"BELLIES LIKE JOE BOADLE"

 

Fresh herring  nets a

washed-up

Keswick

The  Lake District town of Keswick, pictured, which is now one of the most popular  holiday spots in Britain was once in danger of becoming a dirty fishing village, a local newspaper has just recalled.  

Visitors  were being driven away in disgust by the situation in the town says the newspaper article. Things were so bad that a report was made to the town`s board of health.

The situation was caused, by of all things, fresh herrings and the men who sold them!

These men, who the report called” herring cart men”, could be found “in the leading streets from dawn to dusk yelling in the most discordant tones to the accompaniment of ear splitting bells.”

And horror of horrors…”visitors to Keswick are being driven away in disgust as the town descends from the level of a fashionable watering place to that of a dirty fishing village” the report adds.

That was 150 years ago, at the height of the reign of Queen Victoria.

How times change!

Let us move from that Keswick on the brink  to a more relaxed Keswick, much nearer the present day and within the memory of people still alive.

These people recall fresh herring being sold on Keswick streets, but not by herring cart men.

New herring men had start to operate.And they were mechanised with specially adapted Bullnose Morris Cowley cars,pictured.

 

 Customers stood and watched as the herring were gutted and made frying pan ready, more often than not in time for breakfast.

Yes, these new herring men had hand bells to attract customers . But there was no “yelling in the most discordant tones.”

What the Bullnose Morris men also seemed to have  was an unending humorous sales patter. Often this patter was at the expense of notable Keswick people, including one Mr.Joe Boadle

Mr. Boadle, in Mr Kipling terms, was an exceedingly stout man.

Because of his exceeding stoutness, the Bullnose Morris Men`s sales patter regularly compared Mr. Boadle to exceedingly “stout” fresh herrings.

The sales patter went something like this: “ Freshest fresh herrings in England.. they`ve got backs like farmers and bellies like Joe Boadle”.

  Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.

GENUINLY INDEPENDENT TENANTS` ASSOCIATIONS NEEDED

Taming the powerful housing bosses

There is a power imbalance between tenants and housing providers says a report this week describing it as “one of the biggest problems facing the social housing sector today”.

The House of Commons Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Select Committee`s first report on its inquiry into the regulation of social housing  suggests that one of the most effective ways of empowering tenants is through the establishment of tenants and residents associations, led by tenants themselves, with which housing providers “must engage first and foremost when consulting tenants”.

Carlisle  Tenants` and Residents` Federation which publishes this blog has many years experience of the  deplorable situation described by the committee and has  this comment: “The power inbalance will never go away until the  all-powerful housing associations are brought  into line. These associations  are a law to themselves.

“The Federation has had many years  experience of dealing with these powerful bodies, particulatly the giant Riverside Housing Association of Liverpool which once funded the Federation and then reverted to becoming the bossy inefficient body it is today. Riverside will never change. Nor will the other dictatorial associations”

The LUHC committee recommends that the English regulator  amends the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard to require social landlords to “support the establishment of genuinely independent tenants and residents associations”, including by providing the necessary funding.”

Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.