Last updated 20:48, Thursday, 05 June 2008

QUESTIONS! That’s what I’ve got for you this week. It’s something I do from time to time – hoping some kind reader can help.

And why not? Just think of the vast store of knowledge held by you all, whatever your age, compared to the incredibly small amount of local historical knowledge committed to paper.

And that’s where it needs to be – on paper. Just how many times have I been told that Mr X, who died a few weeks ago, knew all about whatever subject I was asking about. But too late was the cry. Or, that he had hundreds of old photographs, but his relative, often from down south, chucked them all in the bin.

That’s happened on countless occasions over the years. And you can only destroy an old photograph once, and it is lost forever.

If you ever end up with a box, or boxes, of old photos, do take them in to your nearest local history library or museum. After all, why would you want to throw part of your local history on the tip?

From time to time, oral history projects have been run in some communities to help gather up and record people’s memories.

If you ever get the opportunity to participate in one of these, please do. You will be helping to build up a picture of life in our community. This will be of immense interest to students and scholars, both now and in the future. More than that, you will, by contributing, have secured a place for yourself in posterity.

A question for older Boy Scouts! Did you ever help anyone wearing a Swastika badge? How many West Cumbrians wore such a badge? I only know of one. It was given to a Workington lady in 1919 for the work she had done for the Marsh and Quay branch of the Boys’ Life Brigade. If she was visiting anywhere in the world, and she was wearing her badge, it was the duty of every Scout to approach her “make the Scout sign” and ask her if they could “be of any service” to her. Lord Baden-Powell said so.

The badge then stood for “the badge of fellowship amongst Scouts all over the world.” And it wasn’t given out to just anyone. Lord Baden-Powell wrote: “When anyone has done a kindness to a Scout it is their privilege to present him or her with this token of their gratitude . . . which entitles him/her to the help of any other Scout at any time and any place.”

The badge was officially called “The Swastika Thanks Badge.” This was long before the activities of a certain German political party gave the symbol an altogether different meaning.

So when did it fall into disfavour? And who’s got one squirreled away somewhere?

And now another badge . . . the small, inch long, silver coloured “Spitfire Fund Badge.” Obviously issued during the war. But was it a national or a local badge?

Over to Broughton Moor. I’ve still not heard from anyone who used to work for Nimrod Dart Limited. I know the firm only employed a handful of people. But, I’m still hoping.

Still trying to locate a bird, a stuffed one. The Fell brothers of Siddick owned a particularly successful racing pigeon, back in 1925, called Never Fail. It was sent to the taxidermist and, I am quite sure, probably has pride of place on a shelf – somewhere. But where? I’ve asked about this before, with no success. So, for the last time of asking, where is Never Fail?

Back to bicycles. No success to date in locating an original Workington produced Cumbria Cycle Company machine. There must be one somewhere!

In autumn 1940, a black cross was taken off a Messerschmitt which had been shot down. The symbol ended up in Workington and was raffled in the December of that year. It was won by a Mr Wilby, or Willis, from Salterbeck. So where is it now? What do you do with a German fighter plane fragment other than display it?

This is positively the last time of asking. Where is that black cross?