TWELVE random acts of community kindness have seen residents across the dale surprised with gifts from Morrisons’ community champion over the past few weeks.
Volunteers, community groups, NHS staff and isolating residents have been recipients of a variety goodies from plants to chocolate as well as hampers. Community champion Gillian Robinson has been kept on her toes handing out all of the gifts,
Ms Robinson saved her “Covid hero” surprise for last, presenting Hub chief executive Rachel Tweddle with a pamper hamper. She said: “Rachel has been an inspiration throughout the pandemic and has really helped bring the community together. She has never stopped and this was our way of saying thank you.” Ms Tweddle said she was amazed and for a few moments was speechless. She added: “I’m really grateful and I’m certainly going to look forward to having some of this, especially the Prosecco.”
Community director at Morrisons Rebecca Singleton said: “Small acts of kindness go a very long way. They can make our world feel like a kinder, happier and more caring place”
![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)
