A DALE folk duo has teamed up with village hall officials in Boldron to help to celebrate the 21st anniversary of a grassroots theatre scheme and raise funds to ensure its continued survival.
Mike and Rosie Bettison – who perform as Notes from Teesdale – will play traditional songs from the dale during an afternoon tea from 2pm at Boldron on Sunday, June 3, in support of the Highlights Rural Touring Scheme.
Highlights brings live performance to small villages across County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria.
Boldron is one of ten village halls across the Highlights area helping to mark the anniversary.
Entry to the tea party is by donation – suggested minimum £5.
Rosie (hammered dulcimer, bassoon, vocals) and Mike (melodeon, guitar, vocals) will play a collection of traditional songs and music collected from Teesdale over the past century, including the old lead miners song Fourpence a Day and the amusing Â- if politically incorrect – High Force Agricultural Show.
Through to August 2019, Highlights is part of a scheme whereby every £1 raised will be doubled by Arts Council England and will be invested in keeping performances in the villages.
Holly Goodfellow, Highlights fundraiser, said “This is an exciting opportunity because it gives us the chance to generate funds that will really make a change to the way we work.
“By providing a match investment for every donation we receive, the Arts Council has chosen to support performance in our region and we hope this will start to address some of the funding pressures that are hitting us and village halls across the North, ensuring that we have sustainable methods to continue to support you and local activity for years to come.”
Barbara Slack, Highlights co-director added: “We are looking forward to working with promoters, audiences and friends from across the region, in this our biggest and most ambitious fundraiser, to celebrate our 21st Birthday.
“Feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive,” she added.
Highlights Rural Touring Scheme supports local promoters and subsidises performances, making them affordable for small communities and contributing to the social and economic life of the village.
Highlights currently works in partnership with a network of over 75 village promoters who, for the most part, are volunteers who give their time to provide a great night out for their community.
![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)
