Spooky

Last week's Westmorland Gazette newspaper stories presented a challenge for the front page cartoon.

The main story was the proposal to build 20,000 new homes in South Lakes. Some bright spark had realised that some of those new homes would be inhabited by children. And those children would need schools … In fact, the estimate was that South Lakes would need two entirely new primary schools.

Elsewhere, the National Park Authority were continuing with their plan to cut down Brockhole National Park Centre's famous, 100-year old monkey puzzle tree. Protestors were galvanised into action and chained themselves to the tree.

The challenge for the cartoonist? Remaining tasteful.

As usual, I may not have been entirely successful.

Add your comments below, then swoosh across to my website to see which cartoon my editor picked.

Click on any of the cartoons for a bigger and scruffier version

Purrfect day

An entertaining mix of stories for this week's Westmorland Gazette cartoon.

The first involved a cat found inside the engine of a 4x4 vehicle. The cat was a bit singed but otherwise unharmed. I decided to avoid any catalytic convertor jokes but couldn't resist one horrible pun.

Elsewhere, a settlement of eco-lodges is being demolished, following a ruling that they are illegal. They were a secret encampment and built entirely without permission, it seems, but nonetheless fulfil a need, are hidden from view, provide valuable low cost homes and … I'll leave the two cartoons to speak for themselves.

Finally,  the Royalty Cinema in Bowness has had the launch night for it's Wurlitzer Organ. This mighty beast, the only working one of its kind actually operating in a real cinema, was built in Ohio in 1927 and is now back in action. As I went along to the opening evening, I can confirm that it sounds brilliant. (It accompanied silent films by Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel & Hardy - so take that, 3D Dolby surround sound!)

Here are this week's sketches, submitted to my steamed editor. Which would you have picked?

Add your comments in the little box thingies below, then sashay over to my website to see if you landed on your feet.

(Click on  the cartoons for full, widescreen effect.)

P.S. It has come to my attention that some of you aren't clicking on the links. You really should. They don't always lead where you might expect. Particularly the ones in last week's blog.

Oops!

There was quite a fuss a month ago, when Virgin Trains lost the West Coast rail franchise to rival operator FirstGroup.

"Not fair," cried Richard Branson, going in one bound from slightly annoying self-publicist to fearless defender of poor, down-trodden rail passengers everywhere, a veritable latter-day Robin Hood. He accused the government of doing its sums wrongs and he demanded a judicial review.

The case was due to be heard on the 4th October. On the 3rd, the government announced it had got its sums wrong and there would be an independent review into the whole process.

Hurrah for justice, the British way of life and something or other.

I'll continue to use the car. Meanwhile, it was too good a story to miss for this week's Westmorland Gazette cartoon.

Browse the sketches, leave your invaluable comments below and then visit my website after Thursday morning to see which cartoon made it to the front page.

(Click on the cartoons for the full IMAX experience.)

Barking

Cumbrians took a brief break, this week, from their usual activity of watching the weather and building arks. And what did they do? Shoved coins into some trees. This is a craze sweeping the county. It used to be that if you showed someone a well, they’d throw money down it. Now they stick it to the trees. Although it’s probably safer than putting it in a bank.

Elsewhere, strange objects have been seen in the sky and the ghost of Mitt Romney’s ancestor has been seen in a local pub. Funny how ghosts always appear somewhere someone can make money out of them. Perhaps they’ll be in trees next.

Here are the ideas I presented to my steamed editor. 

But which, I hear you cry, made it to the front page of The Westmorland Gazette?

Take a guess. Leave a comment. Then boogie on over to my website to see if you were right.

(Click cartoon for supersize 3D version.)

Brief encounters (but not with briefs)

Microbreweries are becoming a major industry in Cumbria. Now even Carnforth Railway Station has one. Brief encounters are about to get a whole lot longer.

Elsewhere … students get a break from complaining about exam grades to visit the cinema, ostensibly for film studies … another bunch of women get their kit off to emulate Calendar Girls … and Cumbria appoints Snow Champions to spread grit and good cheer on a voluntary basis when the winter arrives.

So, there were the stories vying for this week's Westmorland Gazette front page cartoon. My initial, scribbly ideas are below. Don your editorial cap, fire up the comments box and tell me which you would have chosen.

And then toddle over to my website to see if my editor agreed with you.

(Click on any of the cartoons for the IMAX version.)

What does it spell?

Submitting a weekly newspaper cartoon is a bit of a hit-and-miss endeavour. 

Some weeks a story leaps out at you and suggests all sorts of possibilities (not all of them usable, as last week proved). 

Other weeks, there are various stories which kind of raise your interest but don't set the pen on fire.

This week's Gazette cartoon was a mixture of both. The first two stories (Wainwright walkers castigated by mountain rescue and a charity shop for Kirkby Lonsdale) didn't quite do it. The third was more promising.

South Lakeland now have parking machines which require you to enter your car registration number. This prevents naughty motorists from handing their ticket onto someone else. This is, after all, Cameron's Big Society in which philanthropy has no part.

Unfortunately some folk have been having difficulty with the system. The keypads are hard to use - press a wrong button and you've launched a Cruise missile.

I had a couple of ideas for this story. Which would you pick to go in the newspaper?

Comment below and then saunter across to my website to see if you were right.

(Click on any of the cartoons for a larger image.)

Fertility symbols

August is the month for irrational beliefs.

Last week, we discovered that Manchester United red will deter seagulls from landing on your roof.

This week, we find a set of wooden, carved fertility symbols arranged in a circle in a well-known Lakeland holiday park. Known as ‘fertility henge’, they’ve become the subject of some excited gossip on Twitter.

The Park owners are quick to deny it is anything of the sort, claiming that they’re purely artistic erections and seeing them as anything else is down to the fertile imaginations of visitors.

A fine subject for this week’s Westmorland Gazette cartoon but one which presented a few problems for my steamed editor. Three problems, to be precise - the sketches he deemed unstuitable for a family newspaper.

Here are the five ideas I submitted. (If you're feeling a little under-endowed in the eyesight department, click on each cartoon to make it bigger.)

Can you spot which ones made him go white? And which would you have chosen to grace the front page?

Please add your comments in the box below and then you can see the final choice on my website.