BEWCASTLE
BIT o' CRACK
FREE
NOVEMBER 2016
After a break of nearly two years, our Family are keen to take
on the Magazine again - in a smaller version.
Due to popular request we feel able to continue in a reduced
size, just for the Bewcastle Parish and others connected with it,
and free as before to keep Locals without computer access in the
picture with local news and events. As before it will be your
magazine, so please send in anything you would like to share.
Sadly, obituaries feature more often and it is one way to find out
about well known personalities.
We hope to begin again with fewer pages and shorter articles,
and see where it goes from then on. Do feel free to comment and
let us know information you would like to pass on. The format
will be as before, but we will not be using commercial
advertisers in future, just any small private ads you may wish to
send in.
The issue date will coincide with taking out the
Benefice Newsletter, and the deadline for sending to us will be
the 20th of the month, starting this October.
We hope this meets with your approval and the agreement of
the usual outlets. All the best, the Alcock Family.
Rosemary and Chris Alcock, [email protected], Tel:
016977 48390, Craiggy Ford, Roadhead CA6 6PD
Ruth Tiernan, Lower Stonegarthside, Penton, CA6 Tel:
01228 577382
and Ian James, Low Todholes, Roadhead CA6 6PF, 016977
48464
1
This Magazine is a non-profit making community publication, produced
and run by volunteers to provide local people and other interested parties
with information on events and meetings in the Bewcastle Parish and surrounds; and for articles by local and other writers. Items are accepted in
good faith and the Editors reserve the right to print at their discretion, the
opinions displayed are not necessarily those of the team!
E&OE
Originally established March, 1997
________________________________________________________________
OUTLETS FOR Bo’C AND BENEFICE NEWSLETTERS
The following have kindly agreed to be Collection Points for this issue:
Bewcastle Church; Garry’s Workshop; Roadhead Hall; Knowe Church;
Mary Phillips, Sleetbeck; Bailey Mill; any other outlet by request
To obtain B o’ C as a regular email, please contact [email protected]
with your email address.
To obtain the Benefice Newsletter as a regular email please contact
[email protected] with your email address.
________________________________________________________________
PRIVATE ADVERTISEMENTS
Ten issues per year - February, March, April, May, June, July/August,
September, October, November, December/January, as before
There will no longer be commercial adverts, to keep printing work down,
But private adverts, notices, etc are free as before.
DEADLINE - 20TH - OF EACH MONTH
2
BEWCASTLE HERITAGE SOCIETY
On Tuesday 18th October, Archaeologist Rachel Newman from Oxford Archaeology
North came up from Lancaster, to give us an illustrated talk on the Viking Cemetery at Cumwhitton, where she was in charge of the dig.
In March 2004, a Cumbrian metal detectorist, Peter Adams found (with consent) on
farmland belonging to Townfoot Farm, Cumwhitton, an object that he thought had come off a
vintage tractor. On further investigation this turned out to be a rare ninth or tenth century Viking
brooch.. As these are usually found in pairs Peter returned to the site and found a second brooch
in the ploughsoil. The brooches were indeed a rare find and being usually found in a grave
context, funding was secured to excavate the findspot. This was found to be furnished, the grave
goods including the remains of a wooden box at the feet of the deceased.
The acidic soil at Cumwhitton means that neither human nor animal bones are able to
survive. However the wooden box complete with key and lock contained goods associated with
textiles, including linen, smoother, spindle works and needles, was a sewing box proved that this
was the grave of a high-status Viking woman.
Further metal detection on the hillside revealed more objects including another rare
brooch, and the hilt of a sword. This suggested the possibility of a Viking cemetery, very rare in
England so as the site was under threat from deep ploughing, funding was obtained from English
Heritage for a complete excavation.
A total of 5 more graves were found, orientated east-west. These were all richly
furnished by poorly preserved artefacts and could be dated to the tenth century. With the help of
modern technology, x-rays and such like, swords with the detailed construction of their scabbards,
traces of linen and even seal-skin fibres between the plates of a buckle from either a belt or a
seal-skin garments were discovered. Spurs, necklace, large ringed pins and folding knives.
These indicated that these were Vikings of very high status, buried in their pagan graves. Did the
next generation become Christianised? Rachel promised to come back and tell us more - our
grateful thanks to her for her in-depth discussion.
A short distance from Grave 1, five more graves were found on a hilltop. One (Grave 5) was
surrounded by a semicircular ditch, hinting that it might once have been covered by a mound.
3
NEWCASTLETON HEALTH CENTRE
Flu Vaccination
Invitation letters will be sent out to all those eligible at the end of September
2016. Flu vaccination day will be on Wednesday 19th October. Once you
receive yours letter if you are unable to attend on the 19th October then please
call to make an appointment at a suitable time to you on 013873 75100.
GPs Working Days
Dr Jennifer Bowley has been with us a month now and is settling in well.
Dr Howard Kennedy now has surgeries on a Monday, Tuesday am, Thursday
and Friday; Dr Kate Wrigley has surgeries Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
And Dr Jennifer Bowley has surgeries Tuesday pm, Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday.
Repeat Prescriptions
When ordering your repeat prescription please ensure you let us know
48 hours before requiring it.
Eg Order Monday and collect Wednesday am ; order Mon pm collect Wed
pm; order Tues am collect Thurs am; order Wed pm collect Fri pm.
Check your medication at the beginning of each week to ensure you have
enough to last you to the following week and if not order in plenty of time.
This way you can help us by ensuring you won’t run out before we can
complete it for you. We cannot guarantee that if you do not allow us the 48
hours that we will be able to supply it in less than this time. When phoning
in a prescription could you please phone after 10am; this allows us to take
any urgent telephone calls for appointments first thing.
Lastly, we will always ask you your name and address when you collect
prescriptions or when you attend for your Flu Vaccination etc; this is solely
a double check for us to ensure we have the correct patient. Please do not be
offended if you think the staff should know your address, we are just following protocol.
Many thanks, Debbie Thomson, Practice Manager
_____________________________________________________________
HAIL AND FAREWELL
We are sad to say that Meriel Vercoe will be leaving us at the end of
October, as she is moving to Stratford. She has been a real asset to the
Community and will be very much missed by us all. Best wishes to her for
the future.
4
SAD FAREWELLS
It is with great sorrow that we have to record the passing of so many local Personalities
in our community.
Ron Drew: Was not a well man and away from home in his last stages of life, but he will be
missed by many and was quite a character in the area. His wife Joyce had died the year before,
and he needed more care than at home and was living at Harker Grange before it closed down.
Just before a Quaker Service in Roadhead Hall, he was brought home for burial in his beloved
Clattering Ford land together with Joyce’s ashes. May he rest in peace in his home ground. Our
condolences to his Family.
Sadie Lawson: All who knew Sadie and Family when they took over the Crossings Inn and were
very sad when illness overtook her. She had provided an excellent watering hole for so many of
the locals and made them all welcome at her inn. Her funeral service at Stapleton Church was
full to overflowing showing the high esteem in which she was held and she will be very sadly
missed. Our condolences to her husband Mick, sons Mark and David and family, may Sadie rest
in peace.
Alistair Dawson: The whole area was shocked by the sudden and unexpected death of Alistair
recently. He was a cheerful friendly young man and had lived in the area all his life. Larger than
life and a great character, he was an extremely hard worker, devoted husband and dad. In recent
times he very kindly cut our beech hedge by the road, and had hopes of buying our house back if
we moved. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his wife Rikki, stepson Billy, Jake and Evie,
his brothers Matthew and Ross and mother Sandra. May he rest in peace.
Duncan Telford: Thanks to Dick and Joan Davidson, we are able to print the eulogy he wrote
for Duncan’s funeral at the Knowe Church, on the 9th September, which was full to overflowing
in tribute to a well known and loved local farmer and personality.
‘Duncan Telford - aged 58 had many friends and associates which is demonstrated by
the number of folks who are here to pay your respects and to offer your support and sympathy to
Caroline and all her family, and I have no doubt in saying that in saying our farewells to Duncan
this morning, there will be many tales and anecdotes related, as memories of someone so popular
and respected are recalled.
‘It is an honour, as it is a privilege, to have been invited to touch on some of the interests
and talents which brought him to be so highly thought of and well esteemed, not only in this
community, but way beyond this corner of the county for which he had such high regard.
‘To cover every aspect of Duncan’s life would require much more time than is available
to us this morning - his family - his farming business and his stocksmanship - his love of music his skill as a storytellers - his grasp of local history, and the spinoffs from that in his great and
active interest in the Heritage Society and his contribution in uncovering local historical knowledge.
‘The reading from the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time and a season for
everything - ‘a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together’ something that will
strike a chord with his family as he had a great interest
5
in gathering stones - whether it was the circle of ancient stones outside the house door - or the
collection of stones and pebbles that he gathered up as mementos.
‘There is a time to be born and a time to die’.
‘Duncan’s time to be born was just over 58 years ago, in the middle of haytime, to Andy
and Rosie at Woodside - a brother for Heather to look after. He would become one of Bob and
Kathleen Taylor’s boys at the Bailey School - and later at Lochinvar. When I was starting on the
new motorised postal deliveries around Bewcastle in the early weeks of 1973, Duncan was on his
last months at Lochinvar, and waiting each morning for the school bus at Sleetbeck crossings - a
young lad very noticeable by his crop of raven black hair. I got to know him better after he left
school, and while I was calling at Holm Head for 10 o’clocks and when I first found he had a talent
as a raconteur and a purveyor of jokes.
‘As a coincidence I was, travelling around the Carlisle and North Cumbria district
visiting WI’s, Mothers Unions and Womens Guilds delivering talks on a variety of subjects mostly ‘Churchy’. I did let slip one morning that the talks were better received if they were of a
lighter humorous content. From that point Duncan took it upon himself to supply the necessary
lighter material - and for the next thirty years of my Post Office employment he fitted me up with
a constant stream of stories that he promised were the very best entertainment - and in those thirty
years I resisted the temptation to use even one of them. In fairness to Duncan he did say that in
the unlikely event of a story being unsuitable - he would be prepared to try it out first on Aurea.
I know that Aurea’s response to any of Duncan’s stories was - ‘Mercy me!’
‘There’s a time to laugh - and a time to dance’. It is well known that Duncan inherited
the family tradition for excellent stockmanship and best farming practice - it was also a matter of
pride to Andy that his son was carrying the expertise of the Telford Cumberland & Westmorland
Wrestling exponents by demolishing stronger and heavier opponents who probably didn’t
understand the finer points of the wrestlers’ art.
‘‘From his forebears came also the musical ability - although maybe it was a sound from
a different tradition. Seventy years ago, Thomas, Joe and Andy were performing in the White
Heather Dance Band - more recently Duncan was drummer of the Red Necks together with his
cousin David and James Bell, among other places appearing at the Wheat Sheaf, Cambeck, on
Sunday nights. It was on a night out at the Huntsman that he met Caroline Potts - his principal
fan club leader. It is an indication of the Red Necks musical tradition when you know that
Duncan’s stage name was ‘Dunk the Punk’. He loved the music festivals, Solfest and Whickerman. All these years later music is being carried into the next generation with Reeve drumming
in the Langholm Pipe Band.
‘There is a time to speak’. Duncan will be sorely missed by the Heritage Society - with
his great loyalty and constant interest in the historical record of this locality; one of the highlights
being his arrangements of local ‘walkabouts’ and ‘drivearounds’ - days heightened by his
enthusiasm and his way of illustrating historical points. When he was treated to an air flight on
his 40th birthday, there was only one trip given consideration - over Bewcastle. One of the
spinoffs from the Heritage Society were the Reiver plays written by Bewcastle’s own playwright
- Barbara Smith. Duncan was a natural for a leading part - in one of the plays he had a principal
part in the Reivers’ wedding - as a reluctant husband (his ‘bride’ being Rosie Alcock). Those of
us who had a lesser part in that production were constantly aware of Duncan’s skill in remembering his words. Anxious for assistance I said to him:- ‘How do you remember it?’ He said ‘Divn’t
say owt, Ah’s meken it up as ah gan on’.
6
‘That stage wedding brings us finally to reality - Duncan and Caroline were married on June
6th, 1997, and they honeymooned in Jamaica.
‘There is a time to build up’. Their wedding was to mark the best part of his life - a family that
was to be complete when it was enriched with the arrival of Ebony in the millennium year and
of Reeve four years later - the further building up being their family house in Whelpdale - a
special place in a historical setting.
‘Duncan’s family concerns always went beyond his own immediate family to include
Heather’s girls and their families. Caroline, Ebony and Reeve together with Heather and her
family, and looked over by Rosie, will remember a very special man, taken away by a cruel
illness - but when the pain of this sad time has passed he will be remembered for his enjoyment
of life and his willingness to share with others.’
Dick Davidson MBE
___________________________________________________________________________
CALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER 2016
School Half Term Week
Church Service 2pm at Roughsyke Studio
Clocks go back one hour at 2am
Needlecraft Class Annual Lunch at Grapes Hotel, meet 12 noon
at Roadhead Hall to share cars or 12.30pm at the Grapes.
13th November
Remembrance Sunday
25th November
Heritage Society 30th Anniversary, 7.30pm at Roadhead Hall, with
Revv Philip and Rob, local Artists, music & refreshments
2nd December
Children in Need Bingo Night & Competition 7.30pm Roadhead Hall
___________________________________________________________________________
24th October
28th October
30th October
8th November
FOR SALE
1 Ladybird High Chair, Apples and Pears design
Like brand new, only used 5 times, £20.00
016977 48129
Dog’s metal mesh cage, 3ft x 2ft, hardly used, mattress
unused, in original box, £20.00
016977 48390
__________________________________________________________________________
NEEDLECRAFT CLASS - [email protected]
Local Artist Rosie Galloway- Smith (nee Alcock) kindly brought her tapestry
to our class on the 11th October. She has been commissioned to create the tapestry
depicting the last winter’s floods in Carlisle, and this will be on display in Tullie House
Museum in future as a record of where the flood water reached in Carlisle in two recent
disasters. The tapestry is made of fabrics and ribbons sewn and appliqued onto a
backing fabric and is about a metre+ square, and gives moral support to the flood victims;
in blues, gold and labels of house owners.
Rosie also showed us how to reverse applique squares of material using 4 layers
stitched by hand or machine over a paper pattern tracing the outline. We then learned
how to cut through the different layers to show the colours coming through, giving a very
good effect. Our thanks to Rosie for teaching us a new skill, and giving us a private
preview of her work of art.
7
AYUP LAD
Police have just released details of a new drug craze that is being carried out in
Yorkshire nightclubs.
Apparently, Yorkshire club goers have started injecting
Ecstasy just above their front teeth. Police say the dangerous practice is called “e by
gum”.
A Yorkshire man takes his cats to the vet.
Yorkshireman: “Ay up lad, I need to talk to thee about me cat.”
Vet: “Is it a tom?”
Yorkshireman: “Nay, I’ve browt it with us”
A Yorkshireman’s dog dies and as it was a favourite pet he decides to have a gold
statue made by a jeweller to remember the dog by.
Yorkshireman: “Can tha mek us a gold statue of yon dog?”
Jeweller: “Do you want it 18 carat?”
Yorkshireman: “No I want it chewin’ a bone yer daft bugger!?
The last is always best:
Bloke from Barnsley with piles asks chemist “Nah then lad, does tha sell arse
Cream?”
Chemist replies: “Aye, Magnum or Cornetto?”
(Well what would you expect with a Yorkshire Editor?!)
More up to the minute humour!
A GOOD CATHOLIC JOKE
The Pope and Trump are on the same stage in Yankee Stadium in front of a
huge crowd.
The Pope leans towards Trump and said, “Do you know that with one little
wave of my hand I can make every person in this crowd go wild with joy? This joy
will not be a momentary display, but will go deep into their hearts and they’ll forever
speak of this day and rejoice!”
Trump replied, “I seriously doubt that! With one little wave of your hand …
Show me!”
So the Pope backhanded him and knocked him off the stage! AND
THE CROWD ROARED AND CHEERED WILDLY and there was happiness
throughout the land!
(Don’t blame me, it was Chris’s friend who sent this in!!)
____________________________________________________________________
REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
They shall grow not old as we who are left grow old, age shall not weary them
nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will
remember them.
8
NOTICE BOARD
HIGHWAYS HOTLINE 08456 096609, or online by going to:
www.cumbriahighways.co.uk
Use this number or website for any Pothole and Road Faults, Footways,
Cycleways, Road Lighting, Road signs, General Highways Enquiries,
Flooding of Roads, Windermere Ferry Enquiries, snow and Ice, Grass Verges, Overhanging Trees and Hedges. For the website: to Report a Fault,
Plot it on a Map, or type in a Description of the Location.
CONTACTING THE POLICE - Brampton Neighbourhood Policing Team
Emergency 999 Non-Emergency ring 101
Email - [email protected]
Crimestoppers - 0800 555 111
Website - www.cumbria.police.uk
Facebook - www.facebook.com/cumbriapolice
Twitter - www.twitter.com/cumbriapolice
Brampton Police Station, Longtown Road, Brampton Cumbria CA8 1SJ
Voluntary Car Scheme - Volunteer Drivers or People needing Transport, kindly
Phone Freddie Nixon on 48241 or Pat Nixon on 016977 45414 for direct bookings.
COMMUNITY FIRE SAFETY AWARENESS Alan Sowerby is Group Manager of the
Fire & Rescue Service for Carlisle & Longtown areas of North Cumbria. To have your
rural home assessed for fire prevention, have a working smoke alarm fitted, and know
what action to take should a fire break out, call freephone 0800 358 4777 for a Home Safety
Visit which is completely FREE OF CHARGE.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH & FARM WATCH there has been a significant increase
in rural crime with criminals targeting quad bikes on farms. Any suspicious activity
witnessed including their description, vehicle details, should be passed on to the police
ASAP. For further information please contact 0845 3300 247.
RECYCLING of old Fridges, Furniture, Cookers, etc. The Council will collect these, now
for a fee of £18 per load of 5 items picked up. Tel: 01228 817200. Or take them free of
charge to the County Council Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) at Rome
Street 8am-6pm every day, or Townfoot Industrial Estate, Brampton, 10am-6pm every day
but Tuesday. You will need a Free permit at an HWRC if you have a van or twin axle
trailer - call 0845 055 1118.
Bulky household items also wanted by Impact Furniture Service (Free collection possible)
especially white goods (dead or alive!) Tel: 01228 633655. DO NOT FLY TIP AT
ROADHEAD RECYCLING SITE OR IN LOCAL HEDGEROWS!
PLEASE KEEP BEWCASTLE TIDY.
DOCTOR’S SURGERY - no longer at Roadhead, phone 013873 75100 at 8am for an
appointment at Newcastleton Health Centre - prescriptions may be collected from Garry’s,
Roadhead during working hours.
POST OFFICE NOW 9-30 to 11.130am on Wednesdays at Roadhead Hall
9
Bewcastle Group
We're back again! Hello to Bit O' Crack once more.
It's good to see a local magazine being revived and us having the chance again to
tell you all about the weekly happenings within your local Scout Group. You'll notice that I keep
saying “your” because that's what the Scout Group and scouting really is.... a community
organisation. Our constitution states that the responsibility for the running of the group lies with
all the parents and other interested adults of the area. OK, the daily running is delegated to an
executive committee and to the leadership team, but your input, interest and suggestions are
valued and wanted. Let us know your thoughts and ideas.
So what's new since we were last in print? Well, the first thing you'll notice is our new
badge at the head of the article, produced to celebrate 20 years of Bewcastle Scout Group.
Founded in September 1986, our first camp was held at Clatteringford and so we celebrated the
founding with an indoor camp in Roadhead Hall at the end of September. We had an afternoon
of crafts and other activities and teas and cakes for anyone who cared to drop in. Following this
we had a barbecue and a gathering around the open fire where we toasted marshmallows and
finished with a couple of fireworks (sorry to the local people for the noise – they were supposed
to be non-banging ones!) and then we went off on a night hike. Indoor camping had an arabian
feeling, for we draped tables with cloths which made billowing arab-style tents which we slept
in. Next morning was breakfast and clearing up before departure.
The second most important happening is that we outgrew the school hall and had to
move our meetings to Roadhead Hall. We grew in the Cubs and Scout sections and so there was
just not enough space to play our games and do our activities with the bigger children.
Next, we lost Ian Barrett our scout leader, who moved away, and although Tony
Stephan has stepped in, we were a leader short and so we reorganised for this term by closing,
hopefully temporarily, the beaver section and reassigning Emma to help with scouts. Please can
anyone interested in helping or leading get in touch so we can restart beavers and take in new
members. The group's life into the next decade depends on beavers joining and moving through
the sections.
We've been helping the hall by tidying up the outside environs and we've been
camping, hiking, swimming, pioneering, bowling and doing badgework all on a regular basis
since I last wrote anything for Bit O' Crack and all this will continue – can anyone help us make
it better?
We love being a part of your community and our youngsters benefit so much from all
the things they do which help make them better people, that I'm very happy to be able to be
telling you once again all about our scouting adventures.
Good scouting, as always, touches everyone!
Geoff Price (Group Scout Leader, 01228-792723)
DON’T THROW AWAY - RECYCLE!
Used printer, fax or photocopier cartridges & mobile phones
The Air Ambulance, British Heart Foundation and other charities which collect by
asking people to fill their bags with unwanted clothes, also recycle old printer cartridges of all
types, laser or inkjet, and unwanted mobile phones, so don’t throw anything away, keep them
in a bag in the shed and RECYCLE THEM!
In addition, our local schools organise mass collections from time to time so keep a
lookout for their announcements and send your cartridges and phones to them, or phone for
them to be collected. Contact Bewcastle, Fir Ends or Shankhill Schools. Thanks.
10
IAN’S PAGE
TODHOLES
Where the Routledge family died and were born,
In the land of rushes and hawthorns,
There lived ‘Everyman’s Prey’
As they looked up at Christianbury,
After a Saxon fox it is named
The Reivers’ moon has waxed and waned.
As the bitter winds descended,
On thrift their survival depended.
The winter were harsh and long,
But to Bewcastle their hearts were strong.
The Clans of Liddesdale raided the farm,
The Elliotts really did harm.
As the raids began to cease,
Amongst the neighbours there was peace.
The Todholes started to thrive,
Making potash, and cattle to drive.
Cumberland longhouse facing the sun,
Over the threshold a bride was won.
Waste, Middle and Mirey,
The Todholes farms we are three.
With poultry and a pig to kill,
They lived by their own sheer will.
The fields with horses they ploughed,
As the turning seasons allowed.
IR James
THE ROYAL CORNWALL GAZETTE
Saturday 3rd August 1822
CUMBERLAND. - Lusus Naturae. At Low Todholes, in the parish of Bewcastle, in this county, a common duck,
the property of Mr James Armstrong, produced an egg, which, when prepared for the
table, contained a quadruped resembling a mouse, of a red colour, and totally without
covering. On minute examination, no perforation could be found on the external
surface of the shell.
11
BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES
Many Happy Returns to:
MATTHEW TIERNAN
27th October
POPPY JAMES
1st November
SUSANNAH HUBBARD
8th November
BRODY JOHNSON
12th November
JONATHAN SUNLEY
17th November
KENNETH JAMES
20th November
MOYRA SMITH
27th Novembaer
BENJAMIN HICKMAN
28th November
Best Wishes to All who are ill or in Hospital
Please kindly let us have any updates to our list
____________________________________________________________
BEWCASTLE PARISH COUNCILLORS
www.bewcastleparishcouncil.org.uk
Barbara Smith, Chairman, Roughsyke
Tel: 016977 48212
Brian Carruthers, Peel a Hill, Bewcastle
48232
Malcolm Dodd, Roanstrees, Bailey
48601
Ann Holt-Thomas, Murray Holme, Bewcastle
48157
Andrea Nicholson, The Police House, Roadhead
48006
Steven Pattinson, Kinkry Hill Farm, Roadhead
48053
Mary Phillips, 7 Sleetbeck Road, Roadhead
48254
Patricia Renwick, The Knowe, Roadhead
48024
Frank Waugh, Kilnstown, Bewcastle
48655
Catherine Leach, Clerk, Whintingstown, Roadhead
48354
12