On Friday, I went to Ambleside to meet up with Ian, a really nice guy who had some very useful information and a good knowledge of what I was searching for. Thanks for a great day Ian and for being so helpful. As it turned out, we had much in common, mainly to do with beer; where I spent half my life selling the stuff, Ian spent much of his delivering it :-)
We were soon up at Nellie's house, a wonderful lady in her early 90's who shared many memories with us. She was just a teenager in 1934 when the gunpowder mill at Elterwater closed.
It made my day when she let me hold the medal that was presented to her father for long service. Can you imagine working for 40 years in a gunpowder mill and making it through?
After that we went up to see Hugh, another nice chap in his 80's with a vast memory of local history. He also gave me plenty of information to follow up on.
On the return to Ambleside we called in at the Langdale Estate which now stands on the site of one of the old gunpowder mills.
I was trying to see if they had any old documents or deeds from way back. Christine in reception was very helpful and promised to pass my contact details on to the owners, but she also gave us another very good idea to follow up on.
Next week sounds as if it will be just as fruitful, with interviews in Sedgwick and Appleby, where I'm really looking forward to meeting up with David and Alice.
Let's finish today with a view of the back of that amazing medal…
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