AN EVENWOOD woman is hoping to raise plenty of money as well as awareness of suicide, the single biggest killer in men under 45, when she hosts a fun day in the village today (Saturday, August 4).
Shannon Howe was 14 when her brother, Christopher, known by his friends at Ditty, took his own life. Ms Howe, now 22, said it has taken this long to come to terms with her brother’s death and she says she still “misses him every single day” .
She hopes by organising the fun day it will not only raise vital funds for the Campaign Against Living Miserably, an award-winning charity which is dedicated to preventing male suicide, but awareness too.
Ms Howe said: “I just don’t want anyone to have to go through what my family and I did. We still don’t understand why he did it. He was always such a jolly person; a real lad’s lad.”
The fun day will be held on the green adjacent to St Paul’s church between 1.30pm and 4.30pm on Saturday, August 4.
There will be bouncy castles, a set of stocks which they hope to persuade the local PCSO to be pelted with by wet sponges, tombola and raffles.
Ms Howe and her friend, Zoe Taylor, who has been helping organise the event, are hoping to persuade television personality Scarlet Moffatt, who lives in nearby Toft Hill, to open the event.
In the evening there will be a disco with karaoke from 7pm until midnight in the Castle Inn, where there will be sponsored waxing. Many of Ditty’s friends have already come forward to offer parts of their bodies to be waxed to help raise money and a laugh.
Ms Howe added: “Ditty was such a big football fan and he did teach a lot of lads in the village to play.
He loved Manchester United, so we’ve had t-shirts made with their logo on the front and a photograph of him on the back.”
These special ‘Ditty’ t-shirts will be on sale during the afternoon and evening and the profits from sales will all go to the charity.
![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)
