AWARD-winning filmmaker, and former Turrets member, Ollie Smith is set to re-join the dale youth theatre group in January for six months.
Mr Smith, whose debut feature film Verve was filmed in Teesdale, will take over running the Turrets in January while group leader Christina Castling is on maternity leave.
Mum of one, Ms Castling, who became the leader of the Turrets in January, is expecting her second child on Boxing Day.
She said: “I will be away from January until July but the Turrets is in great hands with Ollie.”
Mr Smith, from Barnard Castle, was not only was a member of the youth theatre group for six years, but ran the junior class for 18 months just over a decade ago.
The 34-year-old writer and director was a semi-finalist of the ISA comedy screenplay competition and was placed in the top ten per cent of the BBC writers’ room in 2022.
He said: “I’m looking forward to working with the theatre group again. I have missed the energy of actors that age, with their self-confidence.
“The two groups will be very different to work with and we will be doing more for the memory skills with the older ones.”
During Covid Mr Smith created a documentary for Northern Heartlands recording people’s experiences during the pandemic as well as filming scenes from St Mary’s Parish Church, in Barnard Castle, which was broadcast online due to restrictions.
The Turrets meet on a Wednesday evening at The Witham and run two groups. Sessions for juniors, open to ages eight to 12, run from 4.30pm to 5.30pm. while seniors (13 to 18 years) meets from 5.45pm until 7.15pm.
For more information about the Turrets or to register, email turrets22@the witham.org.uk.
![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)
