317 miles north

Our first impression of the Cumbrian Innovation Centre for PD was that it is a long way away. In fact Carlisle station (where we gathered) is just eight miles from the Scottish border. And that of course means more nowadays than it has done for several hundred years. In fact, on our journey out from Carlisle towards the Irish Sea, beyond the green acres of grazing sheep, we could see across the Solway Firth – at the end of which Hadrian built the western end of his enduring boundary between us and those people further north. 

Aspatria (pronounced eigh-spart-rya) was our destination, and we were whisked away, via Tesco’s car park next to the M6, for the 40 minute journey by car. To the town’s thriving rugby club. Once we arrived, our first observation was that the general idea that the north is colder than the south was not supported: it is quite clearly a great deal colder in Essex than in Cumbria. The first of several myths we were to explore…

Apparently, some people in these parts still worship the God Lug – from whom the ancient city of Carlisle took its Roman name, Lugovallium. Indeed the Romans, for all their faults, were quite tolerant in adapting to the tribal customs and beliefs of their northernmost outpost and in recognising the local importance of dear Lug. Myself, I am rather more suspicious of how Hoffman-Le Roche managed to bring a very similar word into everybody’s language in 1963.

After Roman times, the ancient kingdom of Rheged held sway in this corner of England: its boundaries are very similar to modern Cumbria. But before ‘Cumbria’ was invented in 1974, this area was largely Cumberland (in the North), Westmoreland (to the South) and parts of Lancashire (around Barrow-in-Furness). However, 1974 is quite long enough ago for most – and in the recent NHS Foundation Trust merger to cover mental health in the land of Rheged, few in the less populous south, who were happy with and used to their cultural practices and tribal rituals, saw it as a glorious return to the days of Rheged.

A more recent local tradition, dating from Victorian apprentices being paid at the end of every week, is ‘blackeye Friday’. This is the last Friday before Christmas, when all the vigorous young men of Carlisle had wages in their pockets, beer in their bellies and aggro on their minds. Hence there was a statistically significant increase (no reference available) in the number of black eyes in the homes and streets of Carlisle on the Saturday before Christmas. The visiting team understands that, to this day, one needs to proceed with caution down Botchersgate on that Friday before Christmas. But then, like many English towns and cities, many people choose not to proceed down pub-filled streets on any Friday or Saturday night, more than a century later.

We gathered one rather more compassionate story on our travels, albeit one with an unhappy ending. Farmers in these parts are said to be of a generous and kindly nature: after a new-born lamb was failing to feed, a visiting family were happy to be given the task of bottle feeding it to good health, which it soon regained. On planning to return, the farmer gave them the young lamb to bring up themselves. Unfortunately, their other responsibilities meant that this became impossible after a while, and the lamb was returned to the farmer. Although no certainty can be established, it is most likely that mint sauce and roast potatoes were its next companions.

And, without wanting to draw any inferences or conclusions from it, we were interested to hear that the largest stable employer on the coastal part of Cumbria is the Sellafield nuclear plant, where many sensible and professional people work, and live nearby. Unfortunately, we could not get the image of Homer Simpson and the family (and more widespread social) psychopathology our of our minds as we thought about Springfield-in-Cumbria.

As usual, we asked  our hosts to think of a photo that they would like to have included on this blog. The answer was clear, when we came to the end of our proceedings: "the view over the countryside which we can see when we do our art therapy". So here it is:

Now, to be fair, I'm not sure this is from the angle the group intended - and we had a discussion about sending us a photo that you've already got - so do ask if you want a different one here! (and make whatever comments you want, below, as well - please)

***UPDATE***

Today, a day later, we have received three photos that our Cumbrian colleagues wanted to be included. Here they are: