This is the final FoCAS Newsletter, No.116, January 2023, before the winding up of the charity.
AGM Agenda, 29 October 2022, Visit to Armitt Museum, July 2022, Adrian Allan, Obituary, Launch of Cumbrian Lives, CAS Service-wide news, Barrow AC news, Carlisle AC news, Conservation & Digitisation Unit news, Whitehaven AC news, Kendal AC news, Book reviews: Memories of Milnthorpe, Forage, Feast & Famine, Cattle Droving
Contents: Borderlands project interim report, FocAS events at Carlisle AC & Dacre Library, Mystery house revealed, Castle Howard: Its art collections and archives, Farewell Louise Smith, Memories of Cumbria Archive Service from Jim, Grisenthwaite & Anne Rowe. Book review: Christine Boyce: artist & craftswoman. Updates from Barrow, Kendal, carlisle and Whitehaven Archive Centres and the Conservation Unit.
Contents: Mystery photographs, Reading matters, realising intellectual assets, A tour around Keswick Museum, Bus services replacing the steamboats on Lake Windermere. Book reviews: The Memories of Sir David Fleming of Rydal Hall, Telling it like it was, vol 2, The Dark Path to Knowledge. Updates from Kendal, Carlisle, Barrow and Whitehaven Archive Centres and the Conservation Unit.
2022

Newsletters
One of the benefits of FoCAS membership is the full-colour Newsletter which is distributed to members three times a year. The contents are many and varied. They include updates on recent archive accessions and cataloguing from the four Cumbria Archive Service offices, and a variety of articles about the history of Cumbria and the wider region. There are also reports on Friends activities, details of grant funding, and of volunteering opportunities.
The Newsletter is published in January, May and September each year. We welcome contributions of no more than 500 words. Please contact the editor for more information. [email link on last page, 'Contact Us']
PDF files of many of the previous newsletters are displayed below in the gallery. Each can be opened by clicking its icon.
In the future it is planned to provide a search engine here to assist readers in making searches within the archive.
Lowther family sporting records at Carlisle Archive Centre. New FoCAS website/ Mystery photographs. The skirmish at Lowther Hall, 1745. The Armitt looks to the future. BRA Seminar Series. Book review: The Impact of Motor Transport on Westmorland c.1900-1939. Updates from Kendal, Carlisle, Barrow and Whitehaven Archive Centres and the Conservation Unit. FoCAS AGM documentation.
Theodor Langner’s drawings of Shap Wells Prisoner of War Camp. At the heart of the community: the heritage of the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald. Mountain Heritage Trust online catalogue launch. Do you remember Ted Short? Mystery photographs. Writing Cumbrian history in lockdown and with no archive. Updates from Kendal, Carlisle, Barrow and Whitehaven Archive centres and the Conservation Unit.
The vital role of archives. Westmorland & slavery. Plague stones. Restoring the Archives. The conservation unit. Carlisle lockdown projects. Outreach. Updates from Kendal, Whitehaven & Barrow. Correspondence of Henry Rothery, of Cleator Moor UDC. Herbert Croft's cycle shop, Kendal.
2021
Pageant on Windermere in 1825. William Nanson, Town Clerk of Carlisle. Retirement of Stephen White. Details of the Sankey and John Laing photographic collections. Plus updates from all CAS offices. Books review ‘Cumbria: A Place of Refuge’
CAS accreditation, 2020. New project: Archives of the Borderlands. Researching refugees in Cumbria. The problems of being a transcriber. The perils of seeking to enforce the law against poachers – in 1776. Transport of Delight - Rutherglen to Windermere. Cumbrian Lives: The Dictionary of Cumbrian Biography. Windermere Arctic Charr. Ted Relph, obituary. Plus updates from all CAS offices.
The Ponsonby family scrapbook. Update on the ‘Seeing the North with Sankey’ project. On the rails. Goods, Services and the Old Poor Law: the Small Bills Project. Unlocking our Sound Heritage. Retirement of Mary Wane. Bloodhounds of Riot and Insurrection: An Archive of Electoral Politics in Westmorland 1818-1910. Plus updates from all CAS offices.
2020
Conservation Training Workshop at Carlisle Archive Centre. Some recent Cumbria Archive Service acquisitions funded by FoCAS. Of food and drink – and much more. The Corbies’ Nest. Plus updates from all CAS offices.
The Dormant Book: its history and binding. Local History Month, May 2019: Activities in Cumbria. Documenting a clerical estate. Eric Greenslade obituary. Plus updates from all the CAS offices.
Commemorating the Armistice in Furness. Detailed annual lists of additions to catalogues. Review of Members’ Day, 20 October 2018. The Gladly Solemn Sound project. Plus updates from all CAS offices.
2019
Montefiascone Conservation Project Summer School, August 2018. The Inland Revenue District Valuation (‘New Domesday’) of c.1909-15. Promoting the exploitation of the resources of Carlisle Archive Centre’s research library collections. ‘Beneath the Beacon’. The World War One Diary of Sergeant Hubert Simpson, RAMC. Voices From The Hood. Plus updates from all CAS offices.
Summary of contents coming soon
Summary of contents coming soon