

This is the age, not merely of the celebrity, but the super-celebrity who can be created in hours by a few extravagant headlines and over-the-top tributes by television experts.

The length of “King Kev’s” reign will depend on football results.