A MAGNIFICENCE of mayors and their representatives congregated in Barnard Castle as part of a charity fundraising event.
The mayors were in town as part of the annual fundraising event, which this year was in support of Barnard Castle mayor’s elected charity, the Mid-Teesdale Partnership Project. Hosted by Barnard Castle mayor Cllr Sandra Moorhouse, the mayors represented district, town and parish councils from across the region.
Cllr Moorhouse also choose to use the event to showcase the area with a vintage bus trip around the dale followed by a walking tour of the town.
The mayors toured the dale on Peter, a 1955 AEC Regent 3 double decker bus belonging to Cumbrian Classic Coaches.
The mayoral party broke their journey with a visit to the remote 125-acre Hill Gill Farm. This gave the party a opportunity to see what working life is like in upper Teesdale. A lunch of pate, shepherds pie, lemon tart and Cotherstone cheese was taken at the mayor’s home in Cotherstone. Cllr Moorhouse handed out small teddy bears emblazoned with the #LoveBarnardCastle hashtag. This is part of the work being done by The Making Barney Brighter Together project.
The mayors also visited the chapel at Barnard Castle School, The Witham and other well-known spots such as the Market Cross.
Cllr Moorhouse said: “The day was truly a fun day – we have had lots of thank yous, with some saying it was the one of their best days out ever. The main objective of the day was to promote our wonderful town and the magnificent area in which it sits and if the comments are anything to go by we did just that.”
![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)
