Archives showcase Royal photos to celebrate Diamond Jubilee

Cumbria County Council's archive centre in Kendal will be showcasing previous Royal visits to the area with a special photographic collection during the Diamond Jubilee week. Photographs of visits by the Duke and Duchess of York - the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth - to K Shoes in 1935 followed by the visits by Queen Elizabeth II to Kendal in 1956 and Windermere in 1986 will be displayed.

The collection is part of Cumbria County Council's Archives Service's golden anniversary celebration for June with four historical gems showcased.

The photographs are taken from the papers of the late collector Margaret Duff, who was inspired to preserve Kendal's photographic heritage before it disappeared after rescuing some old photographs in the 1970s. She was encouraged by her husband Percy who succeeded Alfred Wainwright as the last Borough Treasurer for Kendal Borough Council. They published several volumes of these old photos with Alan Sutton. After Margaret died in 1998, Percy took it on himself and continued the collection until deciding to donate to the county council, as intended by his will.

For the rest of the year Cumbria County Council’s four archive centres - in Barrow, Carlisle, Kendal and Whitehaven - will be showcasing an individual archive or a small selection from a collection for the first week of every month to mark the service’s 50th anniversary.

From Wednesday 6 May to Friday 8 June (Closed on the Monday and Tuesday for the Diamond Jubilee) the following collections will be under the spotlight:

Barrow archive centre:
David Chant’s scrap book
A colourful scrap book entitled Art and Drama on Stage; containing an arrangement of theatre programmes, sketches, newspaper reviews and photographs of productions, some with an accompanying narrative. Compiled by former local actor David Ernest John Chant.

Carlisle:
Royal Diamond Jubilee 1897
Looking back to the last time that Britain celebrated a Royal Diamond Jubilee – for Queen Victoria in 1897 – the Carlisle archive will be showing a photograph album from Arnison & Co, a well-known solicitors’ firm in Penrith. The album belonged to one of the Arnison family and contains views of local interest, including Carlisle, Silloth, Scotby and Wetheral, all taken in the 1890’s.

Included are views of Carlisle taken during the 1897 Diamond Jubilee. To mark the occasion the Corporation of Carlisle recreated the three ancient gateways to the city – the English Gate (next to The Courts), The Scotch Gate (at the end of Scotch Street) and the Irish Gate (leading to Caldewgate).

Kendal:
Royal visits to Westmorland
With this year’s Diamond Jubilee this archive is a special collection of photographs looking back on previous Royal Visits to Westmorland. As well as covering the visit by the then Duke and Duchess of York to KShoes in 1935 there are also photos of Queen Elizabeth II visits to Kendal in 1956 and Windermere in 1986.

Whitehaven:
Sellafield Stories Oral History Project
Archives aren’t all written - have a listen to the Sellafield Stories Oral History archive! With a choice of 100 interviews with people of varying connections to the Windscale/Sellafield nuclear site from site-workers to farmers, and teachers to traindrivers. You can hear what people said and thought, to hear their voices, their tone, and plenty of local dialect.

Archive centres opening hours for the Diamond Jubilee week:
PLEASE NOTE - All Archive Centres will be closed for the Diamond Jubilee on Monday 4 June and Tuesday 5 June.

Barrow’s archive centre is on 140 Duke Street, LA14 1XW, and is open for the following hours:
Wednesday to Friday: 9.30am to 1pm, and 2pm to 5pm.
First Saturday in the month: 10am to 1pm, and 2pm to 4pm.

Carlisle’s archive centre is at Lady Gillford`s House on Petteril Bank Road, CA1 3AJ, and is open:
Wednesday to Friday 9.30am to 5pm.
Saturday 9.30am to 4pm every second Saturday in the month (open 9 June, 14 July etc).

Kendal’s archive centre is at Kendal County Offices, on Busher Walk, LA9 4RQ, and is open:
Wednesday to Friday 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm.

Whitehaven’s archive centre is at Scotch Street, CA28 7NL, and is open:
Wednesday to Friday 9.30am to 12.30pm, and 1.30pm to 5pm (7pm Wednesday)
Saturday 9am to 1pm every other Saturday (open 26 May, closed 2 June, open 9 June etc)

For more information visit: www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/recordoffices/default.asp