A TEESDALE shoot dedicated a day to raising money for the fell rescue team.
Lartington Station Shoot raised cash for Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue TWSMR on Saturday, January 22.
The fundraiser included people from across Teesdale and Weardale – including lowland and hill farmers and moorland gamekeepers – who “appreciate the challenges faced by TWSMR volunteers when working in the rugged North Pennines” .
Stephen Thompson, shoot captain, said: “The terrain is inhospitable and these volunteers are those we rely on when things go wrong for either locals or visitors to the area.
“They are a key part of the emergency services in keeping people safe in the North Pennines.
“We hope our donation can help replace or maintain their much-needed and expensive equipment.”
Steve Owers, rescue team leader, said: “On behalf of the team I would like to thank Stephen and his guests for
the generous donation of £800 following their recent shoot.
“We rely on public donations for the majority of our income to run the team.
“Following Storm Arwen we spent three days carrying out welfare checks on vulnerable people in remote properties in upper Weardale and
Teesdale so this donation will certainly help with our
costs.”
![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)
