For 62-year old Kevin Halsall, a key member of the maintenance team at Lowther Castle, it was an ordinary working day. First he had to rebuild a pair of 17th century gateposts; then he had to put up Christmas lights around the profile of the castle in time for their switch-on on 23rd November.
At 8am on a certain Thursday morning, Kevin, along with his colleague Burger, embarked on job number one, carefully beginning to reconstruct the pillars. Burger held the stones while Kevin wielded a chisel. All was going swimmingly well. Then Kevin dropped the chisel. And when he reached down into the grass to gather it up, he felt something jab his wrist.
“At first, I thought it was a nettle-sting. I pulled my hand out of the grass, got back to the job and didn’t think much more about it.”
But the next morning, when Kevin and Burger should have been putting up the Christmas lights, Kevin realised that his wrist was three times its normal size - and painful. Not only that but he was sporting a small injury that seemed to have a strange fang-like shape.
“We went to A&E and the doctor said, Oh yes, he said, I’ve seen this a few times before, he said, you’ve been bitten by a snake.”
Kevin was stunned. His wife Sharon, his daughter Leanne, his son Jamie, above all his grandson Parker – they were all stunned. What if the bite was poisonous? What if Kevin didn’t make it? Worse still, what would happen to the Christmas lights at the castle? Who would finish them in time for their official switch-on?
Happily a course of antibiotics, some antihistamine, an expert dressing and the quick wits of the Penrith A&E team saw to it that Kevin’s arm made a full and speedy recovery.
Two questions remain: What happened to the lighting up of the castle? And what happened to the snake?
“Sadly,” says Kevin, “we just could not finish the job in time. I had to hold my arm in the air for three days and we missed our switching on deadline. I am delighted to say however that since my arm is fully mended now, we have been able to get back to work. The pillars are both fully repaired. And the lights are almost up on the castle walls. Our official switch-on will now take place on Wednesday 29th November at 4.45pm.”
As for the snake, he/she remained unavailable for comment.
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