The Mail has often been at the scene for the Furness area’s various Rotary Clubs’ fundraising schemes and partnerships with charities.

In 1988, the Ulverston club held its first-ever celebrity auction, with books, photographs, and gifts donated by celebrities in politics, art and music up for grabs.

Of the more popular items, a selection of video tapes and books from former Beatle Paul McCartney sold for £40 and a football signed by the Liverpool team - league champions then, as they are now - fetching £35.

Not quite such a hot seller was a signed photo of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and a Labour Party tie and photo from their leader Neil Kinnock, which sold for £2 each.

In a different auction, the lots of two tons of limestone delivered to your door and and ten tons of Ormsgill slag delivered locally shockingly went unsold.

The Mail was also there when the Furness Rotary club was presented with its charter at the Lisdoonie Hotel in Barrow.

In 1994, the Furness Rotary Club donated cheques totalling £1,050 to various South Lakes charities, including South Cumbria Rape Crisis, British Victims of Abortion, Dial-a-Ride disabled transport and the Barrow Citizens’ Advice Bureau.

In something completely different, the same club organised the Tour de Furness in 1997, with cyclists young and old taking to the roads to raise funds for St Mary’s Hospice, Ulverston.

There was a 15-mile route for leisure cyclists, while the fitter riders took on a 50-mile slog.