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 cla...