A sofa ball made for Uppies and Downies has returned home after 40 years, writes Keith Wallace.
The unique ball was originally commissioned by Denis Lawman, a hardened downie and landlord of the Ship Inn, on Washington Street in 1981.
In the heady days of 1981 the town’s public houses were jam packed almost every day of the week, making it a hectic and busy time for Denis.
Denis had hailed several balls for the downies over the years, but around this time he found himself in the enviable position of being a sponsor of Uppies and Downie – the town’s traditional annual mass no-rules football game.
One of the principal requirements of a sponsor was to provide the ball for the game, and for Denis, this meant providing the ball for the last game of the three Eastertide struggles, held on Easter Saturday.
But it was rumoured at the time that the town’s regular ball maker Mark Rawlinson was not going to be available – so the search was on to find a ballmaker.
Over the years there have been a handful of other ballmakers, namely Burnyeats and Roans of Whitehaven, but their balls are even today referred to as ‘sofa balls’ due to their softness.
Denis eventually found a saddler, in Penrith, who was prepared to take on the task, and duly commissioned him to make the ball for the game.
However, when he received the completed ball, he was horrified to discover it was more on the ‘sofa side’ so a decision was taken not to use it.
But as luck would have it the games ballmaker Mark Rawlinson managed to get the 1981 balls made and the games went ahead.
The Penrith ball then fell into the realms of curiosity, finding itself behind the bar of the Ship Inn for many years and becoming an Objets d’Art, a curio and a collectable, to be brought out every Easter and talked about among both locals and visitors.
While it was never used, the curiosity did have a place in the rich tapestry of Uppies and Downies history and like most things that were once revered, over time, it gathered dust and fell by the wayside eventually disappearing into myth and legend.
Denis’ son, who is also named Denis, said he was a child at the time of the Penrith sofa ball saga and it faded from his memory as he grew up.
But earlier this year, the sofa ball reappeared at the Michells Fine Art Auction in Cockermouth.
Denis’s son said after seeing the ball he decided it should return home but in a twist of fate – the ball was denounced as a ‘fake’ and quickly removed from auction.
While Denis tried to call the auction house to ask about the ball and explain it was not a fake and had in fact been commissioned for the game and never used, it could not provide him with the name of the vendor.
In the end, it was stalwart uppie David ‘Nutty’ Shepherd, who turned detective and tracked down the ball on Denis’ behalf.
The ball is now happily back on a Lawman shelf after 40 years.
You can read more about the history of Uppies and Downies here.
