Santa - but not as we know him

They knew how to have a good time at Christmas in the good old days.

I'm researching Christmas of old in Whitehaven and came across a description of Father Christmas you might not recognise. He was one of the mummers (a sort of winter-time mummer) who used to tour the pubs of Whitehaven in the 19th century entertaining folk with rhyming... [more]

Telling it as it is

The UK's economic woes were summed up in one handwritten sign on a clogmaker's shop in Caldbeck.

It caught my eye last Sunday and the brutally honest way in which he tells customers 'what's what' is something we could probably all learn a lesson from. 

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Spectre a spooky time at Muncaster

Halloween is a few days away so Alan Cleaver has been investigating haunted Muncaster Castle...

THE good folk of Muncaster Castle invited me to a preview of their Haunted Muncaster event and proceeded to try and scare me to death! Their Haunted Maze is certainly not for the faint-hearted (or for those under the age of 12) but they were... [more]

Egremont's own Chilean-style rescue

West Cumbria has had its fair share of dramatic mine rescues - though perhaps none as dramatic as the recent Chilean one.

A reader popped in to remind me of an amazing tale of escape at an Egremont mine in March 1919. A sudden inrush of water trapped three men underground at Townhead No 7 pit at a depth of 220 feet. One man died... [more] (2 comments)

After the fairies, come the elves

Having thoroughly discussed the fairy tradition in Cumbria, it now seems that gnomes and elves are to be found here as well.

I stumbled across this reference to gnomes in the Whitehaven mines while browsing through the books in Whitehaven's Record Office. It refers to an 18th century tradition that little men were to be found down the... [more] (1 comment)

Ace in the hole

IT looks certain that the Chilean miners will be rescued safely very soon.

So I can now draw your attention to a movie about someone trapped in a cave without treading on people's feelings. But those who know Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole (1951), starring Kirk Douglas, will have noticed the uncanny similarities with this minor classic.... [more]