CELEBRATIONS will take place in Teesdale’s maypole village this bank holiday Monday (May 7).
Villagers in Ovington are organising the event from 11am and it will feature youth folk group Cream Tees, traditional maypole dancing and stalls.
One of the organisers, Amanda Wilson, said: “Please do come and join in the fun – no training or experience is necessary, although a good sense of humour is a must, as will be a pair of wellies and waterproofs if the weather isn’t kind to us. The usual and highly popular cake stall, hotdogs, tea and coffee will all be available for a modest fee.”
Ms Wilson has rediscovered an old Mayday dancing rhyme. She said: “The rhyme goes back many a decade and was passed over to me from someone in the village as included in a Handbill for Mayday circa 1870, apparently, so I thought we could use it again.”
It goes as follows: “Pudding-eaters, smokers, turners. Sages, philosophers,and gurners, We most respectfully invite you. To a scene that will delight you. Let us meet on common level. Come and join our May Day revel!”
![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)
