SIR, As Editor of Cumbria' magazine from its re-launch in 1951 until my retirement in 1988, I knew the late Harry Griffin well (Gazette, July 16, obituary).

When he and Mollie lived at Cunswith End, I followed the old Cumbrian habit of dropping in for a crack' and had a feeling of a house turned inside out. Pictures and artefacts related to the great outdoors. He was not keen on gardening but was fussy about his lawns, which must have mowing stripes and no moss'.

We mustn't forget Sambo, his faithful collie, who accompanied him up every Lakeland fell, on some rock and snow climbs and up many mountains in Scotland.

My last glimpse of him was from my car as I drove through Kendal. Harry's hair and moustache were snow-white but the lean, fissured face, the pipe and alert manner were distinctive. To me, he was as much a part of Kendal as the town hall clock.

The last letter he wrote to urged me not to get lazy in old age, as he had done. For once, I didn't believe him.

W R Mitchell Giggleswick