Carlisle Remembered

Based entirely on the memories of people born in Carlisle and the vicinity, Carlisle Remembered brings the past vividly to life through reminiscences and photographs of a bygone age. A column, written by Mary Burgess, appeared each week in the Cumberland News, from 1955 to 1978, and the memories collected here are from those who responded to her features with letters. With minimal editing, a variety of extracts from those letters have been selected to cover as many facets of Carlisle’s recent history as possible. Some of the early correspondents, born in the 1870s, could remember hangings in the gaol; Jimmy Dyer playing his fiddle; troops marching off to the Boer War; the first motor cars and the coming of trams. Later correspondents, born in the 1890s, share memories of the first aircraft; the First World War; Empire Day; football matches; holidays at the seaside; listening to the wireless and going to the pictures. These were the days of street musicians, low wages, clogs and treats for the poor. Tragedy is recalled but most of the memories are happy ones and some are amusing. The striking element of this compilation is that these are ordinary people, simply writing about things which stuck in their minds. This is a unique source of local history revealing aspects of day to day life in the words of those who lived it.