TODAY'S main picture is from almost 80 years ago and gives a shipyard worker's impression of the Barrow skyline he could see every day.

A few things have changed since Mr E. J. Cooksey picked up his drawing pencil in 1938.

Gone is the Barrow Steam Corn Mills and the giant cooling tower of the Buccleuch Street power station, run by Barrow Corporation.

His finished panorama is called Barrow-in-Furness and Distant Hills as Seen from Messrs Vickers-Armstrongs Engine Drawing Office.

A creased and damaged copy of the drawing has been restored by Barrow photographer Roy Chatfield.

We hope readers may know more about Mr Cooksey and other work he produced.

The rest of our pictures are from 1938 and show the kind of things which were taking place as Barrow enjoyed the end of a long world recession but feared the state of world affairs - which seemed to be drifting towards another war with Germany.

A look at the pages of the Barrow News gives a taste of what life was like back in 1938.

March saw the opening of a new £30,000 secondary school at Salthouse Road, Millom and Barrow's Allan Campbell being named in the Cambridge crew for the Boat Race.

New houses cost from £500 to £895 on the Boonwell Estate being built at Roose Road, Barrow, by Stephenson and Ross.

On Barrow's Schneider Road Estate, builder John Hardy wanted from £430 to £500 for a house.

Millom baritone singer Jack Woodruff, of Devonshire Road, made a broadcast for the BBC at Manchester in May.

In August there were attempts in Windermere to recruit more volunteers to raid as air raid wardens and it was revealed that Barrow Corporation buses had travelled 1.4m miles in the past year.

The end of the month saw the opening of the new market hall in Ulverston which had cost £10,000.

October saw a runaway horse dragging a milk float through the streets of Ulverston.

The horse came to no harm but the milk float, a car and a bicycle were damaged.