A regional interest magazine preparing to mark its 70th anniversary has received a copy of its very first edition from Australia.

The copy of Cumbria magazine from 1947 was sent in by reader Jeff Stonehouse, in New South Wales, who had found the issue while going through his late father’s effects.

No copies of the early volumes had been retained after Cumbria magazine was acquired by Dalesman Publishing in 1951.

The copy was owned by Mr Stonehouse’s father Arthur, who met his wife in Australia while serving in the Royal Navy and later emigrated there.

Editor John Manning said: “We’re very grateful to Arthur for having looked after that special edition of the magazine for so long, and to Jeff for sending it home.

“It’s fascinating to be able to see how Cumbria took shape all that time ago. It was twenty-pages in size and printed on crude paper stock; it might seem a far cry from the 100-page glossy, colour picture-packed title we produce today but essentially it’s the same friendly, small-format magazine, with an impressive roll call of contributors that included mountaineer A. H. ‘Harry’ Griffin, landscape writer Jessica Lofthouse, and novelist Nicholas Size.

“Launching so soon after the war, when paper rationing was still in effect, must have been a bold move but it thrived and I’m sure the first editor, Leslie Hewkin, would be delighted to know that his magazine is still going strong today.”

The anniversary edition of Cumbria, which will include a reproduction of the first issue created from high resolution scans of Arthur Stonehouse’s original, will be published on 23 February.