SOARING energy costs have forced a village hall group to launch a fundraising drive to install solar panels.
Butterknowle Village Hall committee needs £26,000 to buy 30 solar panels and abattery pack to power the venue.
Treasurer Jeanette Newell said: “We need solar panels because it costs between £500 and £600 a month for electricity, which is an awful lot. Many events are in the evenings, so we need something to store the electricity, which put the cost up by £10,000.”
The committee had a pledge from county councillors Robert Potts and James Cosslett for cash from their neighbourhood budgets.
“We have some funds verbally promised, but we thought we would do something ourselves to raise some money.”
The village hall hosts a monthly coffee and cake afternoon to raise cash to match that being offered by the county councillors.
A large number of people attended the inaugural afternoon on January 31 to enjoy delicious cakes baked by committee member Val Bryson in exchange for a £4 donation. As an added attraction the local history group displayed historic photos of the village and its hall.
Ms Newell added: “In future we’ll ask if there is anything else people would like at the coffee and cake afternoon, such as bingo or a quiz.”
The next date is on Wednesday, February 28.
![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)
