Hamsterley Primary School council gave a big thumbs up to a new sporting facility in the village when they were given a sneak preview ahead of the grand opening this week.
Four years after a £70,000 campaign to revamp little-used tennis courts into a multi-use games area (MUGA), Hamsterley Community Sports Association, are holding a grand opening on Saturday.
MUGA trustee Ronnie Maughan said: “Because of the pandemic a lot of funders changed the way they fund. Instead of helping new facilities they offered to fund existing ones.”
The revamped sports area is for all ages to use and an agreement with the community association means pupils at Hamsterley primary will also benefit as well.
Deputy head teacher Darryl Todd, said: “This will massively improve provision for sports for the children. It is huge for the school and the community. It opens up a world of opportunities.”
A celebrity sports star will officially open the MUGA on Saturday at 3pm.
![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)
