THE sons of a celebrated mountaineer who wore a pair of K Shoes hob-nailed boots during a famous assault on Everest have lent their backing to the Keep K for Kendal campaign, writes Michaela Robinson-Tate.

James and David Somervell, the two surviving sons of Dr Howard Somervell, said they were pleased to support the campaign in memory of their father, who climbed more than 28,000 of the mountain's 29,048 feet wearing the boots, which had been made to measure at Netherfield.

Howard Somervell, who was born and bred in Kendal, was part of the renowned 1924 expedition to scale the world's highest mountain. Two other team members, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, perished on the mountain, leaving a mystery as to whether they reached the summit.

Dr Somervell managed his remarkable feat wearing tweeds, and the boots, which are now on display in Kendal's Museum of Lakeland Life.

His surviving sons have backed Keep K for Kendal, which is being run by The Westmorland Gazette and Kendal Town Council, to urge Clarks to cease using the K for Kendal logo, in the wake of the decision to shut the last shoe-making factory in the town.

David Somervell said: "One doesn't want to run one's life on traditions, because then one makes no progress, but I can't say I have any great love for Clarks, which is one of these large companies that gobble up other companies and sell off the assets."

His brother, James, accepted Clarks had bought the rights to the name but said he was "delighted" to lend his name to the campaign.

An approach by the town council to Clarks over the brand name failed to "prick their consciences".

Mayor of Kendal Coun Avril Dobson read out the company's reply at this week's council meeting. The letter stated that Clarks was "somewhat surprised" by the town council's comments, and they suspected few people apart from Kendalians knew what the K stood for.

Coun Dobson said: "We thought it the letter might prick their consciences a bit but I don't think they have one."

Clarks said they had nothing new to say about the brand name this week.

Meanwhile, managers at Clarks say D-Day for a firm commitment on when precious archive material could be returned to Kendal is now imminent.

By next week they hope to have the latest information from their part-time archivist on how much cataloguing has been done, and when the first batch of documents could be sent home to the town.

The news comes in the wake of renewed calls, made as part of The Westmorland Gazette's Hand Back our Heritage campaign, for the return of archive material and artefacts that were removed to Clarks's headquarters in Somerset in 1996.

The shoe firm has agreed to return archives, which fill more than 50 metres of shelving, which would be housed in the County Records Office. However, Clarks is adamant that cataloguing work must be carried out first.

Clarks spokesman John Keery said they hoped to come up with a estimated timescale next week: "There's no reason for us to keep it particularly. It's not a priority for us but we will have a look and see how quickly we can resolve it."

February 10, 2003 14:30