BARNARD Castle Girlguiding Division is hitting the road to try to encourage more people to get involved.
Division commissioner Debby Brown is organising a roadshow across the dale next month to showcase all that the Guides has to offer.
Ms Brown, who stepped into her role in January, said: “We are getting more and more enquiries from girls across the division.
“We need to try to attract more adults in who can hopefully become leaders. We have leaders who are getting older so we are looking for younger adults to come in and keep moving things forward.
“It is only a maximum of a couple of hours a week but the more interest we get and the more leaders we have, the more flexible this can be.
“We also have a couple of units in outlying villages that are struggling for numbers generally.”
The roadshow’s first stop will be at Cockfield Methodist Church Hall, on Monday, September 3, from 6.30pm to 8pm.
It will stop by at Gainford Scout Hut on Tuesday, September 4, from 5pm to 6pm. The next stop will be Middleton-in-Teesdale Village Hall on Wednesday, September 5, from 5pm to 7.30pm, then Staindrop Methodist Church Hall on Thursday, September 6, from 6pm to 7.30pm. The roadshow’s final stop will be in Barnard Castle at the division headquarters on Birch Road on Friday, September 7, from 5pm to 9pm.
Ms Brown said: “People should come along to find out more. You will be able to speak to the leaders who are involved.
“You can also come and see some of what we have already been doing as a division and know we are going to be moving forward.”
A new national programme has recently been launched which aims to transform what girls do in Girlguiding, with new topics, skills and new ways for girls to broaden their horizons.
All activities and badges are being brought up-to-date. Current leaders will be on-hand during the dale roadshow to explain the changes.
Ms Brown said: “Girlguiding offers a safe environment for girls to develop their interests and develop their skills.
“It is about empowering women and developing their confidence.
“We are trying to bring everything up to date and we thought now would be a good time to link everything together.”
There are currently 150 girls registered in the Barnard Castle division.
This includes Rainbows aged five to seven, Brownies aged between seven and ten, Guides aged ten to 14 and Rangers aged between 14 and 18.
There are also opportunities for young leaders aged between 18 and 30.
For more information call Ms Brown on 07776 140522.
![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)
