Last updated 09:42, Thursday, 25 September 2008

Beacon waits with baited breath for auction results

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HMM... £560 for a battered old bait tin? Yes, that’s the price paid for Lord Lowther’s sandwich tin when it came up for auction at Mitchell’s auction house, Cockermouth. It’s all about provenance, you see.
But sadly, this artifact is not coming back to Whitehaven, as Beacon manager Sue Palmer had planned, because she got out-bid.
“I stopped bidding at the £450 mark because I just didn’t feel it represented value for money. The estimate had been £250-£350,’’ said Sue.
But she did have a successful day otherwise, managing to acquire a good collection of Whitehaven-made pocket watches.
“Eventually there will be a new display on local watch and clock makers at the Beacon. They included Robert Sutton, Joseph Thompson, William Muncaster, John Spittle, W H Telford and J & R Edgar. When added to those makers already featured in the collection or coming into the Beacon on loan, they will form a significant collection.’’
Other items, including a tea caddy from Whitehaven tea dealer J I Fisher, opera glasses inscribed “A Hardie, Whitehaven”, a top hat from J Birketts, King Street, a bowler hat from Lucas & Cussons, a Whitehaven Borough Band bugle, Whitehaven Colliery Recreation Club crown green bowls, Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway silver plated dessert spoons and storage jars from Peter Leech & Son.
Funding for the items was shared equally between the Friends of the Museum and Copeland Council and once all the auction items have been cleaned, they will be going on display in a Recent Acquisitions case in the Beacon reception area.

Or how about a genuine John Paul Jones stone for £1?
IF Lord Lowther’s sandwich tin is out of your price range, how about a genuine John Paul Jones stone?
What is that, we hear you ask. Well it’s a pebble off Whitehaven beach – the beach, of course, that John Paul Jones stepped on when he ‘invaded England’ in 1778.
The stone will only cost you £1 – although postage and packing is £4. The enterprising e-Bay vendor states: “You are bidding for one of the stones from the actual beach where John Paul Jones landed, you will also receive a certificate to verify the authentification.”
Alternatively, you could just pop down to the beach yourself.

Pedestrians: time to  improve your text life...
EVERYONE now knows there is no place for mobile phones in the hands of a driver who is behind the wheel, it’s against the law, but perhaps consideration now needs to be made to widen the scope of that law to also ban their use while walking.
That’s because increasing numbers of mesmerised “mobilers” are meandering through the streets, dialling, talking and texting, completely oblivious to what’s going on around them.
They step off pavements, walk in front of vehicles and collide with other unsuspecting pedestrians.
They scratch parked cars with their bags and even, as recently observed, manage to miss their buses. A lone text maniac was seen cursing her “ill luck” as the Workington bus she had intended boarding drove off, before she realised that everyone in front of her had boarded it and departed.
So, while the mobile phone may have revolutionised personal communication it has spawned a range of new problems.
Beware, or your next call on one may need to be to the emergency services... or might even be your last.

The simple secret to a successful and happy life
THIS message from The Whitehaven News of 1858 remains as true today as it always has been.
“Working men, you who are so circumstanced in this world that you are under the necessity of earning your bread by the sweat of your brow, if you are able to read, purchase weekly a newspaper, by which you can instruct and entertain not only yourselves but likewise those around you. Go oftener to the news-shop than to the gin-shop and the sunshine of happiness will brighten your homes.”

That vital bit of information you need to get through life
POINTLESS trivia of the week award goes to The Whitehaven News sub editor who pointed out that burglary used to only happen at night.
If you were carrying your bag of swag and wearing a striped jersey in the daytime then it was breaking and entering.
He rightly – if very sadly – quotes the common law definition of burglary: “The breaking and entering the house of another in the night time, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felony be actually committed or not.”
The law has since changed to allow burglary in the daytime. That’s equal opportunities for you.

The face of evil: A software package from Microsoft
THOSE who have to sit through dozens of mind-numbing Powerpoint presentations by high-flying managers may be glad to know its days may be numbered.
There’s a growing tide of ill-feeling against this software.
Cleator Moor-born author David Gaffney is currently touring with his act, Destroy Powerpoint. David points out that Powerpoint, with all its bullet-points has the ability to stop people thinking.
Think this is all over the top? Think again. The inquiry into the 2003 Columbia Shuttle disaster found Powerpoint may have been partly to blame. Its rigid, simplistic structure meant the complexity and urgency of the problem facing the shuttle couldn’t be explained to Nasa scientists watching the presentation.

A good knight’s work...
JOSHUA Smales, a former Wyndam School pupil has been presented with is Bachelor of Arts degree by none other than Sir Paul McCartney.
Joshua, son of Paul and Sarah Smales of Dentonhouse, Gosforth, has been studying at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts founded by Sir Paul in 1997.
Also at the presentation ceremony were John Hirt, Cathy Dennis and Trevor Horn.