Malcolm Wheatman, of Kendal, recalls travelling to a school on a milk lorry I HAVE fond remembrances of before the war, when I walked from Helme Drive to Natland School with older girls.

The route was: down Natland Mill Beck Lane, passing Natland Mill, along the canal towpath beneath the crescent of beautiful beech trees opposite Natland Mill Wharf, thence over Dilly Bridge to Natland.

But around 1939 the girls who, from 1936, had accompanied me since I was five, left Natland School for secondary education.

My mother did not want me walking all that way unaccompanied, so she arranged a lift to Natland on a milk lorry run by a local haulier (no milk board tanker then), whose driver they knew.

He called at farms collecting the full large metal churns, mostly from wooden platforms at the end of farm lanes, and presumably left empties for refilling the following day.

About the only thing I remember is being lifted what seemed perilously high up into the cab and sitting in the home-made seat.

I think, with hindsight, that passengers were never carried. There were no seat belts.

I had never ventured alone beyond the end of Helme Drive, and the western area round Kendal was a mystery. The trips were something of an adventure.

My latter-day assessment of the route was: up Gillinggate to Brigsteer Road, past the lone bungalow on that stretch of road, and past Helsington land end.

We then took the next turning, which came out at Prizet crossroads, down Hawes Lane to Natland.

I think the trips only lasted a short time as it was then that my mother transferred me to Kirkland School in Kendal, where I had to become acquainted with a fresh group of children.