AW kept corresponding to the end, always replying to old friends from the past, even if he had not seen them for decades, and some he could hardly remember, and to his regular writers, fans who had grown into pen friends.
He didn’t write a lot to Doris Snape, but then since he had left Blackburn, he usually saw her twice a season, when he went to watch Blackburn Rovers and stayed with her. Her husband Tom Snape, who ran a radio shop in Blackburn, had been one of AW’s oldest friends, and together they had begun the Rovers Supporters’ Club, but he had died young, in his forties. Even before that, AW often suggested that he and Doris were more than good friends, that she fancied him. Doris, when her husband was still alive, kept a diary and referred to her meetings with AW in code. What happened later, when she was a widow and AW stayed with her? It is hard to tell, though Ruth, AW’s wife, was always jealous. Did he think of marrying her when his marriage to Ruth had collapsed – and before Betty came along? Doris’s family believe he did suggest it, but there is no evidence. Betty was sensible and mature about his friendship with Doris and never felt threatened. She encouraged him to see Doris, and keep up their friendship which had lasted for so many decades.
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
19 May 1985
Dear Doris,
First of all, thank you for having me last month, it was a welcome change for me, and greatly enjoyed.
The day after my return was the day fixed for the ascent of Penyghent with the BBC team, and fortunately we were favoured with a brilliantly sunny day. I managed to get to the top, very slowly, in spite of a strong and cold east wind and I think everything went off all right. The BBC team, eight of them, are all very young, in their teens and twenties, even the producer being only in his mid thirties. I get on well with all of them and Betty enjoys their company.
Since then I have been kept fully occupied. The Managing Director of Michael Joseph has been over to see me with a request that I do more books for them, but it seems unlikely that I will be able to. My eyes are getting worse.
There is also a proposal afoot by the Cumbria Tourist Association to set aside a room in Brantwood (John Ruskin’s house at Coniston, open to the public) as a Wainwright Memorial Room with a permanent display of my original manuscripts, drawings and so on. I am lukewarm about the idea, especially their intention to have a bust made of me, but the Gazette are very enthusiastic and I think the scheme will develop.
There is also a great deal of publicity going on by the Gazette to find the purchaser of the millionth book which has just been published secretly but specially marked. When the purchaser has been found he is to be given a free week’s holiday in a hotel in the Lake District and I have to present him at a dinner with a set of table mats made from my drawings. These sets are selling at 170!
Last week I was with the BBC team again, this time at Haweswater. On the day arranged for filming the weather was awful, with continuous rain, and nothing could be done. But we went there again on the following day and enjoyed a simply glorious walk with the cameras. I almost enjoyed the experience! Next month we area due in Teesdale.
The Pennine way book is to be published on June 12th with a fanfare of publicity. The demand is so great that the publishers have had to order a reprint before publication. I have declined an invitation to be a guest of honour at a celebration at Malham in June, when my fellow guests were to be Mike Harding and Barbara Castle. No thanks!
The football season ended with disappointment for the Rovers, but I have no regrets. They are not good enough for promotion. No need to send any more cuttings, thanks. Cousin Eric at Penistone has been in hospital for ten weeks and is back home but bedfast. I must try to get over to see him later in the summer.
I think that’s all my news. I was sorry to learn that you had suffered another fall and hope it had no serious effects and that you and Cindy are both well.
Hope to see you here soon.
Love from Betty and myself to you both.
Alf x
Fred Sellers (1906–90) was another old friend from Blackburn, with whom he had worked in the Treasurer’s office – where Fred remained all his working life, retiring as Chief Internal Auditor. AW had written to him in 1985 asking if he had any drawings or photographs from their office days as AW wanted to use some in his book Ex-fellwander, published in 1987.
Fred Sellers’s daughter Stephanie remembers going with her father as a little girl to visit AW in Kendal in the 1950s – but made to sit outside in the car while her father and AW talked. She thinks now that AW was moaning about his unhappy marriage, an unsuitable topic for a young girl.
In this letter, one line has been blanked out by Fred Sellers himself – and in the margin he has written ‘Mistaken – not my story.’
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
2nd December 1985
Dear Fred,
Kendal’s postmaster did what he was requested to do, and it was an unexpected pleasure to receive and read your letter and enclosures. Through the mists of time I recognised your handwriting on the envelope.
I cannot match your activities during the years that have passed. Foreign travel, music and gardening mean nothing to me. You have many wonderful experiences to recall; in comparison my own life has been unexciting and uneventful. I have never been out of the UK, or even south of Lancashire except for an exploration of North Wales. The highlands and islands of Scotland have been my favourite stamping ground for the past 40 years and I have explored all parts of the north of England, writing over 50 books in the process. Twice a year I go to Blackburn to watch the Rovers.
Bob Alker, living in Garstang, provides an obituary service for me, keeping me informed of members of staff who pass on – and there have been many. I had letters from Harold Hirst and Norman Tennant recently; otherwise I have lost touch. It is good to know that Lawrence is still around. I have been exceptionally fortunate in steering clear of illness. I completed 47 years in local government without missing a day, or even an hour, through sickness, and this good fortune has persisted since retiring from work. Some memories of the old days persist. Concerning yourself I remember the horrendous moment when you opened a bottle of red ink with disastrous results. Blackburn is now almost unrecognisable. Charnleys has disappeared, Penks is a furniture store. Furthergate Church has been dismantled, the town centre has become a maze with many of the old features gone for ever. I liked it better as it was before the planners moved in.
I return the drawings to your custodianship. I am surprised they have survived. Arnold Haworth supplied a few before his death.
I see you have changed your address. You were living in Buncer Lane when last I heard of you.
I hope you keep well, and keep on keeping well for many more years. But there is no hiding the fact that we are both getting bloody old.
Sincerely,
AlfW
Len Chadwick was one of his main researchers on the Pennine Way, to whom he wrote many letters. They never met, and AW never quite knew the extent of his poverty and misfortunes. In 1986, Len had a stroke and was put into a home where he died, alone, in 1987.
c/o Westmorland Gazette
Kendal
12th June 1986
Dear Len,
I was saddened today by a letter from your friend Joan Birchenough telling me that your walking days are over and that you are now confined to a home. I have not heard from you for many years and often wondered if you were alright.
Now you must be content with memories of many happy wanderings on the fells and especially on the Pennines. I know how much you enjoyed those days of freedom on the hills. I hope you can still see the old familiar and well-loved places in your mind’s eye, and that recollections of them are source of comfort in your present circumstances.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
John and Mary Helps were not regular correspondents – but AW always remembered how they had met – back in June 1954 in Scotland when they were on their honeymoon and he and Henry Marshall were in the first flush of excitement with plans for the Pictorial Guides.
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
17 June 1986
Dear John and Mary,
Your letter came as an unexpected and very pleasant surprise. Yes, I remember the day well: it was one of the highlights of my life. In fact, only the day before your letter arrived I was looking through my Scottish photographs and looked long and earnestly at the one I took of the three of you at the summit cairn, and wondered what had happened to you. It is good to know that you are well, and share my love of the Lake District. Mr Marshall died in 1964. I have continued my annual pilgrimages to Scotland, and after retiring in 1967 settled down to writing books, having churned out 50 since then.
It was nice to hear from you again. Thank you for a very kind letter and generous donation for the animals.
Sincerely,
AWainwright
Weaver Owen was another voice from the past who suddenly wrote to him – the Kendal bank manger who spent a night on the fells with him around 1949.
Dear Mr Owen,
What a pleasure to hear from you again and to be reminded of happy days spent on the fells in your company. I am living on memories nowadays, my fellwalking days being virtually at an end, and what a blessing they are! Those were happy days!
Kendal was better in those days, too, before its character was destroyed by modernisation. Remember Archie? I still see him quite a lot. I hope you keep in good health, as I do except that my eyesight is failing. But no complaints; I’ve had a long innings and enjoyed it all.
Sincerely,
AWainwright
During the 1980s, George Howarth, who had been at school with AW and now lived in Arnside, wrote to AW on his birthday every January – and always got a letter back, saying much the same things. But the handwriting and the typing got worse as AW grew unable to see the mistakes he was now making.
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
4th February 1987
Dear George and Elsie,
Thank you for your birthday wishes and an interesting letter. I’m glad to learn that you have resumed fell walking, and have some splendid performances to report. I myself am having to be content with memories.
There aren’t many Blackburn contemporaries of mine left. Almost every week I get word of someone popping off who I knew well. I’m beginning to feel lonely and overlooked!
I still go past Furthergate P.O. twice a year on my way to the Rovers. Thanks for inviting me over to see you. We’ll come when the pressures ease.
I hope you can read my scribble. I can’t see what my pen is doing these days.
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
23rd January 1988
Dear George,
Thank you for your letter of the 16th and birthday wishes. You got it just right. I was 81 on the 17th, and so far I feel just as I did when 80. I have no complaints either but am rather envious of your recent fellwalking exploits. Crinkle Crags was quite an achievement, one of which to be proud. As for myself I have had to put my boots away for good. I cannot see where I am putting my feet on rough ground and in any case am assailed by breathlessness after effort, so am having to subsist on memories, brought back to mind while sitting in a comfortable rocking chair. Still, as I say, no complaints. Life is good. I still go to Ewood twice a year to watch the Rovers and recapture the old atmosphere although actually I can only glimpse the ball occasionally and cannot recognise the players. Blackburn town centre is a jungle of concrete. Now they are pulling down the railways station.
It’s years since I was in Arnside, but will call on you when next we are there.
Yours sincerely,
AW
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
19th January 1989
Dear George,
Thank you for your letter and interesting news of bygone days.
I fell pretty awful for not getting in touch earlier, but life really has been hectic lately and with Betty spending almost every day at our animal shelter, we have simply not been able to go anywhere since last May (the week you were in Skye) when we had a short break at Plockton, where I have booked again for May 20–27 this year.
Yes I remember most of the names you mention: Boddy, street, and Co. There was a Harry Riding, too, and a Miss Haydock, Arts Teacher, who died last year. The Harwood Street area, cleared to make way for a new road that never came, is now a desert and a big Tescos stands on the site of the greyhound track. A friend writes to tell me that the Palace has been demolished. Accrington Road School has gone completely. Happy Birthday, and I’ll try to see you in 1989.
Excuse the typing – I can’t see the printout.
Sincerely,
AWainwright
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
21st January 1990
Dear George,
Thank you for your letter and birthday greetings. Time marches on and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Life is ebbing away whether we like it or not.
Failing eyesight has put an end to all outdoor activity for me although otherwise I keep fairly well. I can just see the keys of the typewriter (but not the printout) and keep on writing, but can no longer read. Fortunately I have a wealth of happy memories to occupy my thoughts.
I was in Blackburn a few months ago and don’t like the changes there. Now there is talk of demolishing the railway station (sold to Booths). The Palace has been pulled down and the greyhound track in Hill Street has given place to a huge Tesco supermarket … only Ewood Park remains as it was although even here the Riverside stand has gone.
Yes we will give you a call in the near future.
Yours sincerely,
AW
Roderick Hamm had written to him in the past. He was the son of an old colleague of AW’s, Norman Hamm, who became Borough Treasurer of Blackburn. The book which AW said had inspired him appears to have been Swiss Pictures Drawn with Pen and Ink originally published in 1866 by the Religious Tract Society. It later appeared in different editions and versions and it is not clear which edition AW was given.
c/o Westmorland Gazette, Kendal
1st March 1987
Dear Roderick,
Thank you so much for your kind letter and good wishes. It was, of course, a surprise to hear from you, but a nice thought on your part to write.
Your letter evoked many memories of half a century ago. I remember your father well and was distressed to learn of his early death soon after I left Blackburn. I remember him giving me a book on the day of my departure: he had bought it for tuppence at a secondhand book shop: it was an illustrated volume on Switzerland containing many pen and ink drawings; he thought I would like it. I did, and in fact it sparked off in me an ambition to do mountain drawings that was to be a dominant interest in later years.
It was nice, too, to see how well you have prospered in your chosen profession. You have done jolly well. Your father would have been proud of your achievements.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
c/o Westmorland Gazette, Kendal
13th August 1987
Dear Roderick,
Thank you for your exceedingly kind letter and invitation to join you and your colleagues at your meeting in January. I count this a great honour.
I am afraid, however, that I am now too old and decrepit to find enjoyment in occasions of this nature and have settled into a senile stupor that rather resents interruption and disturbance. Twice a year I make the effort to attend Ewood Park although my eyes are now so bad that I cannot follow the play. Nor do I take lunch these days.
It seems churlish to decline so kind an invitation. But I am afraid I must. I am a back number, not obsolete as yet but very nearly so.
Sorry, please forgive.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
c/o Westmorland Gazette, Kendal
1 September 1987
Dear Roderick,
Thank you for your further kind letter.
Our brief correspondence has led to my recalling many half-forgotten incidents of my years at Blackburn with your father. I remember his appointment as Chief Accountant very well and his distressing accident at home that caused a long convalescence during which he developed a strong affection for the works of Charles Dickens. It was his final gesture on my last day at Blackburn when he gave me a book of Alpine drawings he had bought for tuppence at a second-hand bookshop that led to my attempting mountain drawing as a pastime that was to prove so very rewarding. I was later deeply sorry to learn of his passing. He was a good man.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
Ken Shepherd was the local photographer in Kendal, to whom AW first started taking his snaps around 1950 for him to develop, print and improve, if he could, for AW was a poor photographer. Ken also did official photos for the Borough Treasurer’s office and in 1983, in AW’s early TV programme, one of these staff photos was used.
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
7th May 1983
Dear Ken,
So nice of you to write! I was rather apprehensive about appearing on the TV show but mercifully the producer cut out many of my bad moments in front of the camera and I was pleased with the final result.
Yes, those staff photos were yours. I wasn’t expecting them – Percy must have supplied them.
With best wishes, and thanks to you both.
AWainwright
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
1st May 1988
Dear Ken,
Thank you so much for your very kind letter. It was good of you to trouble to write.
Age is telling on me. My pedestrian activities are severely curtailed at present by failing eyesight and a shortage of breath, although otherwise I keep well. But in any case my trips to the Lakes have not the pleasure they formerly had because of the crowds of visitors of the wrong type that now infest the villages and valleys.
I am currently sorting through the enlargements you did for me, the Gazette having suggested publishing a book of my photographs of Lakeland and another of Scotland.
I should of course always be delighted to see you if you cared to walk across sometime.
We are going on a nostalgic return to Plockton on May 13th to see once again some of the places with happy memories for us.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
AW
W.A. Poucher, the well-known Lake District author and photographer (whose main job was chief perfumer for Yardley) had always been admired by AW since his first book appeared in 1940. When Walter Poucher died in 1988, AW wrote to his son John.
Dear Mr Poucher,
Your father has been a hero of mine since his Lakeland Through the Lens was published. He was a perfectionist with the camera and I greatly admired all his work in the last fifty years. I met him only once as he was returning from three weeks in Scotland when he had never taken a single picture because conditions were never right.
His great love, as mine is, was the Lake District. He will be greatly missed. He had a wonderful innings and I am sure he enjoyed all of it, but a future without a new Poucher is a bleak prospect for me and countless others.
Yours sincerely,
AW
Chris Jesty, who had helped him with maps for some years, received some good news in May 1989. AW had always been against the notion of any revisions being needed for his Pictorial Guides, but now he was thinking of the future life of his guides. He also went on to offer Chris more work on another book he was currently working on, doing a map for what became the Limestone Dales book (the one turned down by Westmorland Gazette, but published later by Michael Joseph).
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
11 May 1989
Dear Chris,
Thank you for your letter.
The Gazette and I are in agreement that you area the best person (and indeed the only one we know) capable of revising the Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells and maintaining the neatness of the originals. But we are also agreed that no revision should take place during my lifetime.
If you wish to make a start on this project do so by all means, but bear in mind that I am only 82 and may live for another 20 years, during which time your revisions may themselves need revising.
I may be able to offer you a commission later this year. I am just starting a book on the limestone country around the Three Peaks and will require a quarto-size map of the area between Kirkby Stephen and Malham. I cannot now draw maps myself because of failing eyesight. More about this later.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
3rd June 1989
Dear Chris,
Thank you for your letter and offer of help.
When the time comes I will give you the place names I need on the map, but am at present so overwhelmed by correspondence and commitments that I haven’t found time to put pen to paper for the past two months. I think it may be next spring before I call on your excellent services.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
5 November 1989
Dear Chris,
I think I may have a commission for you that would serve to introduce you to the London publishing empire.
I have done a book on the mountains of Lakeland for Michael Joseph Ltd, and a full-page (quarto) map of the district is needed for the frontispiece. I can no longer see to do this myself, much though I would have liked to, and the cartographer Josephs have employed for earlier publications is no longer available through illness.
What is wanted is a very simple map covering the area from Caldbeck in the north to Kendal in the south, and from Ennerdale Bridge to the M6 in the east. A scale of four miles to the inch would probably be needed.
The lakes, major tarns, villages and valleys need including and the principal roads, but all these features must be incidental to the selected summits, which will have to be indicated and named prominently, all else being incidental and relatively faint. A list of the mountains to be named is enclosed: no others need be shown.
If you feel able to tackle this perhaps you would first submit a rough map so that I can include or omit items as necessary. If, however, you do not want to do it or lack the time, please let me know ….
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
16th November 1989
Dear Chris,
Thanks for dealing with matters so promptly.
I myself have never sought the permission of the Ordnance Survey for any of their maps I have copied and have never had any trouble, but I understand they have recently been charging royalties for copies as well as reproductions of their maps. It may be as well to get their permission. If you can find the time it might be an idea for you to take the finished map to their office in Southampton and get their OK. If they demand a royalty that is a matter for the publisher to settle.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
Forgive the poor typing. I can now barely see to hit the right keys.
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
20th December 1989
Dear Chris,
I have now finished the narrative of my book on the Three Peaks area and should be grateful if you would prepare a map for the frontispiece on the scale of one inch = 4 miles. I enclose an old map I have cut out to show the area to be covered. It is OK for roads except for a new Settle bypass but most of the railways have gone.
I enclose a list of the places I would like named. There is no hurry for a few weeks. Please submit a draft for approval.
Jenny Dereham tells me you have been in touch and confirmed no royalty is payable for a copy.
Publishers of the Three Peaks book will be Westmorland Gazette. Many thanks,
AW
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
28th January 1990
Dear Chris,
The map has been safely received and is excellent. The publishers, Westmorland Gazette, are also delighted.
It is good of you to suggest no charge but I know the amount of work involved and must ask you to accept the token cheque enclosed.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
Christ Jesty went on to be commissioned to revise the Pictorial Guides after AW’s death.
One of AW’s last letters was to the Ainleys, with whom he had been corresponding for decades. They had returned to Brighouse – where today, Margaret and Richard, now retired, are still living. Catherine, their daughter, is now thirty-nine, working as a verger at Lichfield Cathedral, married to a priest, still walking in the Lakes and still has the rucksack which AW gave her as a baby.
Dear Margaret and family,
It was nice to hear from you after a rather long silence, and good to know that all is well and that Brighouse is still the loveliest place in the country. I’m glad you enjoyed the Coast to Coast TV series. It is always fun making these films but the aftermath is less welcome – a flood of letters, all nice but far more than I can cope with. Some have to go unanswered, which grieves me. However it is good to know that you maintain your interest in the great outdoors and faraway places. My walking days are over, I am sorry to have to admit, but can no longer see where I am putting my feet and that is the signal to quit and sustain myself on memories. Let me know when you have all done the Coast to Coast Walk, and until then keep well and enjoy this wonderful life we have. But take my advice – keep away from Norfolk.
Yours sincerely,
AWainwright
The last known surviving letter from AW was written in October 1990 to his old friend from the Blackburn office days, Bob Alker
38 Kendal Green, Kendal
16th October 1990
Dear Bob,
I cannot possibly make any advance arrangements. I find myself hounded by the media, callers, correspondents, beggars, tax snoopers, animal problems, religious fanatics who since D.I. Discs, flood my mail with tracts and implore me to give myself to God. Tomorrow, Monday, I start filming a four-programme TV series on the Coast to Coast Walk which will take me out on location quite a lot shortly. Life is interesting but hectic.
I shall be retiring next spring after completing two more books for Michael Joseph, and not until then will I have free time.
So tell Eric to keep on breathing a while longer and I will see you both next year.
AW
AW never completed that Coast to Coast TV series. He fell ill after three days of filming. He returned home to Kendal and went into hospital. Three weeks later he was allowed home and began to do some gentle typing, but after Christmas he fell ill again and was back in hospital. His heart failed and he died on 20 January 1991, three days after his 84th birthday.