A LOCAL charity has been given a bumper Christmas £20,000 donation by kind-hearted pharmaceutical giant that would normally have funded Christmas parties.
Teesdale Lions Sharon and Graham Walker were left momentarily speechless when they were presented with the bumper cheque by GSK in Barnard Castle on Thursday.
Lions president Mrs Walker said: “We didn’t know how much the donation was going to be and we’re just absolutely amazed at the amount.
“We just couldn’t believe it. We will have to have a lot of discussions about where the money should be given, but it all will be within the local community.”
The money would normally have been used for staff Christmas parties.
Site manager Elizabeth Rowbotham said: “The whole factory has been part of the decision to hand over the money.”
Alison Welford, communications officer at GSK in Barnard Castle, said: “The money is what we would have used for the staff Christmas party.
“But as there were no parties this year, we wanted to support the local community.
“Everyone on site decided the money should be given to the charity of choice, and we decided to give it to the Teesdale Lions because they can give it to lots in the community.”
In addition to this bumper bonus another local charity has also benefitted from a £3,000 injection.
Normally bosses at the factory provide a sumptuous festive feast for staff in the lead up to Christmas.
Due to Covid-19 sit down meals at the factory were not possible this year and it was decided to donate the money to the charity instead.
Ms Welford added: “We would normally provide Christmas lunches to staff. But we have only had half the work force on site and so have not done that this year and we decided to give this to charity as well.
“The £3,000 for the Christmas lunches couldn’t be donated as cash. So, we decided to order supplies for the TCR Hub’s food bank.”
She and two colleagues spent a whole day ordering food, toiletries and treats to be delivered the Hub for use in their care packages.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
