BARROW'S old fire station bell had been silent for 48 years - since one of Britain's great celebrations during in the Boer War - and in 1948 faced an uncertain future.

There was talk of it being donated to Barrow museum but since then it may have ended up with the scrap man.

Its story was told in the Evening Mail on Wednesday, April 28, in 1948, under the headline "Relic of early days unsafe".

It noted: "Last rung on Mafeking Day - 18 May, 1900 - the bell once used to call Barrow's fire brigade to action now rests in a storeroom at the Barrow Corporation building department's premises in Salthouse Road.

"Until a day or two ago it hung in a belfry above the Weights and Measures Office at the south-west wing of the Market Hall, but the effects of weather and aerial bombardment having made that structure unsafe, the bell and mechanism were removed along with the belfry, and will not be replaced.

"The task of taking down the belfry and removing the bell was entrusted to the building department.

"It was found during the operations that the metalwork of the bell and mechanism were so corroded as to represent a danger.

"Expense was an important factor against replacement and the roof of the building will no longer boast the belfry that has stood for many years.

"When the bell was used to summon firefighters to their task, the brigade was not the highly organised body of men it is today.

"They were called from their homes to attend fires and did not mount continuous watch as it is done these days.

"Barrow's fire station has been moved from time to time since the town first boasted a volunteer brigade.

"Originally it was situated at the Market Hall.

"Then it was moved to new quarters in the Strand, between Cornwallis Street and Wesley Place.

"Still later, it was on a site near the Majestic Hotel.

"The present Central Fire Station was taken over in 1912 and even it has witnesses great changes.

"During the Second World War, it was taken from the control of the town council's watch committee and became the local headuarters first of the Auxiliary Fire Service and later of the National Fire Service.

"Now it has been returned to local control in accordance with the Fire Services Act.

"The old bell, which should really have a place in the borough museum, was wound up and operated by a push butter, either by the fire brigade engineer or the superintendent who presumably slept on the premises now occupied by the Weights and Measures Office.

"On hearing the bell, night or day, the fireman was expected to report to the station at the double and man the pumps.

"Luckily none of the men lived very far away from the station."

The one with the longest distance to run was Tom Myers, of 16 Penrith Place, who "often arrived at his post with his tongue hanging on his chest".

In 1948 Mr Myers was aged 83. He had retired from the fire brigade after 30 years - but was still working as a joiner and undertaker.