A VOLUNTEER group dedicated to restoring their village church that has been closed for three years is working on a business plan to boost grant donations.
The Friends of St Mary’s Church (FOSM) was set up to help save the grade II listed church in Middleton-in-Teesdale for future generations.
The church was shut because of the discovery of dry rot beneath its floorboards, which had spread to some of the pews.
Middleton-in-Teesdale resident and founding member of the group Jennifer Smith said: “We’re taking baby steps, but we are moving forward.
“Repairs to the drains by the north wall are underway, so that’s a start to preventing the church from becoming damp again.
“The gate to the wild flower meadow was repaired by our very own Ted McFarlane, so we can now access the notice board in there. The unsafe east gate was replaced very kindly by Middleton Forger and they are also working on the main entrance west gates. We are very grateful.”
A first draft of plans for the kitchen and toilet area in the north aisle have been received by the Parochial Church Council following a preliminary meeting with an architect.
She said: “We hope to meet with the architect soon to discuss those drafts and then on to the next stage of architectural designs for the restoration of the church.
“On the money side of things, the coffee mornings and domino drives are going splendidly thanks to the incredible work of our fundraising organisers and helpers.”
The group have been awarded small grants to help towards the payment of work to date, but she added larger amounts of money will be needed.
Ms Smith said: “We can’t really apply for large amounts yet as we don’t have any concrete quotes for the full refurbishment.
“When the architects have finished their designs and put costs on everything we can go ahead and start applying for the big bucks. To that end we’ve been working on a business plan which has been a lot more time consuming and complicated than we’d hoped for.”
![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)
