Charney Hall School, Grange-over-Sands

 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 res...

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 Val...