Tribute paid to fell running legend Bill Teasdale who has died aged 98

Bill Teasdale, of Caldbeck, was a genuine sporting hero, and in his day was as close as a 1950s local character might ever come to being a real celebrity.

With his passing, the curtain is finally drawn on what can be regarded as a golden era of Cumbrian sporting history, a time when more than 10,000 people would enthusiastically attend local sports meetings such as those at Grasmere, Ambleside and, formerly, Keswick.

It was appropriate that when Teasdale ran into the arena to win at Grasmere Sports, the band struck up the tune ‘See the Conquering Hero Comes.’

The same rousing melody is to be played when Bill Teasdale’s coffin enters the Eden Valley Crematorium, near Temple Sowerby, at a humanist service for him on Monday, January 23 at 2pm.

Bill Teasdale was certainly special in his field, but he was down to earth and hefted to the fells in and around Caldbeck.

He was of true, Cumbrian farming stock and while small in stature he was in some respects larger than life, a fascinating character with a wide range of interests, and he remained physically fit and active until his mid-90s.

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Born at Todcrofts Farm, Caldbeck, on October 29, 1924, he was rooted in the countryside back o’ Skidda’ and was one of eight children born to his parents, George and Annie.

Bill is the last of the eight – having been predeceased by Joe, John, Annie, Margaret, Jean, Grace and Hilda.

Today he is survived by seven nieces and nephews and their families.

Bill attended the village school, then followed in his dad’s footsteps and went to work on the farm at Todcrofts and at other farms in the area.

He later spread his career wings and became an engineer, specialising in working on BBC installations and masts and his work, at times, took him to other locations in the UK where his skills were required.

He never married, preferring an independent lifestyle as he became a fell runner of note and a man with a wide range of other interests, the latter mainly related to the land, farming, history, wildlife and geology.

He did not move far in terms of where he chose to live his life and, after Todcrofts, it was not until the late Sixties that he moved house for the first and last time – and then it was only a couple of hundred yards up the road.

His achievements in running are well documented and to provide some key elements of his amazing record, he won the Grasmere senior guides race 11 times – the last when he was 42 – and won at Keswick on 12 occasions, 10 times in a row.

Bill’s trainer for many years was Bobby Thirwall, a window cleaner from Windebrowe Avenue, Keswick, and one of Bobby’s key tasks, before a sports meeting, was to place Bill’s false teeth in a little tin box where they were kept safe until Bill had run his race.

I always appreciated the description that one writer gave of Bill Teasdale MBE and who likened him – in his white running vest and shorts – to a little white handkerchief fluttering down the fell on his rapid, daredevil descent, leaving everyone and everything else in his wake.