Today would have been the first day of Wimbledon. Like many other sporting events, it has been cancelled due to coronavirus. I shall miss my daily fix of the Championships, watching matches whilst eating my tea, or listening on the radio whilst driving. Not that I am a tennis player. I once went on a tennis course during the school holidays, but I am no Johanna Konta. More ball girl on one of the outside courts. But I do love to watch Wimbles and have even been lucky enough to head down to SW19 to watch a few shots. I have never applied for tickets, but have been part of the daily queue to gain entrance to the ground. All part of the tennis experience. I first went to Wimbledon with the school. I loved the whole atmosphere, was fixated with the speed of the game and power of the serve. I took some photos of Roscoe Tanner (showing my age here), squeezed onto the centre court to glimpse Virgina Wade, and saw Bjorn Borg in the car park. Yep, I was mixing with the stars. Fast forward ...
As I cycled to the Castle this morning, I was greeted by a sweet smell floating across the park. A large inhale... yes, it was probably the nearby McVitie's factory cooking biscuits. We often get visitors at the Museum who ask what the smell is. We pop outside the building, take a deep breath and reply 'custard creams today' before explaining about McVitie's. Still known locally as Carrs, the factory stands on a major road junction near a large Sainsbury's supermarket, which probably sells many of the range of biscuits produced in the factory. It is one of the oldest and biggest biscuit factories in the world, opening in 1831. Started by Jonathon Dodgson Carr, a baker, who built a flour mill, bread and biscuit bakery before gaining a Royal Warrant for his biscuits in 1841. By 1881, Carr was employing 222 men, 36 women and 53 boys at his factory. Not bad for the son of a Kendal grocer. McVitie's is still a major employer in the city, with staff producing 250,000 ...
My turn to go into to work today to check the building and ensure everything is still standing. A glorious spring day always makes the Castle look spectacular, in complete contrast to when the weather is awful and the Castle looks austere and formidable. But that's what makes it attractive. That's why I love the place. We are starting to put plans together about how we might return to work, ready for somepoint in the future. We need to work closely with our site landlords, English Heritage, to ensure that we keep visitors and staff safe. I met with the new Cumbrian regional manager today. We sat with our respective coffees, at a good safe two metres apart, outside the Museum on the cafe patio chairs. We chatted in the sunshine about opening, outline plans, things to consider, what we did and didn't know about the whole COVID-19 situation and the impact it could have on the site. As the Museum is situated in the outer ward of the Castle we have to have a cohesive approach to...
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