Charney Hall School, Grange-over-Sands

Rev 30 Dec 2023 ‘MD loses his Trousers’ added Fire Practice The provision of a separate staircase for escape in case of fire was neither considered nor indeed would it have been mandatory when the new school building was built in 1888/9. Running down narrow timber stair flights from the second floor was not an option. And so one day it was announced that the whole school would attend a fire escape drill....The strange contraption fixed onto the reveal of the window at the end of the second floor dormitory corridor had not really been given much attention until that fateful day. All that could be seen was a slotted, drum shaped aluminium cover beneath which appeared to be wound a thin hemp rope apparently reinforced with steel windings. There were undoubtedly printed instructions fixed to the wall but nobody had taken the trouble to relate these to this primitive machinery. And so it was that we were lined up in single file down the second floor corridor, some 25f

This year my ‘Christmas card’ is a photograph and not a painting and is taken from the Glebe, looking north towards High Wray, Waterhead and the head of the lake.  The Glebe’s waterfront has been subjected to considerable redevelopment since our time at Charney Hall. The magnet known as Bowness Bay now attracts 1000s of visitors in the summer months and there is also a constant demand for accommodation over the winter period. The Lake District National Park is now open for business 365 days of the year! In the good old days a sail boat 25 feet long was considered more than adequate for such a thin stretch of water whereas now there are many more jetties, all occupied by much larger (and considerably more expensive) motor cruisers and yachts, some over 40 feet in length.  The timber ticket pavillions, the string of quaint lock-ups at the northern end of the strand and the quays for the traditional lake steamers are still there. But sadly the boat houses where they built the classic Wind

Updated 14 Nov 2023 - John Cranna, Keith Smith comments Boarding school food could never be termed ‘haut cuisine’ indeed it was closer to the other end of the culinary spectrum. Meticulous preparation and careful presentation were usurped by the modern ideals of the machine age - mass production and fast food.  Charlie Chaplin - Modern Times (1936) https://youtu.be/6n9ESFJTnHs https://youtu.be/17PkUsTVa7g Red haired Ruth was a cook not a chef but she excelled in producing meals of a consistent quality for 60 boys and their masters (‘ mass’ ) year in year out, served punctually at set times each day (‘ fast’ ). There must have been helpers but we were not aware of them. Ruth was Kitchen Queen and deserved a place on the annual school photo but never got one! The delights of a vindaloo curry and the health giving properties of a Mediterranean diet had yet to be discovered in the provinces although in the 1950s somewhere on Lumb Lane, Bradford the first curry houses

 A Trophy Lost and Found - Thank you Chris Wilson! On what turned out to be the last blue-sky day of almost a month of exceptionally hot weather in June, I drove up the drive of the Netherwood Hotel. Chris’s clue that there may have been a Charney silver cup displayed somewhere in the public areas had drawn me back to Grange. The approach to the Netherwood has always been impressive, not least the view from the main road where the expanse of the hotel can be seen, underscored by those clipped laurel ‘boxes’. I remembered the impression that many boys and their parents of Charney must have had as they turned into the drive at half-terms in the countless years preceding 1972, the date of the school’s closure.  The hotel and its grounds  are unique and owe its existence to one George William Deakin who built it as a private residence, completed in 1893, and its preservation by the subsequent owners who have appreciated its character and the quality of its construction by respecting elemen

Scout Scar - Credit : Ian Cylkowski One of Mr Fawcett’s cautionary tales, perhaps by way of a warning to those boys who may have been tempted to stray on walks across the limestone pavements of Hampsfell, relates to a certain Mr Hodgson. No more is known about this gentleman save only his surname. Documentation of the event is very thin on the digital ground. However I have unearthed one reference to the legend and found some other interesting references to the cliff in question. The escarpment lies to the west of Kendal and is named Scout Scar or Underbarrow Scar. It reaches 235 metres (771 ft) high.  At Charney Hall    I realise that I was mistaken, my imagination taking precedence over common sense, as Mr Fawcett was not making reference to the magnificent Whitbarrow Scar which towers over the hamlet of Mill Side, just north of the A590, midway between Levens and Lindale, but Scout Scar, no less spectacular but on a smaller scale. Between the two lies the Lyth Valley, famous for its