For Your Pleasure

Stu is suffering from Covid so that put paid to our normal weekly meet up for a coffee in Barrow. Instead, I had a bit of a lie-in, then felt guilty so decided to go for a run. Mrs C had a doctor’s appointment in town so I said I’d run around a bit and finish at the surgery so I could get a lift home.
I didn’t really have a clue which way to go, or how long my knee might last, but set off with the vague idea of doing 5K as long as the knee could stand it. I tried a different knee support to my usual one, but it wasn’t a great success as it kept slipping down and I had to stop several times to adjust it.
Eventually I ended up at the entrance to Abbot Hall Park (just across the road from the surgery) and upon checking Strava was pleased to see I’d covered just over 5K.
Whilst getting my breath back, I noticed this plaque, which I’ve never really looked at closely before. Judging by the date, it was obviously something done for Queen Victoria’s jubilee and I know that it remains a public park to this day. The reference to directors of the old Kendal Savings Bank intrigued me though, as one of the original founders of the bank used to live at Abbot Hall. It had become derelict by 1897 but maybe his descendant was hoping to get it back somehow!
As it happened, the building was subsequently sold off in the 1950s and became the art gallery that is still there today, leaving only the park for the pleasure of the public.
I feel I can claim a bit of a tenuous link to all of this though. The two original banking firms in Kendal merged to become Kendal Bank. That was subsequently acquired by Bank of Liverpool, which became Martins Bank and then Barclays. The original building is still in use as Barclays Bank today. And I had the pleasure of working there in the 1990s.
Told you it was a tenuous link…