10 YEARS AGO: New figures showed a manufacturing revival in Barrow with more jobs for skilled workers. The increase in the town between 2004 and 2006 had been almost 20 per cent, said the Office for National Statistics.

An avalanche warning was in place on Helvellyn, among the most popular places for walkers in the Lake District. In places there was solid ice and up to a half-metre of snow.

Millom's kickboxing club raised £685 from Christmas bag packing at the Somerfield supermarket in the town centre.

Lakes mountain rescue teams faced an uncertain future with record numbers of call-outs and a recruitment shortage of volunteers.

25 YEARS AGO: Bus users in South Cumbria faced a total ban on smoking later in the year. Cumberland Motor Services had commissioned a survey of passengers in Barrow, Ulverston and Dalton. A similar poll in Carlisle showed strong support for a ban.

Dalton fitter Alan Worsley was third after round one of Britain's husky dog racing championship.

Annual tests carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture found increased levels of radioactive cobalt in cabbages near the Sellafield nuclear site. The doses recorded were well within safety limits.

Cigarettes worth £20,000 were stolen from a shop in Newton Street, Millom.

50 YEARS AGO: A bottle of sherry was five shillings (25p) from G. H. Harrison, on Roose Road, Barrow.

A group of technical trainees from Workington went on a tour of Barrow Steelworks.

Barrow's newest petrol service station was at Park Road. The next phase of building work would create a car repair and sales area.

You could earn up to £1,435 per year as a social worker for Lancashire County Council in the Ulverston district.